Law requires Chinese to visit their aging parents
LOUISE WATT, AP
BEIJING
(AP) — Mothers and fathers aren't the only ones urging adult children
to visit their parents. China's lawbooks are now issuing the same
imperative.
New
wording in the law requiring people to visit or keep in touch with
their elderly parents or risk being sued came into force Monday, as
China faces increasing difficulty in caring
for its aging population.
The
amended law does little to change the status quo, however, because
elderly parents in China already have been suing their adult children
for emotional support and the new wording
does not specify how often people must visit or clarify penalties for
those who do not.
It
is primarily aimed at raising awareness of the issue, said one of the
drafters, Xiao Jinming, a law professor at Shandong University. "It is
mainly to stress the right of elderly people
to ask for emotional support ... we want to emphasize there is such a
need," he said.
Cleaning
lady Wang Yi, 57, who lives alone in Shanghai, said the new law is
"better than nothing." Her two sons work several hundred kilometers
(miles) away in southern Guangdong province
and she sees them only at an annual family reunion.
"It
is too little, for sure, I think twice a year would be good," she said.
"We Chinese people raise children to take care of us when we are old."
China's
legislature amended the law in December following frequent reports of
elderly parents neglected by their children. It says offspring of
parents older than 60 should see that their
daily, financial and spiritual needs are met.
Although
respect for the elderly is deeply engrained in Chinese society, three
decades of market reforms have accelerated the breakup of China's
traditional extended family, and there
are few affordable alternatives, such as retirement homes.
Xiao
said even before the Law of Protection of Rights and Interests of the
Aged was amended, there were several cases of elderly parents suing
their children for emotional support. Court
officials generally settle such cases by working out an arrangement for
sons or daughters to agree to visit more frequently. Typically, no
money is involved.
The
number of people aged 60 and above in China is expected to jump from
the current 185 million to 487 million, or 35 percent of the population,
by 2053, according to figures from the
China National Committee On Aging. The expanding ratio is due both an
increase in life expectancy — from 41 to 73 over five decades — and by
family planning policies that limit most urban families to a single
child.
Rapid
aging poses serious threats to the country's social and economic
stability, as the burden of supporting the growing number of elderly
passes to a proportionately shrinking working
population and the social safety net remains weak.
Zhang
Ye, a 36-year-old university lecturer from eastern Jiangsu Province,
said the amended law was "unreasonable" and put too much pressure on
people who migrate away from home in search
of work or independence.
"For
young people who are abroad or work really far away from their parents,
it is just too hard and too expensive to visit their parents," 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."
——
AP researchers Flora Ji in Beijing and Fu Ting in Shanghai contributed to this report.
(traditional family values it’s the law!)
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