Way out

As China faces an aging society, the government should work out a feasible social welfare and care system to benefit everyone in the nation and help improve social harmony and mend social conflicts, urged Wang.

"With high-speed economic growth for three decades, China is now able to take good care of its seniors," he said.

"To support the old is to respect human dignity. And taking care of the old is no more just the duty of the children," he said.

Besides, as the "421 Family", consisting of four grandparents, two parents and an only child, becomes the new mainstream family in China, the maintenance burden borne by only children will become heavier, experts predict.

"That will put pressure on the unsound social welfare system of China," Wang said.

In response, the government has kept expanding pension coverage in the country, where quite a few people have no pension at all.

The Ningxia Hui autonomous region in December began giving a basic monthly living allowance to local residents older than 60 who had no pension and faced financial difficulties, reports said.

Wang also urged the central government to speed up building a community-based care system to make sure 90 percent of seniors receive care at home, 6 percent are looked after in their communities, with the remaining 4 percent live in seniors homes.

However, he conceded that current community planning in China does not give much thought to older residents.

"We should start building our seniors a 'Noah's Ark' within the communities," he said.