China is unique in growing old before it is rich, but this may not be a bad thing. Lauren Johnston from Peking University said it was better to get a demographic crisis out the way early. Baby boomers in the West and Japan have swept through like a "plague of locusts", leaving the next generation to cover a colossal debt burden and gilded pensions. "It is much worse to get rich first. What gets left behind is crumbs," she said.