With millions of children in China being the only child in the family, now the responsibility falls to them to care for elderly parents.
The struggle is real.
Today we'll highlight the urgent caregiving challenges they encounter and the societal shifts necessary to support them.
And, at this time of autumn, asmanthus, or guehua, gets the star treatment, delighting our senses with its captivating fragrance and delicious flavor.
We discuss how this beloved flower is blossoming into a thriving business.
Coming to you live from Beijing, this is Roundtable.
I'm He Young. For today's program, I'm joined by Steve Hatherly and Yuxian in the studio.
First on today's show!
As of 2020, the 7th National Census data shows that China's only child cohort numbers are 208 million strong.
With roughly 44 million elderly citizens needing daily assistance by late 2022, many millennial and Gen Z -only children are facing the dual challenge of caregiving alone.
This double -caregiving responsibility is poised to become one of the most critical social care issues of the coming decades.
To address this challenge, the southern city of Yangzhou has introduced policies for extra paid leave – supporting workers with aging parents.
So let's explore these new efforts.
Yes, He Young, like you mentioned, and this is according to a recent article by a Shanghai -based News Portal 6 tone that Yangzhou, in eastern China's Jiangsu Province, introduced a set of new regulations in mid -October this year to address the social pressures created by China's rapid population aging.
And what is the new regulation?
So basically, it stipulates that workers will be entitled to five days of extra paid annual leave per year to take care of parents who have been hospitalized with an illness or are disabled at home and requires extra caring.
So during the nursing leave, the salary and the benefits for these employees remain unchanged and do not affect their promotion at work.
So other measurements in these new policies that's given to residents aged 65 or above include free access to government -run tourist attractions and public transportation as well as preferential services inside stations and just benefits that was previously only given to residents aged 70 or above,
and now people above 65 can also enjoy that.
They're lowering the age limit.
These changes are going to be coming into effect at the beginning of next year?
Oh yeah, starting from January 1st, 2025.
Medical institutions in the city will be establishing preferential channels for senior citizens to book and also to attend hospital appointments.
Some bigger hospitals actually will be required to set up some specialized geriatric departments offering some comprehensive assessments and consultation services.
This isn't just one policy change.
This seems to be a few changes that are happening in the region to help the elderly.
And again, as you mentioned in the opening, Huoyang, yeah, it's a recognition of something that needs to be addressed, something that needs to be taken care of, and they're trying to do that, take care of it now.
And Yangzhou, in the Chinese parlance, I suppose, a lot of people would associate a very long and rich history and also pretty prosperous economic conditions with this area, but also just like to give the city a little bit more airtime.
Why do you think this move is happening or spearheaded in Hangzhou?
Wow. Specifically in the city of Yangzhou, the population aging is such a pressing issue.
And this is according to local officials that almost 30%, well, 28 .6 % to be specific.
Also, almost 30 % of the city's total population is aging 60 or over.
Significant number.
What's the population of the city itself?
Well, it's around 4 .5 million people.
So that makes Yangzhou having one of the highest proportions of elderly residents here in China.
So I guess this big amount or rather proportion of elderly people is really triggering the local government to come up with something that's really helping people to go back home, take care of the elders, because we have so many of them.
Yeah. And this isn't unique to Yangzhou specifically, right?
The aging population.
This is something that's happening not only in China, it's happening in a number of countries around the world, but it's not just this region, correct?
Oh, exactly. It's happening all over the country as well.
And to be honest, there are more than just Yangzhou, one city, but rather many cities here in China that's coming up with similar care, giving extra paid leave to people.
And ever since 2016, there are several cities, including Beijing and also areas in Fujian Province like the city of Chongqing and other areas here in China that are coming up with similar policy but varies on the days and the requirements.
Such as, well, here in Beijing, the leave is only 10 days.
And then in Shaanxi, the city of also Guangxi Autonomous Region and Sichuan Province, the dates are 15.
And then in eastern China's Anhui Province, they ask their employers to grant workers extra paid leave to care for their hospitalized elderly relatives.
And they have more specific details on the policy as well.
So if the employee is an only child, they are entitled to a total of 20 days of nursing leave per year.
And if they have siblings to join in the efforts, then they're entitled to only seven days per person.
So it's family specific then.
Right. Yeah. Well, these policies look great on paper, but as you probably know, the devil's in the details and also in the implementation, because usually how it works in the Chinese workplace is you still need to apply to get those days off.
And it usually comes with definitely a hospital letter to prove that it's a direct relative, not your aunts and uncles.
Sorry, you don't qualify.
And also with a surgical letter or something as such.
And then also you still need to get the green light from the boss or whatnot.
So the actual matters in making it happen takes a process as well.
And that could vary from company to company and even job to job or department to department within that company.
I understand your point.
Yeah. On paper or in a vacuum, this works.
This is a great this is a great thing, but it is going to be situation by situation.
And that is also why we hear a lot of the cities when they're trying to implement this policy, they require that the leave is only granted for employees whose parents are in the hospitals, who's suffering from severe illness, that you can provide proof of the people, the older people in my family is really
in need of such care that I need to be there in person.
Otherwise, a lot of these cities, they don't they don't really just give this paid leave to you just just like that.
And that makes sense.
That makes perfect sense.
Otherwise, people would be trying to take advantage of this.
Yeah, you have to prove that what you're doing is real.
But there are a few places, including Guangdong, that can offer the leave without restrictions on the health status of the elderly, only that they require that both of your parents or the parents you're going back home to take care of are above 60 and older.
And, Steve, what is this situation like for families, folks, let's say, in the in Canada and the US and other countries?
Because I suppose this is a situation that is common.
Yeah, you'll probably need to face absolutely at some point in life.
Yeah, people are going to come across this.
In Canada, all Canadian provinces and territories along with the federal government can give unpaid time off for compassionate care and critical illness.
So compassionate care is what they call it.
Employees can take a job protected leave of absence to care for a family member, ranging from 27 to 28 weeks for compassionate care leave or 16 to 36 weeks for critical illness.
So that's a long time that you can step away from your job.
But did you hear that key word I mentioned?
Unpaid. Unpaid. Yeah, that's right.
That's how it is in Canada.
In America, sick leave entitlement, an employee is entitled to sick leave to provide care for a family member who is incapacitated because of physical or mental illness, injury, pregnancy or childbirth.
They're also allowed to attend to a family member receiving medical or dental or optical examination or treatment.
All of this information is from government websites, by the way.
But again, that's an employee in the United States.
That's an employee using their sick leave, their own personal sick leave to attend to a family member.
In the UK, they have their own rules as well.
They call it parental leave.
You must be an employee and have at least one year's constant service with your employer.
So new employees apparently can't use this in the UK.
Your child must be under 18 if you want to apply for that.
This is about children and things like that.
If you don't live with your family members, that's OK.
You're still allowed to go.
And in Europe, they have other rules as well.
There are rules in place for this.
But here in China, this implementation of the paid leave policy seems to be a little bit different, stands apart from other policies around the world.
And this on paper sounds like a more generous decision as such.
And also in China, increasingly in recent years, we're hearing more and more of these news stories of individuals, and don't forget, it's usually a family behind every individual, are encountering this difficulty of looking after elderly parents.
And I came across as we're doing research for this topic, one that has been trending on social media of a Mr.
Sun Yuanjin. He is from Shandong Province.
And apparently, OK, so he's a 44, 45 year old geography teacher, and he's been bringing his elderly mom who's living with Alzheimer's to work in school for some time.
So he says, you know, the plus side is, well, mom still is able to move around and everything.
And the campus is a rather closed area and there are security guards guarding the front gate.
So his mom doesn't wander away, which she did many times when he tried to keep his mom in the home apartment.
And his school has been extra considerate, considering that Mr.
Sun is the only child of the family and he really needs to care for his mom in the situation.
But this is one of those on the one hand, you think, oh, it's a heartwarming story.
But on the other hand, you're like, excuse me, there are some severe, critical social issues or health issues in terms of policy, in terms of, you know, this is representing a predicament for a lot of families out there or an upcoming issue for a lot of families in the future.
Then what do you do about it?
Yeah. And, you know, it's a really, really tricky issue because you have to think of, and it sounds so cold to say this, but you have to think of the institution's side as well, the school's side or the business's side.
For example, in the UK, your employer can't refuse parental leave, but they can postpone it for up to six months if it's going to cause a disruption to the business.
And that sounds so cold hearted, but at the same time, it does need to be taken into consideration.
And this geography teacher that you're talking about, goodness me, what a hero he is for going to work and taking care of his students and also doing his best to take care of his mom.
But also there's the school side as well.
That's why this is this is never an easy issue.
Right. And we often hear in news that some female, maybe e -hauling car driver brings her kid with her during the job.
So she puts her kid, very young kid that she needs to take care of in person to the to the seat with her when she's driving passengers around.
So we hear a lot of those kind of news of people taking care of the youngers.
But now it's the other way around.
People also taking care of the elders and even bringing them to work, like Ho Young, you mentioned.
And there are studies proving that elders they actually prefer being taken care of from their children or their child rather than hiring caregivers from outside of the family.
And this is a recent article by Shanghai based Shin Min evening news who says that compared with hiring nursing staff, the companionship of children can provide the elderly with a greater sense of security and emotional support.
So I guess from the from the elders side, they they also crave for caring and they know that they can even grant themselves basic cares that they want.
So yeah, maybe they do want to reach out to their kids more as well.
Yeah, for so many families, the nurturer has become the one who needs nurturing.
And I think as the grown up child, it takes some time to realize that.
Yeah. And as parents age, grown children face this challenge of stepping into this new responsibility, offering the care and support once given so self selflessly to them.
And if these grown children now have spouses and children of their own, they face the nearly impossible mission of caring for both generations, sandwiched in between.
And care is only one part of it.
There's also the financial weight, stretching their resources and responsibilities to the limit, as some have already shared on social media.
And these are the older millennials who are already facing this situation.
So I mean, this is no easy topic to discuss as there are no easy solutions, obviously.
And every family seems different.
And what do you say should, as we talk about those institutional and systematic arrangements, would be necessary or extremely helpful to make the situation a little bit better, make it less of a burden, maybe?
Well, I think, you know, now we're discussing a change in government policy.
Right. And that's a good thing because the government is recognizing the issue and this issue is not going to go away.
The number of over 60s in China, it surged in recent years, reaching 21 .1 percent in 2023.
That's up from 14 .9 percent a decade ago.
So the government sees this and it's not going to change in the next one or two or five years.
This trend will continue.
So they're making policy changes.
To answer your question, companies need to recognize this as well.
And companies need to be, this is my own personal opinion, more flexible, perhaps with their employees, than they may have been previously.
This geography teacher, to use him as an example, again, I called him a hero for taking care of his students and his mom, but his school is also a hero.
In a sense that they're recognizing that this is his personal situation and it needs to be taken care of.
From an institution or company's point of view, it seems to me that they would want to be as flexible as possible to retain their quality talent.
And again, that sounds very cold, doesn't it?
You're talking about people here, but from a business's point of view, you want to keep your quality employees so you have to be as flexible as possible.
That being said, there's always a line, right?
So there's a delicate balance here.
But again, to answer your question, I think companies need to recognize this and maybe adjust their own policies.
And also a lot of Chinese netizens, they are commenting positively under similar news reports as well, saying that policies such as the one Yang Zhou is trying to implement starting from next year is particularly here, quote unquote, friendly for middle aged people with old parents and young children
at home, as well as families in which both of the couple have to go out and work.
So the policy in Yang Zhou will specify that the salary and benefits during nursing leave will remain unchanged for the employees.
So this provision ensures that children or rather the only child in the families do not have to worry too much about their personal economic interests or career development being affected because of their being their presence for their elders in the family.
So I guess one small step at a time.
Yeah, just to play the devil's advocate a little bit.
And I'm sure that company owners do not need my support.
But you know, just for discussion's sake, by the sound of it, you're kind of asking the company to become a charity organization.
On the one hand, we're saying, oh, elderly parents, they really need my support.
And on the other hand, I believe we have an upcoming topic discussion in the next couple of shows about creating a society that's more conducive to having babies, raising kids.
And yeah, as a company, I'm like, OK, well, I'm I have the social responsibility if I want to be a good citizen and a good employer and I need to support those families, too.
Then what about my bottom line?
Yep, you're right. You're absolutely right.
But but this is a this is going to be an issue with a lot of employees in a lot of companies.
So you can be a hard nosed employer and say, you know what?
I'm going to make it my own personal mission to try to avoid those family situations with my employees so that I can care about my bottom line.
But with the number of employees that are probably dealing with this situation, it's probably better for them to make minor adjustments to their policies to keep the employees that they have.
That's why they're back to what I just mentioned earlier.
But also, according to what you said, Steve, they're just taking baby steps, small steps at the time, because when we're talking about the implementation of such policies or regulations, the the whole process might not be as smooth as we want we expect.
Because also, according to his high school dot com, that some company are implementing this policy in a very trivial way that people in the employees from these employers might not have ever heard of such policy themselves, or it's not really well notified among the majority of those employees.
I have to say it's unfair, I think, to solely rely on the sense of social responsibility of corporate organizations.
Governments, well, they have a role if you want to see the birth rate pick up if you want to see you have happier citizens who are not bogged down by the financial and emotional burden of caring for elderly family members, then maybe offering tax rebates, financial incentives to companies, to employers,
you know, that's not particularly new news.
But if these are, let's say, societal priorities that are necessary, or if you as a government feel is necessary for the long term development of your society and economy, then these are some tough decisions that you have to make.
Yeah. And the tricky part is that you try to come up with these policies, you try to implement these policies to ease the burden for people to, in this case, take care of their parents.
In another case that we've talked about a lot before here in China, and I lived in Korea for a long time, same issue encouraging people to have more children, you got to find that key that unlocks the door to convince people to make massive changes to their own lives.
Convince companies that this is beneficial for you if you make changes like this.
And that's the tricky part, isn't it?
Is finding which ones work and which ones don't, it's kind of a trial and error process, I suppose.
Oh yeah. And speaking of which, this might be a detour, but I was just thinking that, you know, people like me, who is in their 20s or early 30s, we consider ourselves not interested in getting married at all, because once we do, it's like the two of us taking care of four, well, in the best case, four
of the elders above us.
And then we are also encouraged to have more than one, if not more than two kids.
Let's just imagine that all of those burdens, or let's not call it a burden, that's not the right word, but all of these responsibilities shouldered on two people in one family, and that's not something that young people nowadays want.
And that's why it's so hard for governments to find that key that kind of unlocks the path to future, you know, societal success in convincing people.
In an unexpected way, I was hoping that this discussion could be the ultimate PSA, the ultimate promotional message to people to have kids.
That is, if you don't...
We're talking about the only child families, well, at least there's one child grown up to look after parents.
And this reminds me of a quote I shared on this show a few months ago about Professor Hu Yong of the University of Journalism in Beijing, sharing about his experience.
He's one of three siblings, but the primary caregiver for his mom living with Alzheimer's, and he dropped this German saying that really his home, there's no victories, only endurance counts when it's looking after a parent in that situation.
So for individuals who might not have kids, well, this is going to be an even more dire situation.
You have no one to look to.
Maybe there are some government benefits, maybe you've paid for your pension when you were young and all those years, and it's important for people to think about the safety net that they maybe can woven for themselves, but there's also the government, the state and the companies, the employers that we're talking about here as
well.
