Survey finds respondents treat parents with respect

A local survey found that 70 percent of respondents believe they treat their parents with respect and dutifully address their parents' needs, local media reported Thursday.

The survey, which the Shanghai Women's Federation and the Research Center of Social Gender and Development at Fudan University published jointly, sought to discover Internet users' attitudes about the modern version of the 24 rules for filial piety to mark the upcoming Chongyang Festival Tuesday, according to a report in Youth Daily. The holiday celebrates senior citizens.

The All-China Women's Federation and China National Committee on Ageing updated the code in August because the traditional rules about how to treat one's parents were hopelessly out of date in some cases, according to a previous report by the Xinhua News Agency.

For example, the traditional rules require children to taste medicine to test the temperature before giving it to their parents. They also state that children should warm their parents' beds on cold nights before they go to sleep.

The updated version included items such as calling your parents once a week, cooking for your parents and spending your holidays together.

Nearly all the respondents acknowledged the value of publishing an updated version of the code because it serves as a guide to how to meet parents' physical and emotional needs, according to Youth Daily.

The survey found that about 41 percent of respondents have taught their parents how to use the Internet, which was one of the items listed in the updated version of the code. About 40 percent said that the modern code was easier to carry out.

The majority of those surveyed favored the idea that adult children should financially support their parents with allowances, regardless of whether their parents asked for them.