{"id":295321,"date":"2021-07-09T22:49:24","date_gmt":"2021-07-09T19:49:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/as-chinas-population-greys-the-burden-of-care-weighs-on-families\/"},"modified":"2021-07-09T22:49:24","modified_gmt":"2021-07-09T19:49:24","slug":"as-chinas-population-greys-the-burden-of-care-weighs-on-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/as-chinas-population-greys-the-burden-of-care-weighs-on-families\/","title":{"rendered":"#As China’s population greys, the burden of care weighs on families"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#As China’s population greys, the burden of care weighs on families<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n

BEIJING \u2013 In Heyuejia, a\u00a0care\u00a0home in western Beijing, new residents announced their advanced ages and illustrious former\u00a0careers to app<\/a>lause from a crowded hall, before tucking into a candle-decorated cake and dancing.<\/p>\n

Spacious rooms, nutritious food, and activities from calligraphy to art therapy are on offer to residents \u2013 largely retired professionals \u2013 for around $1,541.54 a month. Prices scale with the level of\u00a0care\u00a0needed.<\/p>\n

Such facilities play a key role in other aging countries such as Japan. But experts say\u00a0China\u2019s\u00a0relative lack of wealth and a dearth of qualified\u00a0carers has hamstrung the sector, keeping the\u00a0burden\u00a0of\u00a0care\u00a0on\u00a0families.<\/p>\n

China had 264 million citizens aged 60 and older in 2020, a number set to increase rapidly just as the working\u00a0population\u00a0shrinks.<\/p>\n

HNA Investment Group opened Heyuejia in 2016 as part of efforts to \u201crespond to\u00a0China\u2019s\u00a0aging crisis,\u201d according to a company statement.<\/p>\n

Helped by government subsidies, more than 40,000 registered homes have been built in recent decades. But many are too expensive or too low quality to replace family\u00a0care, experts say.<\/p>\n

\"Ding
Ding Dihe, 77, (C) assembles Chinese national flags while chatting with other residents at Heyuejia, a care home for the elderly, in Beijing, China May 26, 2021. <\/figcaption>
REUTERS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some facilities have long waiting lists. But most are quite empty \u2013 average occupancy rates are as low as 50%, official data suggests, far lower than the 80%-90% rates seen in Japan or the UK.<\/p>\n

Wang Yiguang, 85, a retired scientist who moved into Heyuejia in 2018, likes the\u00a0care\u00a0home and can comfortably afford it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere you have someone to help you at any time, and there\u2019s a doctor to see if you need to go to the hospital,\u201d Wang said.<\/p>\n

One of her sons, living in the U.S., had resisted the move. He had seen Americans in\u00a0care\u00a0homes who seemed sluggish and irritable.<\/p>\n

But her son came around when he saw how happy his parents were, said Wang, who sings in a Russian-language choir with other residents who studied in the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n

\"Wang
Wang Yiguang, 85, (in red dress) dances with her husband Yang Hou, 86, during an event to welcome new residents and celebrate birthdays at Heyuejia, a care home for the elderly, in Beijing, China May 25, 2021. <\/figcaption>
Reuters<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Not enough caregivers <\/strong><\/p>\n

Bei Wu, a professor at New York University who has researched aging in China since the 1980s, said high fees and poor staffing push away potential residents. China planned a decade ago to train 6 million\u00a0caregivers by 2020. Just 300,000 were qualified by 2017, according to a report cited by state news<\/a> agency Xinhua. The latest calls for 2 million to be trained by 2022.<\/p>\n

Until recently almost all the elderly were looked after by family members, Wu said. But shrinking\u00a0families, migration, and a decline in a sense of filial duty has led to the \u201cerosion of the family support system,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Without more frontline staff and expanded community-based\u00a0care, the pressures on\u00a0families\u00a0will mount, she said.<\/p>\n

Yang Wei, an engineer from northern Hebei province, said that his grandfather, who is nearly 90, had wanted to try out a\u00a0care\u00a0home to reduce the stress on his family after a bad fall.<\/p>\n

He moved into one that cost 4,000 yuan a month. But staff didn\u2019t seem to\u00a0care\u00a0about residents\u2019 well being, Yang said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe staff weren\u2019t professional. And there weren\u2019t enough,\u201d Yang said. \u201cEven if you spend more money\u2026 it is still difficult for the elderly to enjoy good\u00a0care\u00a0in nursing homes, and\u00a0families\u00a0can\u2019t be completely at ease. So we took Grandpa home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Li
Li Hongtao, 86, and his wife Ding Dihe, 77, watch performers dance during an event to welcome new residents and celebrate birthdays at Heyuejia, a care home for the elderly, in Beijing, China May 25, 2021. <\/figcaption>
Reuters <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Costly care<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nie Guihua, 72, has been looking after her husband, Yang Shulin, for nearly two decades,<\/p>\n

He had a stroke at 55, can no longer speak, and uses a wheelchair. Nie also helps\u00a0care\u00a0for her two grandchildren.<\/p>\n

Nie and her husband each get 800 yuan a month from the state \u2013 about two-thirds the cost of a\u00a0care\u00a0home near where they live in a village outside Beijing.<\/p>\n

Her son, Yang Xiaoli, who is divorced, drives buses for a living, and often only gets home late at night.<\/p>\n

Nie, a former farmer, was fined for having her son under the one-child policy, a key contributor to\u00a0China\u2019s\u00a0rapidly aging\u00a0population\u00a0that was relaxed in 2016.<\/p>\n

Yang said even if they could afford such\u00a0care, other pressures would make it impossible.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf my mum and my dad were in a\u00a0care\u00a0home, who would look after the kids?\u201d he said. (Reporting by Gabriel Crossley and Beijing newsroom.<\/p>\n

\"A
A resident pushes a wheelchair while holding a Chinese national flag at Heyuejia, a care home for the elderly, in Beijing, China May 26, 2021. <\/figcaption>
Reuters <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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“#As China’s population greys, the burden of care weighs on families” BEIJING \u2013 In Heyuejia, a\u00a0care\u00a0home in western Beijing, new residents announced their advanced ages and illustrious former\u00a0careers to applause from a crowded hall, before tucking into a candle-decorated cake and dancing. Spacious rooms, nutritious food, and activities from calligraphy to art therapy are on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":295322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/Heyuejia-care-home-Beijing-017.jpg?quality=80&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[111504,76715,4973,70365],"class_list":["post-295321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-7-9-21","tag-aging","tag-china","tag-senior-citizens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}