Recent reports have given evidence to growing fears of demographic ageing and the implications that it may hold for the care of seniors around the world. The trend of ageing populations has now become a global concern and many countries including England, South Korea, and India have begun implementing programs that aim to alleviate some of the foreseeable challenges. None of these countries however, has proposed changes as radical as The National People’s Congress of China.
While other countries are focusing their efforts on increasing access to prescription medications, encouraging community-care models, or establishing geriatric centers, China is considering an amendment to a senior protection law that would make it possible for parents to sue their children for failing to meet their filial duties. If approved, the amendment to the Law on Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Aged would be the first since its implementation in 1996.
“Under the amendment, elderly people who are ignored by their children can go to court to claim their legal rights to be physically and mentally looked after,” explained Wu Ming, Deputy Minister of Civil Affairs, to the Shandong Business Daily.
According to AOL News, the change is largely related to China’s one-child policy, which has left many parents with only one child to care for them. Back when China was a rural, agrarian society, you would often have four generations living under one roof explained Professor Shujie Yao, head of the School of Contemporary Chinese Studies at England’s Nottingham University. China’s new economic climate however, has made it almost necessary for those children to relocate to the booming cities in search of work, often having to leave their ageing parents behind.
The proposal for this amendment has spurred much online debate. Some have explained that people are not reluctant to return home to visit their parents, but the demand for work and the congestion of public transport during holiday seasons has inhibited many from being able to do so. Yet the discussion remains divided because although the proposal is unorthodox (at least to western cultures), it is difficult to deny that there is a need to improve care for the nearly 84 million Chinese seniors who are currently living alone.
Many young Chinese say the new law will be impossible to enforce and others are arguing that the requirement to visit elderly family members violates personal liberty. But proponents on the other side of the debate suggest that the law is instrumental in preserving China’s ancient system of elderly care. Regardless of the merits of either argument, the debate over the proposed amendment is at least a starting point for the larger concern of improving care for the senior citizens of China.
