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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
We all get old one day. But China, the world's most populous1 country, is probably ageing faster.
According to Hao Fuqing, a senior official from National Development and Reform Commission, China has galloped2 towards an aged3 society since the turn of the 21st century.
"So far, we have 212 million senior citizens over the age of 60, accounting4 for 15% of the whole population. Presumably, by 2020, the number of elderly in China will reach 243 million. Coming to 2050, the amount may jump to 300 million."
Although many worry about a prospective5 labor6 shortage and acute transformation7 of the society, China's aging profile may not be a bad omen8 for businesses.
澳大利亚顶上中国老年保健市场
Susan Malone is the managing director of Independent Management Group, an Australian company providing senior living consulting service. She has been the eye-witness of the birth of elderly care market in the country.
“Six years ago, when I came to the early conferences that were being held, there were very small conferences. If people from the development sector9 said to me: 'What do you do?' I said: 'Senior's living.' Then (they responded with) 'What? What is that?' And now when you say senior's living, (they would say) 'what a growing market! How wonderful! Could we talk?'"
Peter Hennessy works for a retirement11 community catering12 for overseas Chinese. After successfully opening operations in Malaysia and Indonesia, the company is looking forward to scale up.
"(At the) present time, we have been looking in China, Huangzhou and also Wuhan. We have had approaches to go and getting (got) involved with partners there. Whether it is a working model already (established) for Australian aged care facility, or retirement living facility in Shanghai, I am going to look at that. "
However, there are certain elements that may hinder entrants.
Dean of the Institute of Health Industry from Beijing Geely University, Dr Wu Danxing, points out that although the sheer number of seniors in China promises a lucrative14 future, the widespread stereotypes15, absence of qualified16 staff plus the deficiency of standards and regulation prevents foreign firms from moving forward.
"China has its unique characteristics. We cannot let our current strategy be continued but at same time, blindly following other countries is no-go. We cannot be commercialized like America, or learn from welfare states. What we could draw on from Australia is how it built up its aged care system."
"In social context, the challenges are precisely18 the challenges that Australia faces but all be on a much lesser19 scale. So whether it is skill training, facility operation, architecture design, all these various elements of health care sector are growing and developing in Australia and they are at the stage where they want to take that expertise20 offshore21. As China's been such a large market, it's about learning, it's about investing into the future. "
According to the recently released five-year plan, China will fully13 open its elderly care sector in the near future.
CRI's Yu Yang reporting.
点击收听单词发音
1 populous | |
adj.人口稠密的,人口众多的 | |
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2 galloped | |
(使马)飞奔,奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 ); 快速做[说]某事 | |
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3 aged | |
adj.年老的,陈年的 | |
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4 accounting | |
n.会计,会计学,借贷对照表 | |
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5 prospective | |
adj.预期的,未来的,前瞻性的 | |
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6 labor | |
n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦 | |
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7 transformation | |
n.变化;改造;转变 | |
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8 omen | |
n.征兆,预兆;vt.预示 | |
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9 sector | |
n.部门,部分;防御地段,防区;扇形 | |
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10 scents | |
n.香水( scent的名词复数 );气味;(动物的)臭迹;(尤指狗的)嗅觉 | |
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11 retirement | |
n.退休,退职 | |
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12 catering | |
n. 给养 | |
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13 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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14 lucrative | |
adj.赚钱的,可获利的 | |
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15 stereotypes | |
n.老套,模式化的见解,有老一套固定想法的人( stereotype的名词复数 )v.把…模式化,使成陈规( stereotype的第三人称单数 ) | |
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16 qualified | |
adj.合格的,有资格的,胜任的,有限制的 | |
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17 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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18 precisely | |
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地 | |
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19 lesser | |
adj.次要的,较小的;adv.较小地,较少地 | |
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20 expertise | |
n.专门知识(或技能等),专长 | |
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21 offshore | |
adj.海面的,吹向海面的;adv.向海面 | |
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