Chinanews, Beijing, Dec. 23 – Chinese scholars proposed recently that China should not only delay people's retirement age to 65 or even older, but also shorten the retirement age gap between male and female.

 

It is learned that the average life expectancy of Chinese people has risen by more than 20 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, while their retirement age remains no change for more than 50 years.

 

According to law in China, a man retires at 60, women cadres at 55 and women workers at 50.

 

In the 1950s, every woman had to take care of 6 kids on average. Playing an important role in family life, women were permitted to retire five years earlier than men at that time. But situation has changed greatly nowadays. Women have relieved a lot from heavy family burden as the old days.

 

Moreover, the average life expectancy has risen from 49 years old in 1950 to 72 at present. "Furthermore, Chinese women now live three years longer than men on average. Therefore, the retirement age gap should be shortened between men and women," said Du Peng, chief of the Research Institute of Gerontics in the Renmin University of China.