A 71-year-old vagrant who sought to spend his remaining years in
prison has aroused widespread concern over the well-being of
China's 120 million elderly people, particularly the 90 million in
rural areas who often fall through the welfare safety net.
With no home and no money, Li Zhaokun decided prison was the
best place for him. On November 9, he deliberately started a fire
in a mountain forest in Zhongshan, a manufacturing center in the
southern province of Guangdong.
Investigators found Li had finished a five-year term on charges
of arson only a week before, but he said he wanted to return to
prison, which promised food, shelter and an end to his lifelong
vagrancy.
He never had a document to prove his identity or residence and
didn't even know where he was from. He remembered begging with his
parents as a child, and they both died before he was 10.
As a young man he eked out a living by begging, collecting junk
and doing hard physical work. His subsistence became a problem in
2001, when his life savings of 50,000 yuan (US$6,250) were
exhausted.
He attempted suicide twice, but each time was saved and
institutionalized for short periods. "They would let me go and tell
me to seek help from the local government in my hometown. I don't
know where I'm from. Even if I did, no one would recognize me there
and I don't have an ID."
An official at Guangzhou's civil affairs bureau said, "He needs
to find out where he's from. The local government in his hometown
should take care of his needs and probably send him to a senior
citizens center."
Other cities were not likely to provide for him because "relief
funds for the homeless came from local budgets and local
taxpayers", the official said on condition of anonymity.
Old Customs Breaking down
If being homeless is the ultimate cause of Li's agony, thousands
of other elderly people suffer just as much even though they have a
homeplace.
Vagrants of Li's age are often seen begging at railway stations
and tourist destinations in big cities. Most are unattended by
their children.
At least 90 percent of China's 900 million rural population fall
through the welfare safety net and have no adequate pension or
medical care, which is largely available for the city people, said
Prof. Yuan Xin, a sociologist with the Tianjin-based Nankai
University.
The situation is getting worse as the number of rural residents
aged over 60 is increasing by 850,000 annually and is expected to
hit 120 million in 20 years, he said.
Chinese farmers traditionally rely on their children for support
in old age. Nearly 94 percent of them still do, but old customs
like the obligation to venerate and care for the elderly are
breaking down.
As millions of young farmers joined the mass migration to the
urbanized east in the past decade, old people were left behind --
many with little financial support but grandchildren to feed, a
farmer-turned legislator in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province found.
Zhai Yuhe, a deputy to the provincial people's congress and
owner of a private coal company, personally financed a study of the
situation of the elderly in the countryside at the end of last
year.
The results of the two-month survey, which covered 10,400
peasants over 60 in 31 provinces, showed 45 percent were not living
with their children and five percent did not know where their next
meal would come from; 69 percent had just one set of clothes and 67
percent couldn't afford medicine.
Those surveyed reported an average annual income of 650 yuan
(US$82). Eighty-five percent of them still toiled in the fields and
97 percent managed household chores.
Zhai spent 100,000 yuan (US$12,500) to finance the survey, which
was conducted by seven retired people from Heilongjiang's
provincial capital Harbin. "I'm from the countryside myself. It's
painful to see some peasants suffer poverty and loneliness after
decades of hard work."
At least half of the young farmers they surveyed were apathetic
to their parents, said Zhai.
"I know a man in his 90s. His six children collectively give him
30 to 50 yuan a month, but no one offers to accept him in their
home. No one would be there to help him if he had an accident or
fell ill," Zhai told Xinhua.
In the national capital Beijing, more than 2,000 rural parents
sued their children for support last year, according to the city's
Intermediate People's Court.
But the majority of farmers avoid taking their unfilial sons and
daughters to court fearing a loss of face.
Filial Piety Crucial to Social Harmony
Though he proposed to the provincial legislature that local
governments and NGOs should raise more funds to build senior
citizens' centers and offer better pension schemes to farmers, Zhai
said he personally believes the best place for a retired life is at
home, while children should be caring for the elderly.
"As a developing country, China cannot yet sponsor pension
schemes for all the rural poor. Besides, Chinese traditionally
value family life and elderly people tend to feel abandoned when
they have to move out," he said.
This calls for a revival of traditional values such as filial
piety and respect for the elderly, which are essential in China's
building of a harmonious society, he said. "It's a shame that the
younger generation of Chinese tend to dote on their children, but
neglect their parents."
In his proposal to the provincial congress in March, Zhai
proposed amendments to China's criminal law and law on senior
citizens' rights, suggesting harsher penalties for those who
physically or mentally abused elderly people.
Though the legislator saw no immediate results from his
proposals, he's happy to see some clear gestures to remedy the
situation.
In several Chinese cities, officials have to prove they are
model sons and daughters to have any chance of promotion.
The city government of Jinchang, northwest China's Gansu Province, interviews the family, friends
and neighbors of officials up for promotion to test their respect
for parents.
The same requirement is applicable in Hejin city in Shanxi Province and Daming county in Hebei Province.
Chinese schools are also embracing a revival of traditional
values. Preschoolers are taught to chant old-time classics on
virtue, including respect for teachers and parents, care for
youngsters and dos and don'ts on different social occasions.
Several universities and colleges have listed traditional Chinese
culture as a mandatory course for students who are increasingly
enamoured with what they perceive as a Western lifestyle.
Insiders say the State Administration of Radio, Film and
Television will encourage domestic producers to highlight filial
piety in films and television dramas by subsidizing 300,000 to
800,000 yuan (US$37,500-US$100,000) each.
(Xinhua News Agency December 3, 2006)