Elders say you shouldn't plant trees after sixty, but why can't you plant trees?

Summary: Rural elders say "at fifty, don't build a house" - why can't you build a house at fifty?

"At fifty, don't build a house. At sixty, don't plant trees. At seventy, don't make clothes. At eighty, don't visit friends." This is a proverb passed down from ancient times. It is said that ancient proverbs are the crystallization of the wisdom of our forebears, such as "long in the tenth month, short in the fifth month, neither long nor short in the second and eighth months," "if grass has no heart it will not sprout, if a person has no heart he will not prosper," "when there is no food in the trough, pigs butt pigs; when the spoils are divided unequally, dogs bite dogs" - all these are proverbs summed up by the ancients through social experience and passed down to this day.

The ancients had extremely short lifespans, and some ancient proverbs are no longer appropriate.

"At fifty, don't build a house; at sixty, don't plant trees" - these two sayings mean that after a person enters old age, there is no need to make long-term plans, and one should not consume the little time one has left doing things that hold little meaning for oneself.

"At fifty, don't build a house" means that after passing fifty, you should not build a house, because building a house is a major life undertaking that exhausts your wealth. By the time you finish the house, you may not have the life left to enjoy it properly. "At sixty, don't plant trees" carries the same meaning: after passing sixty, you should not plant trees, because trees take a very long time to mature. Hence the saying "it takes ten years to grow trees, a hundred years to cultivate people." So if you plant trees after sixty, you may not live to see them grow into towering trees with your own eyes.

Of course, not all ancient sayings still apply in modern times. In ancient times, productivity was low, life was hard, and there were no effective treatments for disease. The ancients generally did not live long - the average lifespan during the feudal period was only 37 years, and ordinary people were considered old after 40. For example, Su Shi wrote in "Jiangchengzi: Hunting at Mizhou," "This old man indulges in a young man's madness."

In modern times, with the improvement of living standards and the advancement of medical technology, the national average lifespan reached 76 years in 2015. So at fifty, a person is still in their prime, still striving and fighting on the job. The state, in line with people's ever-increasing lifespans, has also proposed delaying retirement, allowing the elderly to continue to shine and contribute in their workplaces.

In the Qing Dynasty, Zeng Tingmei, in "Ancient Proverbs Idle Talk: Tree-Planting Proverbs," expressed his view on this proverb: "The ancient proverb says: at fifty, don't build a house; at sixty, don't plant trees; at seventy, don't make clothes. Zhang Shenggong's father, Yu, was already seventy years old. At a banquet, the old man tasted a very sweet mandarin orange and planted its seeds, hoping to have mandarins to taste often in the future.

But the guests present secretly mocked him, believing it was impossible to eat mandarins in less than ten years, and thinking that Yu was too old and would probably not live to eat them. In the end, Yu ate mandarins for ten years before he passed away." People believe that when one is old, one should live a leisurely life. This kind of judgment based purely on experience is wrong - mocking others instead makes oneself ridiculous.

To be alive is to pursue a higher realm of life, not to be bound by the limits of age, to live up to one's time, create value, and enjoy life.

This is Science for Agriculture. You are welcome to follow us and learn together.