The Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly implemented in 2013 provides in its Article 18 paragraph 2 that:
“Family members living apart from the elderly shall visit or greet the elderly regularly.”
This provision draws a lot of attentions and discussions from the public society. Chinese folk adage says that “filial piety is the first thing to do to reach goodness”. When filial piety is prescribed into the law, it is inevitable that people will think about whether the “filial piety”, as a traditional moral standard that has lasted for thousands of years from ancient Chinese society, becomes a “bottom line” that needs to be regulated by law because people cannot follow it spontaneously? We must say it is not because of anomic.
The vast majority of the Chinese people still hold the traditional virtues of filial piety deeply in their minds. However, due to the “Only Child of One Family” policy and the vigorous development of the economy strategy enforced in China, the fertility rate has fallen seriously, which has made the population of the younger generation significantly reduced, and the older population increased sharply, thus the ageing of the population has accelerated rapidly. By the end of 2017, China’s population of people over 60 years old had exceeded 230 million. The crazy increasement on the population of elderly people makes the country face the double pressures which include developing economy and protecting the livelihood of the elderly well. As for each family, the real pressure falls on the young generation, who not only have to survive in this increasingly competitive society, but also work hard for their own careers and family. At the same time, they also shoulder the duty of supporting their parents and parents-in-law. It is inevitable for the young generation to face the problem of properly allocating their time to balance their cares on different aspects. According to a recent survey, it is expected that the number of elderly living alone will increase to about 118 million by 2020, and the situation of taking timely measures to protect the physical and mental health of the elderly is not optimistic.
Although the above-mentioned article provides the requirement for frequent visits to older persons, neither the frequency of “regular” nor any penalties for violations of article 18 is prescribed under the law. Therefore, considering the current social factors in China, this provision should be deemed as a reaffirmation and emphasis on China’s filial piety traditional culture, and it will give the Chinese younger generation of family a positive value guidance on how to better solve the problems on allocation of their time in order to concurrently take care of their career, family and elderly parents.