A few weeks ago, I spent a brisk autumn morning people-gazing in a park near my home. Groups of older women chattered away as they minded their grandchildren in the playground behind me. In front of me, older men in twos and threes passed by in deep discussion.

I started thinking this was something intrinsically Chinese, the love of getting out in public places to talk about the day's events with neighbors, strangers, anyone who came along.

But I wondered, aside from the grandchildren, where are the young people? Don't they share that love?