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Proposed Chinese Law Would Require Adult Children to Visit Elderly Parents RegularlyThe urbanization of China has changed the nations familial interactions drastically. Children are no longer living with their parents and grandparents into adulthood, and more old people are moving into apartments by themselves rather than close-knit rural communities.Young peoples values are changing as well. Whereas reverence for the elderly was once an important virtue in Chinese culture, increasingly, the youth are leaving their forebears behind. The result is rampant loneliness and disillusionment, which causes added mental and physical health problems in a population thats already struggling with chronic illness and dementia. One British study of that countrys citizens recently called loneliness a silent killerfor the elderly.Even without the proposed law in place, there is already a precedent of old people suing their offspring in Chinese courts. Just this month, for instance, a judge in the Shandong Province orderedthree women to pay their 80-year-old mother between 350 to 500 renminbi a month (about $53 to $75) after the mother claimed that they ignored her.Adult children in China would be required to visit their elderly parents on a regular basis under a proposed amendment to the nations Law on Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Aged.Wu Ming, an official with the Ministry of Civil Affairs, is reported as saying that the amendment would allow elderly parents ignored by their children to go to court to claim their legal rights to be physically and mentally cared for.China has 167 million citizens over age 60, half of whom live alone without children and 20 million of whom cannot take care of themselves. In traditional Chinese culture, filial piety respect for ones parents and ancestors is one of the paramount virtues. But the longstanding tradition of children caring for aged parents is being challenged by historys largest human migration, in which 130 million Chinese have moved to cities in search of jobs, leaving nearly 60 million growing up apart from one or both parents, according to a recent article in the New Yorker. In effect, capitalism appears to be undermining traditional values, and the states attempted solution is to legislate morality.Wang Shichuan, a news analyst quoted by the site CriE, questioned whether a moral issue is susceptible to a legal solution. Wang noted that many adult children work outside their hometowns and have little opportunity to visit their parents due to all-consuming jobs and few days off.The Ministry of Civil Affairs is set to submit the proposed amendment to the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council in the near future, according to the news site Global Times.Under a draft legal amendment, elderly people could go to court to claim their right to be physically and mentally looked after by their children. China is dealing with the problems of a growing elderly population. Taking care of parents is part of traditional Chinese culture but migration and work pressures have been fracturing family ties, observers say.An eighth of the population of China is over the age of 60, and more than half of them live alone. Decades of Chinas one-child policy have left fewer workers supporting more and more elderly relatives. And while the number of nursing homes is growing, the authorities were recently alarmed by stories of old people dying unnoticed in their apartments.The change is a proposed draft amendment to the Law on Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Aged which came into effect in 1996.A lawyer told state media the proposed new law would be difficult to enforce. It would be better to strengthen moral education than to force people to do something legally, Qian Jun said. China has nearly 167 million people aged over 60 and one million above 80.Your comments in reaction to this storyI dont think its proper to make it a legal duty for people to visit their aged parents, but we have no choice. I have seen examples of old people dying unnoticed in their apartments. Its so great a matter in my country, and we must take measures now. To strengthen moral education will take a long time and the best choice now is to make it legally bound. Wutian Wen, ChinaIm completely in favour of this proposal. I work and live very far away from my mother - whos in her late sixties and lives alone. Though I try to call her a couple of times every week and visit her a couple of times every year, I find its far from enough. I am busy with work and its quite difficult to ask for holidays simply to visit my mother. If theres a legal duty to visit ones parents, it would be much easier to apply for leave to visit your parents. Rong Fan, Hong KongI think this is an interesting idea. It definitely does infringe upon our idealistic view of freedom, but the trade-off seems worthwhile. It is an awful, awful thing to die alone. Marcus, Edmonton, Alberta, CanadaMerely visiting elderly parents once in a while wont extend much relief to their solitude. Legal compulsion to visit elderly parents wont make much difference in their lives. Moral education must be imparted. However, if the government plans such a legal compulsion, some steps like granting special leave, or reimbursing travel expenditure may help the poor workers and labourers in acting according to the law. I live away from my home town, but my mother lives with me and my family here. Roy Varghese, Pathanamthitta, Kerala, IndiaThe proposal is the least that China can do to solve this social problem which has its root in the one child policy. Yes people should be legally bound to care of their elders. What this law will probably do is to draw the younger generations attention to the moral responsibility of showing gratitude to those who have shaped them. In my culture its a public disgrace not to care for ones elders. I live 70 miles away from my ageing mother and I try to telephone her at least once a day. We believe that the kindnesses we show our elders today will return to us in our own old age. June-Marie Julien, Linden, GuyanaIn my country, parents are forced to take care of their children until they are economically independent and, nowadays, this usually happens not before they are 30 years old. So why not to do the contrary? Our parents have been working their whole lives for us, and taking care of them when they cannot do it for themselves is our duty. Raquel, Almeria, SpainI am instinctively uncomfortable with enforced caring, as proposed in China. However, the growing numbers of elderly people all over the world already presents a major problem for governments and society. Consideration has to be taken of the fact that ones offspring may not naturally have a good relationship with their parents and vice-versa. But children should be expected to maintain a moral responsibility for their aged parents. As for enforcing visits, I cannot envisage that being satisfactory to either party. After all, if one is emotionally close to ones parents, no enforcement will be necessary. But if one is of a could not care less nature, such enforced visits would be not just pointless but also downright uncomfortable for both parties. Rodney Elliott, Gourdon, FranceI think it should be optional for any individual to look after their parents because any son or daughter would naturally base their decision on the way he or she grew up with the parents. Not all parents are caring towards their children so it is a give and take situation. Thomas Awah Jr Dzenyagha, Douala, CameroonEven it is written in the law, it doesnt mean it is prevalent that the elderly are neglected by their children in China. Every Spring Festival, hundreds of millions of people brave the cold wheather and the crowded trains, buses, ships and thousands of kilometers to go home.Chinese children fight to get train tickets to go home and see their parents in the coming Spring FestivalIn this coming Spring Festival, Chinas transport system is expected to serve 2.8 billion passengers.Who are those people and why they take so much trouble to go home?They are the filial Chinese children heading home to spend the most important festival in China with their parents!Filial piety has been in Chinese culture for thousands of years and it is in the blood of Chinese people.Only a very small number of people who neglect their parents spirital or material needs and the new law is made just for them.This is a realistic move by the Chinese leaders and is important for Chinas development and making sure she and her people are moving on the right track while pursuing their ambitions.To me, the law has many advantages.It preserves the Chinese old tradition of filial piety.It makes it imperative that employers must now allow their employees home leave to see their parents on a regular basis, and thus thwarting any attempts by employers to exploit their workers without breaking the law.The law serves to enforce the voices and aspirations of all the Chinese parents to want to see their children more often.Without the law, the parents may waver for their childrens sake so as not to put them in a spot.With this law, whet