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.

On Friday, the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress, China's top legislative body, approved the decision to phase in the new statutory retirement ages. Men's retirement age is set to rise from 60 to 63, and women's from 50 to 55 for blue-collar workers and 55 to 58 for those in white-collar positions.

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