ABSTRACT
Nanhu Park is more than a gathering place for old people. It is a metaphor for the role the elderly play in Shenyang's daily life and development. Nanhu Park is to the city's physical environment what the elderly are to Shenyang's social environment. The elderly in Shenyang are part of a generation unlike any before them in China's long history and probably unlike any that will follow. The role of education and technical training in the scenario of declining status for the elderly is also critical. The Shenyang experience reveals a high level of expressed well-being among the elderly despite marginally adequate material standards of living. The West is so enamored with expertise that there is precious little value placed upon wisdom. The experience of the People's Republic of China dramatically demonstrates that the quality of life for the elderly is neither a function, nor even a corollary, of Western-style wealth and living standards.
