China is joining the global push towards raising the retirement age. The new thresholds approved by legislators last week, however, continue to grasp at a utopian idea of ageing that is not compatible with the shrinking workforce in the People's Republic.

Chinese netizens have voiced anxiety over the government's recent announcement that it plans to introduce new retirement ages. Starting in 2025, China will gradually raise the ages of statutory retirement for the first time since they were established in the 1950s,

But huge protests in France last year against a higher pension age triggered anxious and angry comments in China over the government’s repeated mutterings since 2008—four years before Mr Xi came to power—about doing something similar.

China Raises Retirement Age. Last week, China announced that it will “gradually raise” its retirement ages over a 15-year period. The move is both unprecedented—the country