An elderly Chinese man smokes as he plays with his grandchild at a park in Beijing in this file photo.(Photo: Elizabeth Dalziel/AP)
BEIJING -- Visit your parents. That's an order.
So says China,
whose national legislature on Friday amended its law on the elderly to
require that adult children visit their aged parents "often" - or risk
being sued by them.
The amendment does not specify how frequently such visits should occur.
State
media say the new clause will allow elderly parents who feel neglected
by their children to take them to court. The move comes as reports
abound of elderly parents being abandoned or ignored by their children.
A
rapidly developing China is facing increasing difficulty in caring for
its aging population. Three decades of market reforms have accelerated
the breakup of the traditional extended family in China, and there are
few affordable alternatives, such as retirement or care homes, for the
elderly or others unable to live on their own.
Earlier this month,
state media reported that a grandmother in her 90s in the prosperous
eastern province of Jiangsu had been forced by her son to live in a pig
pen for two years. News outlets frequently carry stories about other
parents being abused or neglected, or of children seeking control of
their elderly parents' assets without their knowledge.
The
expansion of China's elderly population is being fueled both by an
increase in life expectancy - from 41 to 73 over five decades - and by
family planning policies that limit most 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.
Associated Press