Learning to live life to the fullest at the crack of dawn

Walking Beijing's streets in the morning on weekends, I often wonder where have all the non-elderly gone? Was there a sweeping epidemic that selectively claimed only the young and the able-bodied? Or is the fact that I am out at the crack of dawn and they aren't, a reflection of my own age?

In fact, now I am convinced that Beijing's elderly are its new young. On a Saturday morning, by the time many of Beijing's youngsters are finished with a late lie-in, and an even later lunch and saunter out of the home and hearth after 12 noon, some of the city's frail and wrinkled people have finished a brisk walk along the Yuan Dynasty canal, done 20 push-ups at one go, without panting in between, and are ready to move on to a round of synchronized tai chi dancing.

Silver-haired gents in vests and knickers scramble for a go at the mahjong with the passion of boisterous school kids. Elderly couples with failing eyesight, sitting on park benches, hold hands and look into each other's eyes as if they have just fallen in love and the rest of the world does not matter. .