More than 8.3 percent of the Chinese population are above 65, and in most cities, more than 50 percent of the elderly people live without the company of their children, a group that is called "empty nest" families, said Chen Chuanshu, vice director of the National Office on Aging and chairman of the Chinese Aging Association.
Chen was speaking Wednesday at a forum on gerontics organized by Beijing University.
Experts attributed the "empty nest" problem partly to the single child policy that started about 30 years ago and the changing values of filial piety.
Many young people now work outside their hometown, and even if they are in the same city where their parents live, they tend to live alone after marriage, Chen noted.
In rural areas, the problem is driven by migration of young people. The country has hundreds of millions of migrant workers from rural areas, who leave their parents at home.
Due to the hukou policy, or the policy of registered permanent residence, their parents couldn't go with them, Chen said.
With so many elderly people living in "empty nests", taking care of them has become a social problem, which needs efforts of entire society, said Liu Jitong, associate professor from the Department of Health Policy and Management School of Public Health in Beijing University.
"Filial piety alone is not enough to solve the problem," Liu said.
The professor suggested that subsidy be given to young people who take care of their parents, rather than sending them to nursing houses. "This serves as incentive for home care of the elderly."
Meanwhile, he believed that the conception of insurance should be expanded.
"After the elderly people turn in an amount of money before their retirement, they should not only enjoy a monetary insurance, but services funded by the government and provided by society," he said.
In rural areas, a universal pension should be given to elderly people, experts said.
Talking about the mental care of the elderly, Zhang Kaiti, director of the China Research Center on Aging, said that the elderly should learn to seek happiness on their own, rather than relying on their children.
"While society is promoting filial piety and calling on young people to give more attention to their parents, the elderly people should help each other, trying by themselves to make their life colorful," he said. [rc]
Source: Xinhua
Copyright by People's Daily
October 22, 2009
CHINA: Experts call for more care to "empty nests"
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BEIJING, China / People's Daily / Society / October 22, 2009
Chinese experts are calling for more care to elderly people as more than half of the grey hairs in most cities in the country live in "empty nests".
More than 8.3 percent of the Chinese population are above 65, and in most cities, more than 50 percent of the elderly people live without the company of their children, a group that is called "empty nest" families, said Chen Chuanshu, vice director of the National Office on Aging and chairman of the Chinese Aging Association.
Chen was speaking Wednesday at a forum on gerontics organized by Beijing University.
Experts attributed the "empty nest" problem partly to the single child policy that started about 30 years ago and the changing values of filial piety.
Many young people now work outside their hometown, and even if they are in the same city where their parents live, they tend to live alone after marriage, Chen noted.
In rural areas, the problem is driven by migration of young people. The country has hundreds of millions of migrant workers from rural areas, who leave their parents at home.
Due to the hukou policy, or the policy of registered permanent residence, their parents couldn't go with them, Chen said.
With so many elderly people living in "empty nests", taking care of them has become a social problem, which needs efforts of entire society, said Liu Jitong, associate professor from the Department of Health Policy and Management School of Public Health in Beijing University.
"Filial piety alone is not enough to solve the problem," Liu said.
The professor suggested that subsidy be given to young people who take care of their parents, rather than sending them to nursing houses. "This serves as incentive for home care of the elderly."
Meanwhile, he believed that the conception of insurance should be expanded.
"After the elderly people turn in an amount of money before their retirement, they should not only enjoy a monetary insurance, but services funded by the government and provided by society," he said.
In rural areas, a universal pension should be given to elderly people, experts said.
Talking about the mental care of the elderly, Zhang Kaiti, director of the China Research Center on Aging, said that the elderly should learn to seek happiness on their own, rather than relying on their children.
"While society is promoting filial piety and calling on young people to give more attention to their parents, the elderly people should help each other, trying by themselves to make their life colorful," he said. [rc]
Source: Xinhua
Copyright by People's Daily
More than 8.3 percent of the Chinese population are above 65, and in most cities, more than 50 percent of the elderly people live without the company of their children, a group that is called "empty nest" families, said Chen Chuanshu, vice director of the National Office on Aging and chairman of the Chinese Aging Association.
Chen was speaking Wednesday at a forum on gerontics organized by Beijing University.
Experts attributed the "empty nest" problem partly to the single child policy that started about 30 years ago and the changing values of filial piety.
Many young people now work outside their hometown, and even if they are in the same city where their parents live, they tend to live alone after marriage, Chen noted.
In rural areas, the problem is driven by migration of young people. The country has hundreds of millions of migrant workers from rural areas, who leave their parents at home.
Due to the hukou policy, or the policy of registered permanent residence, their parents couldn't go with them, Chen said.
With so many elderly people living in "empty nests", taking care of them has become a social problem, which needs efforts of entire society, said Liu Jitong, associate professor from the Department of Health Policy and Management School of Public Health in Beijing University.
"Filial piety alone is not enough to solve the problem," Liu said.
The professor suggested that subsidy be given to young people who take care of their parents, rather than sending them to nursing houses. "This serves as incentive for home care of the elderly."
Meanwhile, he believed that the conception of insurance should be expanded.
"After the elderly people turn in an amount of money before their retirement, they should not only enjoy a monetary insurance, but services funded by the government and provided by society," he said.
In rural areas, a universal pension should be given to elderly people, experts said.
Talking about the mental care of the elderly, Zhang Kaiti, director of the China Research Center on Aging, said that the elderly should learn to seek happiness on their own, rather than relying on their children.
"While society is promoting filial piety and calling on young people to give more attention to their parents, the elderly people should help each other, trying by themselves to make their life colorful," he said. [rc]
Source: Xinhua
Copyright by People's Daily
