More seniors recognizing value of wills
The size of half a grain of rice, the microchip contains a unique identification code. With a sensor that can scan the code, a staff member can instantly collect the panda’s basic information — its name, age and health records — Wang said.
Thanks to the code, a staff member can access more detailed records stored on a computer database to better analyze and manage the animal.
It takes only seconds to insert a microchip into a panda cub and the process does no harm.
“It’s like injecting medicine into a human with a syringe,” Wang said.
According to Li Desheng, a senior researcher in the center, all 17 panda cubs born last year in its Shenshuping base in the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Wenchuan have received microchips.
It is easy to inject a microchip into a cub that is, say, 1 year old because it can stay put, said Wang, adding that the center will place microchips in all its pandas, both cubs or adults.
The center is home to 270 pandas, the largest captive panda population in the world, according to data released at the end of last year. Since 2006, the center has released nine pandas into the wild to enlarge the natural population. Two have died in the wild, but the rest are alive, as reported by the satellite location tags around their necks.
Because the tags may stop functioning over time, the center inserts microchips into all the released pandas — which has proved invaluable in identifying specific animals.
Without a microchip, researchers would not know who’s who when they recapture a bear for a physical checkup. That’s because so many pandas have been set free, Wang said.
An increasing number of seniors in China are recognizing the importance of writing wills while they are physically and mentally healthy in order to avoid disputes and simplify inheritance procedures, according to a white paper released by the China Will Registration Center commemorating its fifth anniversary on Wednesday.
Launched in Beijing in 2013, the center is the country’s only nonprofit organization dedicated to providing free consultations, registration and custodial services to local citizens aged 60 and above.
The center works with psychiatric organizations that perform mental health evaluations on seniors to determine if they are of sound mind when drafting a will.
More than 82,000 seniors aged 60 and above in the country have written and stored their wills at the center.
The white paper revealed an increasing awareness and willingness among seniors to draft and store a will.
This is partly reflected in the sharp decline in testators’ average age over the past five years, from about 77.4 to 72.1, said Chen Kai, director of the center’s management committee.
While avoiding family disputes is the main reason wills are made at the center, helping to simplify inheritance procedures is another important reason, the report said.
For example, among all the wills that have been made at the center, 47.7 percent are made by seniors with one child, whereas the proportion of those with two to three children is 43.1 percent.
“It used to be common sense that wills would help prevent children from contending for property against one another,” Chen said.
“But now, more people with one child realize that the testaments can also be used to avoid family property losses if they die unexpectedly.”
According to Huang Haibo, director of the center’s Shanghai branch, which opened in November, “one in every two wills submitted to the court in China is illegal because of various reasons like no signatures or unclear signing dates.”
Through the strict and professional registration system, which includes facial recognition, identity card reading and fingerprint scanning, a will stored in the center can provide legal support to reduce the time of property distribution after death, Chen said.
Most seniors give their property only to their sons or daughters, though about 13.3 percent leave their property to nonstatutory heirs, which mainly refers to grandchildren, due to reasons like a poor relationship with their children or remarriage.
“Almost no remarried elderly people distribute their property according to legal inheritance,” Chen said. “Most leave property to their biological children, because they usually remarry for the companionship during their late years, not for financial reasons.”
Interestingly, the data show that the number of seniors keeping their will registration from their children to avoid possible disputes or controversy has risen from 21.3 to 38.3 percent over the past five years.
Bao Huilin, a Shanghai resident with two sons, said she was grateful that the center has allowed her to leave her will and testament to her family without their acknowledgment.
“Thanks to the center, I can express my own wishes as to how my property will be distributed,” said the 66-yearold.