Understanding elderly rural stayers in China: A new model for active ageing

The phenomenon of the urban elderly staying in rural China is an emerging lifestyle that can be viewed as a Chinese model for active ageing, which is currently an underexplored phenomenon. Furthermore, the grey market has always been underrated and regarded as homogeneous, suggesting that individuals' needs are often managed by package tours. To make initial inquiries into these issues, this study collected data for Shuikou Town, Huzhou City, and used multiple clustering methods to identify the following three subgroups: wellbeing stayers, rural-life stayers, and multi-experience stayers. The qualitative analysis results showed that unlike their Western counterparts, most of the elderly rural stayers are characterised by extensive socialising, but as Chinese parents, they cannot free themselves fully from the burden of their extended family, which, altogether, leads to their unique behavioural patterns. The study thus contributes to adding a new subcategory to the global senior tourist typology.