An Industry Needing To Come of Age
New policy woos private investors to meet the need for elderly care services By Wang Hairong & Liang Xiao
Ahairy monkey stands on display in Zhou Yongning and Li Wen’s room. It’s not really a monkey but a tiny humanoid figure with its limbs fashioned from sloughed-off cicada shells while its torso is a dried magnolia bud. Both Zhou, 80, and Li, his 78-year-old wife, are proud of this piece of traditional Beijing handicraft that Zhou has made.
“Although it is tiny, it took a long time to make,” the octogenarian told Beijing Review.
The senior couple now resides in China Everbright Huichen Seniors’ Apartment, a housing service for the elderly in Beijing’s Changping District, where they have learned to make such artifacts.
Both of them worked in a factory making radio parts before retirement. Zhou, tall, strong and dexterous, was honored as a model worker of Beijing four consecutive times in 16 years. Li was the only radio broadcaster chosen from 30,000 workers. They make a golden couple.
They have been living in the elderly community home for over six years. The threestory building with 712 beds is located in a community with a hospital, a hot spring spa and a swimming pool.
The residents in the home not only have their daily needs taken care of, they also participate in group activities. “He has learned to make hairy monkeys and operate a computer,” Li said. “We did not know how to use a computer before, but now we cannot live without it. See the piles of goodies here, they were all bought online. We don’t have a child and we are not good at cooking. Now that we are old and not as agile as we were before, we chose to live in a community home and eat at the canteen.”
For their one-bedroom apartment, they pay a monthly rent of 7,400 yuan ($1,075). In addition, they need to pay for three daily meals and miscellaneous costs. “If we fall ill, nursing services are provided at an additional cost,” Li said.
A strategic issue
Currently, China has more than 220 million people aged above 60, accounting for nearly 17 percent of the population, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The number of people aged above 65 has reached 143 million, or 10.5 percent of the population.
In Beijing, the elderly population will rise to 24.7 percent of the total population by the year 2020 from the current 15.7 percent, according to data released by the municipal government last year.
Elderly care is becoming a major strategic issue concerning the national economy and people’s livelihood, and the demand for elderly care services is rising rapidly, according to the ministry.
Data from the China National Committee on Aging shows that currently, the value of China’s elderly care market exceeds 3 trillion yuan ($440 billion). It will reach 5 trillion yuan ($730 billion) around 2050.
Of all seniors, 18.3 percent or 40.63 million were disabled, the fourth sampling survey of aged population conducted by the China Research Center on Aging found. The survey result was released in October 2016.
According to its findings, in 2015, 15.3 percent of seniors reported that they needed elderly care services, whereas in 2000, the figure was only 6.6 percent.
Quality nursing homes are in very high demand in Beijing. Zhou and Li said it took