More Chinese seniors find home in elder care facilities
Print Edition
QIAN Liqun, a professor with the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Peking University, chose to spend his remaining years with his wife in a nursing home.
Though some people questioned the decision of Qian, a noted writer and intellectual, an increasing number of Chinese senior citizens are now opting to live in nursing homes rather than spend their twilight years with their offspring at home.
Gao Lanzhi, 75, lives a full life without loneliness or fear at one such home, while her daughters live abroad. A year ago, Gao moved to the Happiness Senior Citizens Care Center, a private nursing home in west Beijing. Her single room is filled with books, gadgets and daily necessities. Chinese calligraphy, singing, photography, baking... Gao has many things to do. As she said, “here is my home.”
She underwent knee surgery last year. After that, she chose not to hire a home nursing aid. Instead, she moved into the care center, where she wound up in the company of over 200 fellow residents and staff.
“The nursing home provides me with a quiet and reliable place to do what I like and meet peers,” Gao said.
Still, according to Hu Tongwei, the center’s director, not everyone adjusts as well as Gao.
“Most of them feel panicked and lonely at first when they are taken here by their sons or daughters,” said Hu, who added that some residents never completely settle in.
Given current demographic realities in China, it is now generally accepted that the country’s elderly population is set to surge over the years ahead. According to some estimates, the number of people in China over the age of 60 could reach 480 million by the end of 2050, up from 212 million in 2014.
Along the way, more senior citizens will likely find themselves living alone, or without the companionship of their children.
According to Hu and other experts, this means demand for nursing home services will also increase over the coming decades.
Currently, the center that Hu directs contains 300 single and double rooms, with prices starting at 3,800 yuan (US$600) per month. The center is almost full now.
Other nursing facilities in China’s big cities are also reporting similar occupancy rates.
A recent nationwide sample though found that roughly half of all elder care center beds are now empty. This is mainly due to weak demand in the countryside, explained Wu Yushao, director of the China Research Center on Aging.
Hu echoed this observation and explained that as young people leave their rural homes to build urban lives, some are also now taking their aging relatives with them. “They hope to give the parents better nursing service in big cities,” he said.
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