The Loneliness of China's Elderly
December 20, 2012
![Statistics from a mobile phone recruitment platform show that 36 percent of China's migrant workers see their parents only once a year and 21 percent twice a year. [news.xinhuanet.com]](/res/womenofchina/1212/图片1(4).jpg "Statistics from a mobile phone recruitment platform show that 36 percent of China's migrant workers see their parents only once a year and 21 percent twice a year. [news.xinhuanet.com]") |
|
Statistics from a mobile phone recruitment platform show that 36 percent of China's migrant workers see their parents only once a year and 21 percent twice a year. [news.xinhuanet.com] |
"Unlike in the past, you can't feel the warmth of your children's love anymore," she said. "I wish young people visited their parents more often."
"I cannot wait to die. I'm not afraid of death. What bothers me is that I have so many words to say but no one listens to me," she said.
According to her, she has three daughters who live in the same city as her and when she was asked what she hoped they could do for her, she replied, "Nothing, just visit me more often and talk to me."
Her brother interrupted and said, "It's impossible. It's like planting crops; you reap what you sow. You wish it can be something else now, but it has already grown like that. You can wish as hard as you want to, but they won't put you in their hearts."
For many elderly parents, the best gift they could receive on festivals is a visit from their children. But the truth is that willingness aside it is often impractical for people who work far away from their hometowns or cities to visit their parents often. A recent survey showed that 77 percent of the nearly 10,000 participants visit their parents only once every six months.
Data from the Ministry of Civil Affairs shows that there are about 40 million left-behind elderly people in rural areas, whose children have left home to find jobs in bigger cities. Even urban senior citizens often feel lonely, visiting parks and recreation centers to assuage their loneliness.
As China's society ages, the question of who will support the elderly and how they should spend their twilight years has become a perennial topic of discussion. The situation has become more urgent as more young people stream out of China's villages and small towns to find work in the cities, leaving their elderly parents behind alone.
Statistics from a mobile phone recruitment platform show that 36 percent of China's migrant workers see their parents only once a year and 21 percent twice a year.
"It's all I can do to visit my parents once a year," said Li Zhijian who is originally from southwest China's Sichuan Province but works in Beijing now. For him, aside from the expense of traveling, it is also difficult to request for leave.
Time and cost are the two greatest obstacles preventing these migrant workers from visiting their parents more often. For them, heavy workloads and a lack of vacation days mean that the only chance they get to go home is during the Spring Festival or National Day holidays.
While it's difficult to visit their parents often, most migrant workers have found that it is even more difficult to bring their parents with them to the city. Unlike most other migrant workers, Liang Zhaogang is very lucky to have been able to move his parents to the city.
Liang is married and his parents help take care of his child. He only earns about 3,000 yuan (US$ 481.5) a month and gives 1,000 yuan (US$ 160.5) of that to his parents to manage the household. He hopes that his parents can keep their good health and that he can earn more money to make their lives easier.
Nearly 80 percent of the respondents in the mobile phone platform's survey said that their parents have never been to the cities where they work and 60 percent said they have never though of bringing their parents to live with them in the city. For most of them, it is simply a matter of being unable to afford it.
Although they make more money in the cities, these migrant workers also have to contend with higher living costs. For them, it makes much more sense to earn enough to go home and take care of their parents, rather than move their parents to the cities.
About 65 percent of the respondents said they are willing to return home to take care of their parents, and only 35 percent said they don't want to because they might not be able to find good jobs there.
Grandchildren, TV Shows, and Memories
"I don't feel like the Double Ninth Festival is a festival for me," said Ah Zhen, an elderly lady living in a village in south China's Guangdong Province, more than 500 kilometers away from Guangzhou, capital city of the province.
She has three sons and a daughter. Her younger son works in Guangzhou and the other two sons at a city near their home. Her daughter is married and lives in a neighboring town.
Like many left-behind senior citizens in her village, she takes care of the grandchildren her sons left behind. They are two girls aged 7 and 9, and a two-and-a-half-year-old boy. For her, they are her greatest source of joy and warmth.
What bothers her most is that she cannot help her grandchildren with their homework because she herself did not attain a high education level. And the only way she knows to punish them for bad behavior or poor academic performance is to give them 'good kicks'.
Late at night when her grandchildren are asleep, she thinks of her late husband, Ah Yao. "I remember how he sang to me when we were younger. I remember he told our sons to be ambitious. He's gone now and I feel empty inside," she says.
When her grandchildren are at school, Ah Zhen watches television at home while taking care of the youngest, occasionally chatting with the neighbors over a cup of tea.
Ah Zhen does not think that her situation will ever change. If her son returns to the village, he can only earn about 1,000 yuan (US$ 160.5) a month working at the small private clothing factory there.
"In order to make enough money, we have no other options," she said. "Everything is expensive. I'm afraid of falling sick because it would cost a lot of money and my daughter-in-law will have to come home to take care of me."
Many of her neighbors are in a similar situation. Unbeknownst to them, they form part of a huge group in China called the left-behind elderly.
Please understand that womenofchina.cn,a non-profit, information-communication website, cannot reach every writer before using articles and images. For copyright issues, please contact us by emailing: website@womenofchina.cn. The articles published and opinions expressed on this website represent the opinions of writers and are not necessarily shared by womenofchina.cn.
京公网安备 11010102004314号