HANGZHOU / The Economist / Life/ Apr 21, 2012
Old-people’s homes are full, as attitudes to the elderly change
EIGHTY-nine-year-old Zheng Jixuan is thrilled with the place where he
will live out his dotage: a small but comfy room in the newly built wing
of an old-people’s home in the city of Hangzhou, 180km (110 miles)
south-west of Shanghai. Though Mr Zheng’s son lives in the same city, he
does not have time to care for his father, so old Mr Zheng has moved
into the Hangzhou City Christian Nursing Home. As a retired doctor, he
cheerfully tends to the minor ailments of other residents. The home is
“better than in America,” he says, and good value at just $250 a month,
paid from his pension.
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| All together now |
Mr Zheng’s nursing home draws together within its walls two profound
changes in urban China: the growing number of old people whose children
cannot or will not take care of them, and a government willingness to
allow religious groups to take on the task. The Hangzhou home enjoys a
subsidy from the local government of 10,000 yuan ($1,600) for each new
bed. Funding has also come from Christian donors, and the deputy
director, Zhou Wenjie, says any new resident must be a Christian or at
least open to becoming one.
Non-government institutions account for about 20% of the 33,000 beds
for the elderly in the city, says Sun Xiaodong, deputy director of
another nursing home, the government-run Hangzhou Social Welfare Centre.
But, he says, supply cannot keep up with demand. When Mr Sun’s nursing
home opened in 1999, the first phase of 500 beds took four years to
fill. Now, with a total of 1,400 beds, it has a waiting list of more
than 1,000 names. Another 2,000-bed home is already being built, and
there are plans for one that will house 5,000 pensioners.
Shifting attitudes to the elderly in China’s cities have created a
huge market opportunity. Mark Spitalnik, an American who runs China
Senior Care in Hangzhou, began forming a business plan five years ago
for a nursing home that would charge nearly $5,000 per month. He did his
market research on the golf course. (“Any guy that’s playing golf in
China is in my target market, right?”)
Mr Spitalnik says that if he told his Chinese golfing partners the
idea for his business on the first tee, they would say it did not make
sense, because China’s tradition of filial piety requires children to
look after their parents. He says he could usually persuade them
otherwise by the sixth tee. Today, he says, such persuasion is no longer
necessary. Other American care-providers are now rushing in too.
Mr Sun, the care-home director, believes the government should
encourage more private nursing homes, including those run by religious
charities, because the need is so great. Central-government policy may
be helping. In late February the government issued a document that
seemed to encourage religious groups to do charity work. The proposal
applies only to officially approved religious organisations, and the
Communist Party remains cautious about the influence of religious
groups. But it is also aware of the growing needs of society, and its
own inability to meet them.
Copyright © The Economist Newspaper Limited 2012.
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