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Young Chinese surprised by law that forces them to frequently visit their parents unpublished status obliges citizens to visit frequently to their elderly parents. The problem is that there is no specification of minimum time coverage and possible penalties.

New Chinese law requiring citizens to visit frequently their elderly parents has caused astonishment among the youth of the country but, in turn, emphasized the need to deal with the unstoppable ageing of the population and its consequences.

 "Children and adults responsible for cannot leave their responsibility to keep them", says the controversial text, which asks "check frequently that the daily, financial and spiritual needs of the older than 60 are met".

                                               

New Chinese law requiring citizens to visit frequently their elderly parents has caused astonishment among the youth of the country but, in turn, emphasized the need to deal with the unstoppable ageing of the population and its consequences.

"Children and adults responsible for cannot leave their responsibility to keep them", says the controversial text, which asks "check frequently that the daily, financial and spiritual needs of the older than 60 are met".

The fact that the document does not specify the minimum frequency of these visits and especially the possible penalties for violating it have sown doubts among - affected top - youngsters, who see it more as a joke or a simple recommendation than a mandatory standard.
 
"This law is laughable, how they want to implement it?" Will they control how many times traveled home? ", published by a surfer in the main Chinese social networking, Weibo, where already accumulate millions of messages that have made the issue one of the most discussed of the week."

           

The first "victim"

 

A regret of many jokes which are made in networks, the truth is that the law has already claimed its first "victim", since the same Monday a court, supported the new text, would oblige a daughter to visit her mother every two months under threat of fine and even detention in case of failure to do so.

 

The Court of the city of Wuxi, located in the southern province of Jiangsu, explained - 77 years old - mother had sued his daughter after the this rejected it and that taken into consideration the distance between the houses of mother and daughter - 40 km - for the sentencing. "We hope that the Supreme Court issued a judicial interpretation of the provision as soon as possible to make our work easier," said the judge in charge of the case, Gao Xin, the official Xinhua Agency.

 

The threat of aging

while not expected the approval of the law to radically change the current situation, Yes is interpreted as a possible way to alleviate the difficulties created by the care of the elderly, a group close to 200 million people and growing.

In fact, the Chinese National Committee on Aging provides that this figure will increase to 487 million for the 2053, 35 per cent of the population.

This rapid ageing poses serious threats to the stability of social and economic of the people's Republic, as increasing retired population - and the consequent rise of spending on pension - happens along with a gradual reduction of the citizens work due to strong population control in the past 30 years.

The Chinese pension system feeds on payments from the current active workers - then divided redistributive way between retirees of different provinces - and the contributions that each citizen has made during his working life in his individual account.

 

In 2011, the Government had to inject 220 billion yuan additional (35.886 million dollars) in the Fund to guarantee the payment of pensions.

 

Apart from the economic issue, some debate on the need to legislate moral aspects in China, as the respect and care of the elderly, who believe that they are in danger because of the rapid economic development of the country in recent decades.

 

"It is not that don't want to go to take care of my parents, is that my work prevents me," said Xiao Xia, a young woman who works in Beijing but born in Kunming, the capital of the southwestern province of Yunnan, at a distance of 2,000 kilometres.

 

Although the law says that companies should give holiday workers for that purpose, Xiao is not convinced and said, laughing: "they wouldn't be a holiday, but it again it should find a new job".