NEGLECTED ELDERLY PEOPLE IN CHINA

                              Because of the one-child policy, elderly people will have lesschildren to take care of them in the future. By 2024, it is estimated that athird or more of retired Chinese parents will have no living sons who havetraditionally had the duty of supporting elderly parents. Already thecradle-to-grave welfare system is largely gone and single children areresponsible for taking care of both their parents. This has made havingdaughters more favorable because they are more likely to take of their parentsin old age.

 These days many children don't want to shoulder the burdenof taking care of their parents or don't have room in their homes. In somecases children that were spoiled when they grew up are shirking theresponsibility of taking care of their parents. Already many villages acrossChina are filled with old people and virtually void of children. Rates ofelderly living alone or suffering from depression are rising. There are storiesof elderly people abandoned in hospitals or suing their children for financialsupport.

 One resident at a nursing home in Dalian told theWashington Post, “The nurses treat me better than my daughter." A nurse atthe home said, “When resident first arrive they cry almost every day, saying,“My children don't want to take care of me. There's no more filial piety."

 Zhang Kaidi, director the China Research Center on Aging,told the Washington Post, “People value money more than family ties. It is verydangerous. Parents have put all they have, all their money, attention and hopein their child, and they expect to get a return from him when they get old. Butthe rapid development of society has changed the traditional give-and-getsocial contact."

Lack of Respect for Elders in China

 As China has modernized there has been a cultural shiftfrom a society oriented towards the respect of elders to one that celebratesyouth. An executive for a Chinese market research firm told the New York Times,“We can see a kind of power shift to the younger generation. This is sort ofsad. The older generation is being more silent in the family and more silent insociety...Kids decide what kind of products we buy, where we should travel inour vacation...The kids are substantial decision makers. The change has beenattributed to market economics and China's one child policy.

 In Shanghai, one community decided offspring would befined if they didn't invite their parents home for Lunar New Year. Aneighborhood committee posted the names and faces of individuals that didn'tvisit their parent at least once every three months.

 The Beijing government has enacted laws in which childrenwho fail to take of their aging parents face a jail term of up to five years.Few prison sentences have been given out since 2000 when a woman committedsuicide in prison after she was sentenced to eight months in jail for refusingto support her mother in law. But that doesn't mean prison sentences are nevergiven. In 2003, a woman was sent to jail for a year for refusing to take careof her parents and striking them in a fight.

Bereaved China Elderly Suffer under One-Child Policy

 
Carol Huang of AFP wrote: “When Wu Rui's 12-year-old daughterdied she lost not just the only child she would ever have but also her sourceof security and support in old age. Today the 55-year-old takes care of herselfand her own elderly parents on a paltry pension in a ramshackle two-room home,living in fear of medical emergencies she has no way to pay for. China'sone-child policy normally leaves four grandparents and two parents relying on asingle caretaker for old age---and bereaved families with none. [Source: CarolHuang, AFP, October 6, 2012]

 An estimated one million families nationwide have losttheir sole descendant since the measure took effect in 1980, and another fourto seven million are expected to do so in the next 20 to 30 years. Many, likeWu, will have no one to help them through the frailties or medical costs of oldage. “If I have a big illness then I probably won't have enough," she saysquietly. “For sure there will be difficulties."

 Wu divorced in 1994 and lost her daughter Zhang Weina oneyear later after a long struggle with epilepsy. She now spends much of her timeat home, knitting sweaters and preparing food in a cramped kitchen---whichdoubles as her 76-year-old mother's bedroom. Her 80-year-old father, hishearing failing, sits one bed over in the narrow room they share. Two lightbulbs dangle from a rope and cracked paint covers the walls. Aside from illhealth, Wu's biggest fear is that their dingy but inexpensive home will soon bedemolished, as many old Beijing residences have been. The other half of theircentrally located neighbourhood has already been replaced by modern towers, andif their alleyway is next they may be moved to an apartment that costs morethan her monthly pension of 2,000 yuan ($310). [Ibid]

 Since 2001 national law has required local governments toprovide “the necessary help” to families who lose their only child, but doesnot define what that entails. Regulations vary by area, with Sichuan provinceallowing families to apply to have another child while Shanghai stipulates aone-time payment of an unspecified amount. Some local governments provide smallstipends, according to state news agency Xinhua, while a Beijing official told localmedia the capital offers 200 yuan a month and ‘spiritual” support in the formof visits from young people. [Ibid] “The rule has always been there but I don'tthink it's very meaningful," says Yi Fuxian, a US-based academic andauthor of “Big Country in an Empty Nest”, which criticises China'sfamily-planning policy.

 Some 4.63 percent of China's 218 million-plus single-childfamilies are expected to lose their son or daughter by the time they reach theage of 25, he says, citing official statistics. [ That would mean more than 10million couples outliving their only child in the next two to three decades,minus a fraction who give birth again. Yi and other demographers argue thatChina must not only provide for these families but also abolish the one-childlimit immediately. Its defenders say it has helped prevent over-population andlift vast numbers of Chinese out of poverty. But it is also creating instead anold-age bubble---by 2050 30 percent of Chinese will be 60 or over, the UNestimates, versus 20 percent worldwide and 10 percent in China in 2000. Withoutmore young people, China will not have enough grandchildren to provide fortheir elders or workers to pay into a social security system the government istrying to build. [Ibid]

 The country can now absorb a higher birth rate withoutrisking over-population, say Yi and others. But the head of the StatePopulation and Family Planning Commission Li Bin told Xinhua in 2011 year thatChina intended to “maintain and improve” existing measures, while understandingthe need to address its ageing population. [Ibid]

 The authorities increasingly recognise the problems theone-child policy created now that its first generation of parents is enteringold age, says Gu Baochang, a professor at Beijing's Renmin University. But theyshould have acted years ago as demographic dangers will only swell with time,he warns. “The later they do this, the greater the pain, the bigger the costs,and the greater the number of families who lose their only child."

 Families like Wu's face not only uncertain futures butalso an unshakeable sense of loss in a culture that emphasises family, Gupoints out. One bereaved mother shares her grief on an online forum for parentslike her: “All beauty has been pulled away, the darkness of the clouds andnight conceal my endless pain." Another parent wrote on the forum: “Weresponded to the call and only had one child. And where is the care and concernfor us? There is none. Cancer, heart and brain disease, depression and otherserious ailments keep coming knocking. “There is no institution facing up toour existence, let alone any department that sympathises with our sorrow. “Wehave fallen into lonely, bitter, tragic circumstances with no one to relyon."

Aging Parents Neglected by the Children in China

 Associated Press reported: “Although respect for theelderly is deeply ingrained in Chinese society, three decades of market reformshave accelerated the breakup of China's traditional extended family, and thereare few affordable alternatives, such as retirement homes. News outletsfrequently carry stories about elderly parents being abused or neglected, or ofchildren seeking to take control of their parents' assets without theirknowledge. State media reported this month that a grandmother in her 90s in theprosperous eastern province of Jiangsu had been forced by her son to live in apig pen for two years. [Source: Associated Press, July 1, 2013, December 28,2012]

 Julie Makinen wrote in the Los Angeles Times, “Already,nearly half of the country's seniors live apart from their children, aphenomenon unheard of a generation ago. Hundreds of millions of young workersfrom the countryside have migrated to cities for work, leaving their parentsbehind, and many urban professionals live apart from Mom and Dad."[Source: Julie Makinen, Los Angeles Times, July 29, 2013]

 Edward Wong wrote in the New York Times, “Many agingparents in China, as in other industrialized nations, complain these days aboutnot seeing their children enough. And the children say the stresses of dailylife, especially in the rapidly expanding cities, prevent them from carving outtime for their parents. “China's economy is flourishing, and lots of youngpeople have moved away to the cities and away from their aging parents invillages," Dang Janwu, vice director of the China Research Center onAging, said. “This is one of the consequences of China's urbanization. Thesocial welfare system can answer to material needs of the elders, but when itcomes to the spiritual needs, a law like this becomes very necessary."[Source: Edward Wong, New York Times, July 2, 2013 <<<]

 “In 2011, Xinhua, the state news agency, ran an articlethat said nearly half of the 185 million people age 60 and older live apartfrom their children. People residing in a different city from their parents,including legions of migrant workers, usually find time to go home only duringthe Lunar New Year holiday. <<<

Law Requires Chinese to Visit Their Aging Parents

 In July 2013, China passed a law requiring children tovisit their aging parents “often” and attend to their spiritual needs if theylive apart. Edward Wong wrote in the New York Times, “ Chinese officialsapparently think it is not enough these days to count on tales and parentaladmonitions to teach children the importance of filial piety, arguably the mosttreasured of traditional virtues in Chinese society. The government enacted alaw aimed at compelling adult children to visit their aging parents. The law,called “ Protection of the Rights and Interests of Elderly People," hasnine clauses that lay out the duties of children and their obligation to tendto the “spiritual needs of the elderly." [Source: Edward Wong, New YorkTimes, July 2, 2013 <<<]

 “Children should go home “often” to visit their parents,the law said, and occasionally send them greetings. Companies and work unitsshould give employees enough time off so they can make parental visits. The lawwas passed in December 2012 by the standing committee of the National People'sCongress. It does not stipulate any punishments for people who neglect theirparents. Nevertheless, that officials felt the need to make filial duty a legalmatter is a reflection of the monumental changes taking place throughoutChinese society." The law does not specify how frequently visits toparents should occur. <<<

 Tao Liqun, a researcher with the Gerontological Society ofChina told the Los Angeles Times, Beyond economic support, seniors need dailycare and emotional comfort: "The new law will focus some attention on thepsychological aspects." One of the drafters, Xiao Jinming, a law professorat Shandong University, told Associated Press the new law was primarily aimedat raising awareness."It is mainly to stress the right of elderly peopleto ask for emotional support. ... We want to emphasize there is such aneed," he said...It remains to be seen how much the amended law changesthe status quo. however. Elderly parents in China already have been suing theiradult children for emotional support, and the new wording does not specify howoften people must visit or clarify penalties for those who do not. [Source:Louise Watt, Associated Press, July 1, 2013 \=/]

Reaction to the Neglected Parent Law

 Julie Makinen wrote in the Los Angeles Times, “Across China,the "visit your parents" measure has inspired applause, derision anda bit of soul-searching: Are the nation's traditional values and time-honoredfamily customs slipping away so fast, many ask, that they must be encoded inlaw? Some seniors say an increasingly self-involved younger generation ofworkaholics needs a stern reminder of its moral obligations. "This is agood law. Children should never forget their parents, no matter how busy theyare," said an 88-year-old retired factory worker, surnamed Mu, who wastaking his daily 6 a.m. constitutional in Beijing's Ritan Park. "I livewith my oldest son, but I have a friend whose kids come back only once a yearto visit." [Source: Julie Makinen, Los Angeles Times, July 29, 2013<*>]

 “But 72-year-old Zhang Boxi, who was doing stretchingexercises nearby with his wife, Cheng Zunying, 70, said the law, which is vagueand doesn't specify punishments, would be hard to implement. "How often is'often'? Every five days? Every 10 days?" he asked. "What if the bosswon't let you take time to go? It's not right to use the law to dictateemotional relations between parents and children, or husbands and wives."Cheng concurred. "If our two sons stopped visiting us, would we sue them?That's impossible," she said, laughing. "Totally impossible."<*>

 Cleaning lady Wang Yi, 57, who lives alone in Shanghai,told Associated Press the new law is "better than nothing." Her twosons work several hundred kilometers (miles) away in southern Guangdongprovince and she sees them only at an annual family reunion. "It is toolittle, for sure. I think twice a year would be good," she said. "WeChinese people raise children to take care of us when we are old."[Source: Louise Watt, Associated Press, July 1, 2013 \=/]

 Zhang Ye, a 36-year-old university lecturer from easternJiangsu Province, said the amended law was "unreasonable" and put toomuch pressure on people who migrate away from home in search of work orindependence. "For young people who are abroad or work really far away fromtheir parents, it is just too hard and too expensive to visit theirparents," she said. "I often go to visit my parents and call them ...(but) if a young person doesn't want to, I doubt such a law will work."\=/

 Edward Wong wrote in the New York Times, Chinese officialshave “said the law had already been successful in prompting significantdiscussion of the issue. Others have been more skeptical. Guo Cheng, anovelist, told the 1.3-million followers of his microblog: “Kinship is part ofhuman nature; it is ridiculous to make it into a law. It is like requiringcouples who have gotten married to have a harmonious sex life." [Source:Edward Wong, New York Times, July 2, 2013 <<<]

Proposed Law Would Punish Grown Children Who Demand Money fromTheir Parents

 “The Civil Affairs Ministry is not the only governmentagency rushing to the defense of older people. Last week, the eastern provinceof Jiangsu passed an ordinance forbidding adult children from forcing theirparents to give them money or goods, according to The Yangzi EveningNews."[Source: Sharon Lafraniere, New York Times, January 29, 2011]

 China terms adult children who lean too heavily on theirparents “kenlao zu”---literally, people who nibble on their elders. The ChineseResearch Center on Aging, a government-financed research center under the CivilAffairs Ministry, estimates that 3 in 10 adult Chinese remain partly or totallyfinancially dependent on their parents.

 Like the proposed national amendment, the provincialordinance encourages adult children to see their parents regularly. Whatconstitutes regular---as opposed to occasional or infrequent---is unclear. Sois how such a requirement could be enforced. Mr. Wu, the Civil Affairs Ministryofficial, said in his interview with The Legal Evening News that lawsuitsaccusing children of emotional neglect of their parents “would be differentfrom normal lawsuits. Because the amendment tries to govern social behavior, hesaid, ‘some details cannot be set forth very clearly." He suggested somelawsuits might end in supervision or mediation.

 The amendment also addresses the need for more facilities,community care and in-home services for the older people, as well as the needfor more social benefits, like free routine medical checkups. A spokesman forthe ministry said he could not comment on the proposed amendment because it hadnot yet become law.

Cases of Elderly Parents Suing Their Children

 “The notion that adult children should care for their agedparents is deeply ingrained in Chinese society, Sharon Lafraniere wrote in theNew York Times. “Offspring who shirk their responsibilities are met withscorn---and sometimes legal judgments. In Shandong Province, for instance, acourt ordered three daughters to each pay their 80-year-old mother between 350to 500 renminbi, roughly $53 to $75 a month, after the mother claimed that theyignored her and treated her like a burden, The Qingdao Evening Newsreported." [Source: Sharon Lafraniere, New York Times, January 29, 2011]

 Louise Watt of Associated Press wrote: “Even before theLaw of Protection of Rights and Interests of the Aged was amended, there wereseveral cases of elderly parents suing their children for emotional support.Court officials generally settle such cases by working out an arrangement forsons or daughters to agree to visit more frequently. Typically, no money isinvolved. In the first ruling since the new wording, a court in the easternChinese city of Wuxi ordered a couple to visit the woman's mother or facepossible fines — and even detention." The court ruled that the woman andher husband and visit the 77-year-old mother — who lives 40 kilometers away —at least once every two months to tend to her “spiritual needs” in addition tomandatory holiday visits, or face possible fines and detention, according tothe state-run People's Court Daily. The court also ruled the couple had to paycompensation [Source: Louise Watt, Associated Press, July 1, 2013]

 Julie Makinen wrote in the Los Angeles Times, “Kleenex inhand, the retired farmer in the purple plaid shirt perched behind theplaintiff's table in a rural courtroom and wept as she complained to the judgeabout her eldest son. For the last year and a half, 78-year-old Li Lanyu said,she's been asking him to visit and provide her with grain and cooking oil."The son has forgotten the mother!" she shouted, burying her face inher hands. Her son wasn't there to defend himself. Although he tends a plot ofland, he leaves for weeks at a time to toil as a construction worker hundredsof miles away. His wife and daughter told the judge he earns just $166 a month.Visiting more often was possible, the daughter said, but they could afford onlya fraction of the food the grandmother wanted. Until recently, Li Wanglun, 60,may have been a disappointment, even an embarrassment, to his mother...Now,though, he may also be a lawbreaker...Li's lawsuit was widely reported in theChinese media. It was the first such case to come before a court in Sichuanprovince. Cases also have been brought in Henan and Jiangsu provinces. [Source:Julie Makinen, Los Angeles Times, July 29, 2013]

Neglected Parent Law: Beijing Shirking Its Responsibility to theElderly

 Julie Makinen wrote in the Los Angeles Times, “Someyounger people believe the government's campaign is not all altruistic butinstead reflects concern about the demands that a swelling population ofseniors and a shrinking group of workers will put on state finances.Authorities, they say, want individuals to bear a significant share of the costof elder care." [Source: Julie Makinen, Los Angeles Times, July 29, 2013<*>]

 “Lou Luo, 32, an Internet marketing specialist in Beijing,visits his parents, both 60, once a year in the northeastern province of Jilin.Eventually, he said, he or his younger brother will have to move back there tolook after them because government residency rules make it impossible for hisparents to move to the capital. "My parents cannot collect their pensionand get their medical bills reimbursed in Beijing if they come to live withme," he said. "So the elderly are too scared to leave theirhometown." Lou said he worries that if his parents get seriously ill, theexpenses will not be covered by state insurance and will be overwhelming."I'm not going to get married or have children, as having children is verycostly," he said. "Being childless will make me financially moreburden-free to care for my parents." <*>

 “Tao said the state needs to think creatively about itsnext policy steps. Among the possible initiatives he suggested: designatingspecific holidays for home visits, offering real estate tax incentives toencourage people to live near their parents or offering credits for those whotake care of their severely ill parents at home."The children also need tobe supported," he said. "It can't all be one-sided." <*>

Poverty and the Elderly in China

 In the cities some retirees and pensioners get by on solittle they subsist off cabbage and turnips and do not watch television or turnon the heat in their apartments because they can't afford the utility bills.

 Already China is facing a situation in the countryside inwhich low-skilled peasants are forced to support themselves doing physicallabor such as demanding field work as old age and disability set in.

 There are alarmingly high suicides rates among theelderly, caused by loneliness or unwillingness to stick their families withlarge medical bills.

Suicide and Other Serious Problems Among the Elderly in China

 “Concerns about how to care for China's older people aregrowing as the nation's population rapidly gets older, wealthier and moreurbanized," Sharon Lafraniere wrote in the New York Times. Half of thoseover the age of 60 suffer from chronic illness and about 3 in 10 suffer fromdepression or other mental disorders, the group said. [Source: SharonLafraniere, New York Times, January 29, 2011]

 China has the world's third highest elderly suicide rate,trailing only South Korea and Taiwan, according to Jing Jun, a sociologyprofessor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, who compiled figures from theWorld Health Organization and Taiwan. The figures show a disturbing increase insuicides among the urban elderly in the past decade, a trend Mr. Jing blamespartly on urbanization. [Ibid]

 The average suicide rate among people 70 to 74 living incities nearly tripled between 2002 and 2009, compared with the average rate forthe 1990s, his research shows. On the plus side, government-provided insurancecovering basic medical care has eased stress, possibly contributing to the declinein the suicide rate for the elderly in cities after 2006. In rural areas, therate of suicides among the same age group fell compared with the 1990s, Mr.Jing said, but still remains far higher than the rate in urban areas. [Ibid]

More than 9 Million Chinese Have Dementia

 Around 9.19 million people in China had dementia in 2010,compared with 3.68 million 20 years earlier, according to a study in thejournal The Lancet based on examining 89 academic studies published in Englishand Chinese between 1990 and 2010. AFP reported: “In what its authors say isthe most detailed study into age-related mental health in China, the paper saysprevalence of dementia there is rising far faster than thought and the countryis ill-equipped to deal with the problem. The team's aim was to go beyondprevious probes where data was sketchy, and derive estimates on the basis ofinternationally-recognised diagnoses. They calculate that in 2010 there were9.19 million people with dementia in China, of whom 5.69 million had Alzheimer's.This compares with 3.68 million cases of dementia in 1990, of whom 1.93 millionhad Alzheimer's." [Source: AFP, June 8, 2013 <<>>]

 “The 2010 estimate means that China that year had moreindividuals living with Alzheimer's disease than any other country in theworld, says the study. It says global estimates for this disease may have to beramped up by at least five million cases, or almost 20 percent. One of the leadauthors, Igor Rudan of the University of Edinburgh Medical School in Scotland,told AFP the dementia rise was partly due to a demographic bulge. China'spopulation live far longer today than two decades ago, in parallel with thecountry's rise in prosperity, he said. "Before, the age for dementia,which is usually over 75, was rarely being reached in low- and middle-incomecountries... All of a sudden you have an explosion in the older populationrange, which is reflected in the cases of dementia." “Rudan added, though,that demographics only explained part of the rise in incidence. He did not ruleout the possibility that dementia was being detected and recorded more widelytoday than in the past. <<>>

 “The paper raised tough questions about China'spreparedness, given that western countries are only now beginning to realisethe hugely expensive bill for helping people with dementia. For example, theresearchers found that dementia is more prevalent among Chinese women thanamong men. This has major implications for health policy, as women in Chinalive far longer than men and comprise up to 75 percent of the population aged85 years or older. "Adequate resources should be provided at the national,local, family and individual levels to tackle this growing problem," saidresearcher Wei Wang of Edith Cowan Medical University in Perth, Australia, andCapital, Medical University in Beijing. "Public awareness campaigns areneeded to counteract common misconceptions about dementia - including that itis not very common in the Chinese population, that it is a normal part ofageing, or that it is better not to know about it because nothing can be doneabout it." <<>>

 Image Sources: 1) Posters, Landsberger Posters http://www.iisg.nl/~landsberger/; 2) Photos, Beifan and Julie Chao

Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los AngelesTimes, Times of London, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek,Reuters, AP, Lonely Planet Guides, Compton's Encyclopedia and various books andother publications.

Last updated July 2015