BEIJING, China – Sixty-one-year-old Zhang Daokang has been through it all, from Mao Tse Tung's people's revolution to Deng Xiao Ping's reform and opening up of communist China's political and economic system.

Zhang has been part of China's long journey to modernity. And he is proud of what his country has achieved.

In fact, he says China has risen and is now on the move. Zhang himself has called it quits. He is retired and is watching his country every step of the way from the sidelines.

Zhang is a founder of a medical journal – the Chinese Medical Press which he helped edit for many years. He now lives with his wife Fu Hong, 56 (also retired) and only son Zhang Kidi (29).

Zhang senior and his wife would have loved to have more children but thanks to China's official policy of one child, they are content with their only boy.

"But we are waiting for Kidi to add one or two children to our family and then we will be a complete family and a happy one," says Fu with a smile. The Zhang family live in a three-bedroom flat near Jui Long lake, a posh suburb in Beijing. The flat is air conditioned and well furnished.

The Zhangs are not your ordinary retirees. Both Daokang and Hong are university graduates and are part of China's growing urban population whose entire lives are anchored on Beijing city and not the rice fields on the countryside.

The Zhangs have a combined income (pension) of 7 000 to 8 000 Yuan. The pension, they say provides for a comfortable life and is sufficient for their medical and phone bills, food, electricity and water. The family has a maid who works twice a week.

"I cannot wait for Kidi to bear us a grandchild. That would add to our happiness as a family and our lives will be complete. We need a child in the house because Kidi is no longer a child. He is a young man and is already working," says Fu.

by Rajah Munamava , Editor of NEW ERA