Senior care in China's rural areas

Nowadays, most people in rural areas have been flocking to big cities to find jobs, leaving some elderly back in the village. As less young migrant workers return back to the village, a phenomenon called "empty village" has caused nationwide attention. Who will take care of those left behind? Liu Yang gives us some insights from Fuxing Village in the southwestern China's Sichuan province.

China has a huge labour force, but in some rural areas, it is no longer the case. 62 year old Chen Guiying's children have been working in the coastal provinces for 5 years and only return once a year, leaving her and her husband to take care of the land; Both Yin Xiulian's husband and children working in the cities,and haven't been working in the fields for years, but when they come back, they will bring the most important item for this big family - money, to pay for the family's expenses.

Villager Yin Xiulan said, "My husband and son out to the city to work, and I do everything at home like feeding chicken, pigs and farming in the land, and making meals for my daughter and grand-sons. Nowadays, the cost are higher, so they had to go out to earn money support the whole family. "

According to a China Agricultureal University survey, 20 millions of children and 20 millions of elderly, and 47 million women, toally 87 million people are left- behind in China's rural areas. To earn higher income, young and skilled villagers have left their home and found jobs in cities, their departure from rural areas has created new problems for the country's less developed rural areas.

Liu Yang, Fuxing Village in Sichuan, said, "China's flight of labor from rural to urban areas has caused many social issues including problems with elderly care, lack of parental guidance for children, and public security problems. Another issue is that instead of male labour force bearing the heavy agricultural production, now women are the major labor force in China's rural areas, if this situation continues, it will slow down the sustainable development of the rural areas. "

Chen Guiying, without children to help her, goes to Fu Xing Village elderly care center. The Fu Xing Village has provided support to the elderly, in the form of medical care, entertainment, and meals, all these has given them emotional supports

many ways to support the elderly, such as afterwards,for the elderly which plays big role for the quality of seniors. So far, about 400 elderly people have used the care service in the village.

Shen Maoying, deputy Director of Institute of Economics, SASS, said, "For seniors who live in the rural area, first is the economic demand, second and most important one is the emotional support and third, is the medical care service. The government most of the time over emphasized the economic support for the elderly but overlooked emotional support for them."

Analysts stressed wide disparities between rural and urban areas in terms of elderly care and access to infrastructure and services. Enhance quality of village elderly care will both benefit left behind children and the balanced development of rural and urban area.