Next stop grandma's house -- it's the law
Guilt trips for not visiting the folks may soon be replaced by police visits.If you thought the annual visit to the parents during Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) was just about bearable, take a deep breath: mom and pop may soon be able to demand you visit them more often, through the courts.
A draft amendment to China's 'Elderly Law' requiring the children of elderly Chinese to visit home more often is being considered by the government. If passed, it would require children to care for their parents' “spiritual needs and cannot neglect or isolate them,” according to Legal Daily.
Although traditionally Chinese families have always considered it a child’s duty to care for or assist their parents, this amendment would make it enforceable by law.
One of the reasons children have been slack in taking care of their parents, some observers say, is due to migration and work pressures that have strained traditional family units.
Additionally, a generation of China's One-Child Policy has left the country with fewer workers supporting an increasingly graying population.
Under the proposed amendment, elderly people who feel ignored by their children "can go to court to claim their legal rights to be physically and mentally looked after,” said Wu Ming, an official with the Ministry of Civil Affairs, to Shandong Business Daily.
China has approximately 67 million people over the age of 60 and nearly 19 million over 80 years old, according to statistics released by the China National Committee on Aging. Half of them live alone without children.
Wherever conditions permit, said Wu, the ministry will do its part to support the country’s elderly, extending additional pensions to seniors over 80 in addition to expanding “free medical and other health services.”
China currently has more than 38,000 nursing homes serving more than 2.1 million elderly, according to the ministry.
China's current law on the elderly, called the Law of the People's Republic of China on Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly, was put into effect in 1996. The requirement for adult children to visit their parents would be an amendment to the current regulations.
More on CNNGo: Too old for the One-Child Policy
Qian Jun, a Beijing-based lawyer, told state media this week that it is impossible to enforce compulsory visits to elderly family members because it violates personal liberty.
"It would be better to strengthen moral education than to force people to do something legally," said Qian.
