First elderly care case heard after law amendment(2)

They have raised questions about how often children must visit their elderly parents and what penalties will be meted out for those who fail to do so.

"More quantitative measures should be added to the law to make its implementation feasible," said Zeng Ling of Qinxian Law Firm, based in Xiamen, eastern province of Fujian.

The court ruled that Chu's daughter must visit her mother every other month after taking into consideration the distance between their homes, which is 40 kilometers, according to Gao Xin, the judge who handled the case.

"There is no precedent, so it was like we were crossing the river by feeling for the stones," Gao said.

He added that he hopes the Supreme People's Court will issue a judicial interpretation of the provision as soon as possible.

Handling cases concerning the elderly's emotional needs from their offspring is more complicated than judging economic disputes between them, Yuan said, "But that should not constitute an excuse for us to turn a blind eye to the predicaments of the elderly."

Opponents have also raised concerns about the legislation of moral issues like respecting the elderly, a traditional Chinese virtue that has been challenged by the country's three decades of heady economic growth.

"Using laws to address a moral decline is a grief for our society," said Yang Chao, a resident in Nanjing, provincial capital of Jiangsu.

The legislation that makes filial piety a legal requirement chiefly aims to promote the traditional value rather than impose compulsory duties on the young, said Wang Jianwen, a law professor with the Nanjing-based Hehai University.

"The public should not solely fixate on the enforcement of the law, or our long-treasured tradition would become a joke," Wang said.

The law amendment has also been deemed unfair for those who work far away from their parents.

"It's just too expensive for me to see my parents 'regularly.' Once a year at most, I can't afford more," said Wang Xiaobin, a 36-year-old man who works at a construction site in Fujian, about 2,000 kilometers from his hometown in Sichuan.

Parents of the busy young workforce also feel caught in a dilemma.

Li Jinfeng, 75, and her husband live in Nanjing. They said they are dying to see their children often, "but we would never bring a lawsuit against them. We don't want them punished."

The mobility of the workforce is an inevitable consequence of economic development, said Yang Chao, who can only visit his parents who live in China's far west once a year.

"The government should pay that cost, rather than shift the burden to us by simply enacting a law," the Nanjing resident said.