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Chinese retirees are turning hard-won time into journeys once confined to maps and documentaries_我的网站

一 | Editor's Note:
With China's population of seniors over 60 surpassing 300 million, ensuring a happy and fulfilling life for all seniors has become a pressing issue for both families and the nation. How can the new generation of seniors in China break away from traditional norms and embrace a different lifestyle, supported by AI technology, multiculturalism and an elder-friendly society?
The series "Old Age, New Trends" explores emerging trends in the silver economy, creative social norms among senior citizens and innovative eldercare services. It examines the opportunities and challenges presented by an aging society, highlighting the diverse lifestyles of seniors and the booming eldercare industry in China. Beneath these new trends lies a reflection of Chinese modernization, which aims to provide more secure systems and dignified lives for its senior population.

Chinese elderly tourists pose for a photo during a trip to Antarctica. Photo: Courtesy of Zhang XinyuanThe camera moves across ice and water of Greenland before settling on a group of travelers speaking Putonghua. Many are retired. They have come a long way from China to a place that, for much of their working lives, belonged more to maps and documentaries than to any realistic travel plan.
Polar journeys require money, good health and patience for long flights and itineraries that may change with the weather. Yet on ships bound for Antarctica, and tours reaching into the Arctic, retired teachers, doctors, researchers and business managers are becoming easier to find.
After decades scheduled around work and family, they now possess something that was once just as scarce as money: uninterrupted time.
By the end of 2025, China had 323.38 million people aged 60 or above, accounting for 23 percent of its population, according to the Xinhua News Agency. Their incomes, health and family circumstances vary enormously, and polar travelers remain a small, relatively affluent group. Still, their choices bring one change into sharp focus: For some among this new generation of retirees, growing older no longer means simply drawing the boundaries of life inward. It may also be a chance to return to journeys postponed for decades.
Behind every such journey lies a practical calculation: Is the body ready? Is the expense manageable? Can family responsibilities be set aside long enough? The answers are reshaping both travel products and ideas about life after work. At the farthest reaches of the map, some Chinese retirees are asking a new question: With their careers behind them and years still ahead, where do they want to go next?
No longer waiting
In early 2025, 63-year-old He Man stood on a snow-covered slope at Port Charcot in Antarctica and looked back toward the sea.
The Silver Endeavour, the ship that had brought her there, had shrunk to a white speck against the blue water. Penguins wandered nearby. "Standing there, I suddenly realized how small I was - and how small my problems were," she told the Global Times.
It was a journey He Man had postponed for most of her adult life. Before retiring, she was a deputy chief physician at the dental center of Shenzhen People's Hospital in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province. During her 38-year medical career, most days she got up at 6 am, arrived at the hospital around 7 and began seeing patients at 8. On busy days, patients queued up outside her consulting room and she could barely stop for a drink of water.
During the last 20 years of her career, she had no more than 15 days of annual leave each year. Once time was set aside for caring for elderly relatives and looking after her child, what remained was enough only for short trips. She had visited several countries in Europe and North America, but Antarctica remained beyond reach.
"Antarctica had always been a dream, but I never really dared to imagine going," she said. The possibility became real only after friends from university made the journey in 2023 and 2024 and encouraged her to follow. By then, she had retired at 60. More important than anything else, she said, was that her time was finally her own.
In October 2024, she booked a place on an expedition ship carrying about 200 passengers. She went with her husband, a neighboring couple and another couple with whom they often traveled, forming a group of six.
The early-booking cruise fare exceeded 150,000 yuan ($22,250) per person. She and her husband later paid another 40,000 yuan each to upgrade their flights to business class.
"On a journey this long, at our age, we should treat ourselves well," she said. The flights between China and South America alone took more than 30 hours. The entire journey eventually lasted 41 days, combining an 11-day Antarctic cruise with visits to Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Chile. "Since we had flown so far, we wanted to see it all in one go."
The journey began with a lesson in polar uncertainty. To catch a period of calmer weather across the Drake Passage, the ship moved its scheduled departure from noon to 6 am.
The couple reached the port in Chile before dawn after barely sleeping, only to learn that replenishment and repairs had taken longer than expected. The weather window closed, and the captain diverted through the Beagle Channel while waiting two days for conditions to improve.
The retired doctor did not regard the delay as time lost. Marine biologists, ornithologists, geologists and polar historians delivered lectures on board throughout the day, while passengers watched the fjords outside. "There were many older people on the ship. We had time, and nobody was really in a hurry," she said.
When she finally stepped onto the Antarctic snow, she said she was so overwhelmed that she wanted to cry. The trip did not remove the pressures waiting for her at home, but it changed the scale on which she viewed them.
"When I feel stressed or upset now, I think of Antarctica," she said. "Life is only so long. Don't hold yourself too tightly. Let go when you should."
Scenery of Antarctica Photo: Courtesy of Zhang Xinyuan

Scenery of Antarctica Photo: Courtesy of Zhang XinyuanBeyond one journey
According to He Man, people aged 60 or above accounted for more than half of the passengers on board, while Chinese travelers also made up more than half. After returning home, some of the travelers from Shenzhen created a WeChat group, while others had already begun discussing their next destination.
Travel agencies specializing in expedition cruises have noticed the same pattern. Zhang Xinyuan, founder and CEO of Newayer Cruises, told the Global Times that the company entered the Antarctic market in 2008 and sent its first group the following year. It has since served approximately 6,000 travelers on trips to the Arctic and Antarctica.
Among its customers, more than 65 percent are aged over 50, with those between 55 and 65 forming the largest group.
The makeup of that group has changed. Before 2020, Zhang said, most of the agency's polar customers were private business owners, senior executives and their family members. In recent years, the professional backgrounds of its customers have become more varied, with retired teachers, doctors, researchers and managers from public institutions increasingly represented. Retired women traveling alone have also become more visible.
Their journeys do not necessarily end after one polar voyage. Zhang once regarded Antarctica as a once-in-a-lifetime destination, but found that some customers continued on to the Arctic, the Galapagos Islands or wildlife reserves in Africa.
She cited a recently retired couple who booked trips to both Antarctica and the Arctic. While still aboard the Arctic cruise, they asked to reserve places on a southern Africa itinerary planned for the following year.
Industry data suggest that this is a growing, though still expensive, segment of the travel market. During the 2024-25 Antarctic season, Chinese nationals accounted for 10 percent of passengers traveling with operators belonging to the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators, or IAATO, the second-largest share after the US.
In the 2025-26 season, IAATO operators recorded 85,195 visitors who landed in Antarctica and another 27,217 cruise-only passengers. The association said China had seen the greatest post-pandemic increase among the main sources of Antarctic travelers.
Data released by Tongcheng Travel offer a closer view of the high-end market. From January to September 2025, travelers aged between 50 and 70 accounted for more than 70 percent of users booking outbound luxury cruises on the platform. Among customers purchasing polar cruise products priced above 100,000 yuan, more than 90 percent were classified by the company as silver travelers.
As the customer base changes, the product is changing with it. Zhang said the longest flights, rather than the cruise itself, often present the greatest physical challenge. On board, travelers can decide whether to join shore landings, hikes or Zodiac cruises according to their physical fitness and health condition.
At Newayer Cruises, travelers aged between 75 and 80 are generally asked to provide medical documentation and travel with a family member. Its group products include emergency medical and evacuation insurance, while tour leaders accompany passengers from departure.
The agency has also added Chinese-language services and meals familiar to Chinese passengers, while leaving more space in itineraries rather than packing each day with activities. Flexibility is needed for reasons beyond the traveler's own health.
A ship sails among icebergs in Antarctica. Photo: VCG

A ship sails among icebergs in Antarctica. Photo: VCGThe Arctic can wait
Polar travel occupies the expensive outer edge of a much broader change in how older Chinese people spend their time. By the end of 2025, China had 323.38 million people aged 60 or above, accounting for 23 percent of the population. Those aged 65 or above numbered 223.65 million, or 15.9 percent.
The National Bureau of Statistics noted that people aged between 60 and 64 made up a relatively large part of the older population, and that many were still healthy and participated in social activities.
Travel is becoming one outlet for this age group. Data cited by the National Development and Reform Commission show that older travelers account for more than 20 percent of China's total tourist numbers.
Du Peng, dean of the School of Population and Health and director of the Institute of Gerontology at Renmin University of China, noted in a CCTV interview that more than 20 million people would enter old age each year over the following decade. Compared with earlier generations, he said, many would be better educated, assess their own health more positively and use the internet with greater ease.
Policy is beginning to respond to this more varied picture of old age. A State Council document on developing the silver economy calls for replacing rigid age restrictions on travel with assessments based more closely on health, while expanding travel insurance and strengthening consumer protection.
Still, the retirees boarding polar ships should not be treated as a portrait of all 323 million older Chinese people. They are a relatively small group able to meet three demanding conditions at once: sufficient savings, good health and control over their time.
Therefore, what these polar travelers demonstrate is not that every retirement should become an expensive adventure. Rather, they show that later life is becoming less uniform: rest and care remain essential, but for some people, retirement may also contain study, creative work, new friendships and journeys once postponed by jobs and family obligations.
Back in Shenzhen, He Man now divides her Xiaohongshu (RedNote) posts between dental-health advice and notes from her travels. Antarctica has been crossed off the list, but the list itself continues to grow.
She is considering a trip to see the animal migration in Africa and another to watch the aurora in Iceland. The Arctic is lower down on her list.
The Arctic can wait. This time, the delay is hers to decide.

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年复一年，联邦政府的支出超过了税收收入。

二 | 每年的财政缺口都导致国债增加，起初增长缓慢，随后却呈爆炸式增长，无视了人们关于不可避免的清算的警告。现在，清算的日子可能就要到了。

三 | 本周债券市场抛售潮导致政府借贷成本升至近二十年来的最高水平，并促使财政部采取了非同寻常的干预措施。《华盛顿邮报》分析指，8月21日30年期美国国债收益率突破5.27%，较前一日略有上升，这表明财政部部长贝森特的市场稳定计划并未奏效。经过数十年的大手大脚支出，华盛顿可能很快将被迫做出一些长期搁置且在政治上不受欢迎的选择，而这些选择几乎会让所有美国人都受到影响。

四 | 管理着橡树基金40亿美元债券的亚当·阿巴斯表示，“我们有两个手段：提高税收或削减开支。这两种选择在政治上都不受欢迎，而且永远不会受欢迎，但我们迟早都必须解决这个问题。”当财政部为发行债券吸引投资者时，它会与其他政府和企业展开竞争——尤其是那些正在构建国家人工智能基础设施的超大规模数据中心运营商。所有这些资本竞争意味着投资者可以要求更高的回报或收益率。财政监督机构几十年来一直警告说，不断上升的美国债务最终会引发危机。无党派组织“负责任联邦预算委员会”的高级政策主管马克·戈德温表示，随着借贷成本上升，债务变得更加昂贵，这可能形成恶性循环。债券收益率或利率的快速上涨往往会以意想不到的方式在金融体系中引发连锁反应，暴露出代价高昂的脆弱性。例如，2023年，硅谷银行就因债券收益率上升导致资产负债表出现巨大漏洞而倒闭。据美联储7月28日至29日会议纪要，目前金融体系中潜在的薄弱环节包括一些美国最大的对冲基金，这些基金用于投资的借贷资金（即杠杆率）“接近历史最高水平”。同样，传统上较为稳健的人寿保险公司也持有风险较高的资产，如果在危机期间需要筹集资金，这些资产将难以迅速抛售。如今的财政压力始于25年前，当时前总统比尔·克林顿和共和党控制的国会连续四年实现了预算平衡。联邦政府实际上开始偿还债务。

五 | 这促使美联储主席艾伦·格林斯潘在2001年发表讲话，警告称消除债务，从而消除国债本身，可能会扰乱金融市场。即便如此，他仍然预料到这种情况会发生。然而，一系列政策选择和无法预料的危机却使国家的财政进展被巨额赤字所淹没。过去十年，这个问题变得尤为严峻。1789年至2016年间，美国政府借贷总额略高于19万亿美元。而过去十年，特朗普和前总统拜登又增加了20万亿美元的借贷，使国债翻了一番，偿债支出成为纳税人最大的年度负担之一。据无党派的国会预算办公室称，美国现在每年花费超过1万亿美元用于支付国家信用卡（医疗保险）的利息，超过了其在联邦医疗保险上的支出。而就在2010年，这笔利息支出还不到现在的五分之一。

华盛顿特区一个公交车站的标牌上显示了美国国债总额

华盛顿特区一个公交车站的标牌上显示了美国国债总额美国债务负担不断加重只是更广泛现象的一部分。与引发2008年金融危机的风险性抵押贷款不同，近年来，政府已成为最大的借款方。各国政府都曾借贷以在2008年金融危机后修复经济，并再次借贷以应对2020年的疫情。非洲和亚洲的贫困国家则因乌克兰和伊朗战争后不断上涨的能源和食品支出而背负了更深的债务。“人口结构方面，劳动力增长放缓是由于人口老龄化、老年工人近期离职以及移民减少。而且特朗普不断推出供给侧冲击措施——关税、伊朗战争。现在的供给侧已经完全不同了。

六 | ”保守派智库美国行动论坛主席、前国会预算办公室主任道格拉斯·霍尔茨-埃金在电子邮件中表示。要恢复债券市场秩序，唯一可靠的办法就是采取切实行动来减少国家巨大的预算赤字，国会预算办公室估计，今年的预算赤字将达到创纪录的2.1万亿美元。贝森特在周四接受CNBC采访时承诺，特朗普政府将很快宣布“加大”对政府财政的关注，包括审查“收入和成本两方面”的潜在变化。但怀疑并非毫无道理。本届政府最初试图改革政府开支，结果却催生了埃隆·马斯克的“政府效率部”，该部门大刀阔斧地改革了公务员制度，却未能证实其夸大的节约目标。尽管有过那样的经历，贝森特表示，他预计由副总统万斯领导的反欺诈工作组将节省“数千亿美元”。独立专家表示，提高税收和削减社会保障、医疗保险等广受欢迎的福利项目是不可避免的。但距离11月国会选举不到三个月，巴克莱银行的经济学家本周告诉客户，政府承诺的财政整顿“似乎不太可能实现”。事实上，到目前为止，国会山对债务问题的关注仅限于一些例行公事的公开声明。

特朗普与美财长贝森特

特朗普与美财长贝森特“华盛顿肆意挥霍的开支问题既不道德，也让我们的子孙后代不得不承担后果，这很不公平，而且还使我们的经济稳定变得极其脆弱，”犹他州共和党参议员约翰·柯蒂斯周四在X网站上写道。“我们的债务越多，一旦发生经济冲击，灾难的威胁就越大。”其他立法者提议成立一个委员会来拯救社会保障体系，该体系预计在2032年将面临资金短缺，无法支付全额福利。