An elderly woman and her grandchild in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (File photo/Chinanews.com)
(ECNS) -- A new survey has found that 43 percent of "left-behind" seniors in China's rural areas want their children to visit during holidays, with 26 percent hoping their children would be able to return home once a month.
These seniors, whose children work outside their hometowns, account for 55 percent of all respondents to the survey on Chinese farmers' needs, which was conducted by China National Radio.
Among the respondents, 30 percent of the husbands and wives were in long-distance marriages due to work conditions. Of these, 48 percent wished for their spouse to return home at least six times a year, while 26 percent said three times was enough.
Of the partners left behind in long-distance relationships, 26 percent said they felt great pressure to take care of elderly family members, 23 percent attributed their anxiety to issues related to their children's education, and 11 percent said they were overworked at home as a result of their spouse's absence.
In rural areas, nursing seniors is still a problem, with 79 percent of respondents complaining there are no nursing homes, and 48 percent saying conditions in nursing homes are poor.
