China Requires Adults To Visit Aged Parents Or Get Sued

A new law in China on Friday passed an order on the elderly stating, adult children  should visit their aged parents "often" or stand a chance of being sued by them.

The amendment which says the children should frequently visit their elderly parents did not specify how many times the visit should occur.

State media say the new clause will allow elderly parents who feel neglected by their children to take them to court. This move comes as reports abound of elderly parents being abandoned or ignored by their children.

China is facing increasing difficulty in caring for its aged population.

Three decades of market reforms have accelerated the breakup of the traditional extended family in China, and there are few affordable alternatives, such as retirement or care homes, for the elderly or others unable to live on their own.

Earlier this month, state media reported that a grandmother in her 90s in the prosperous eastern province of Jiangsu had been forced by her son to live in a pig pen for two years. News outlets frequently carry stories about other parents being abused or neglected, or of children seeking control of their elderly parents' assets without their knowledge.

The expansion of China's elderly population is being fueled both by an increase in life expectancy — from 41 to 73 over five decades — and by family planning policies that limit most families to a single child. Rapid aging poses serious threats to the country's social and economic stability, as the burden of supporting the growing number of elderly passes to a proportionately shrinking working population and the social safety net remains weak.