Neglected elderly parents turn into beggars
The migration of youth from rural areas and the one-child policy is destroying the culture of filial piety. We tell the story of 83-year-old Chang, who begs for alms to support her adopted son's studies.
Shenzhen (AsiaNews/SCMP) The authorities recently evicted dozens of beggars from houses they had lived in for years in Lowu district's Huangbeiling area, one of the Shenzhen's biggest slums.
Local aid organisations often help these people to trace their relatives and pay their ticket to go to them, but many beggars, who come from rural areas, refuse to leave the city. They say their relatives have not looked after them for years and many migrated to large cities to beg for alms precisely because their children had neglected them.
Chang Jiazhen, an 83-year-old peasant from Anhui, said: "My daughter hasn't given me any money for many years. The younger beggars cook for me and teach me how to beg and what to say to pedestrians. Some even found the tenement, which costs only 200 yuan a month. Dozens of us could all sleep there together after begging until midnight."
About 30% of elderly people live without financial support from their children, according to a recent survey by the People's National Congress, while 52% said their children displayed indifference as to how they lived.
"It's a danger sign that the ethic of filial piety is dying in rural areas," said Zhai Yuhe, who co-ordinated the survey. "If there's no support from children and no social welfare from local authorities, being a beggar in big cities may be the only choice for the elderly."
In 2004, 90 million out of 140 million elderly people lived in rural areas; few of them have access to pensions and health care, and many live off their children's support. But this family network has shrunk over the past 20 years of economic modernization.
Sun Yat-sen University sociologist, Li Ruojian, said part of the reason is the exodus of young people from their villages in search of opportunities in the big cities. But another cause is the "shrinking family size". He said: "In rural areas, before the era of strict birth-control policies, there were typically four or five children per family to share the burden of supporting elderly parents." However, "China's declining fertility rate" and the adoption of western individualistic trends are leading to the loss of values like filial piety.
"My granddaughter, who works in Shanghai, came to visit me only once and seldom sends money back," continued Chang. "My daughter lives with her eldest son and her daughter-in-law doesn't treat her well. She has to struggle for a living herself."
Twenty-two years ago, Chang, together with her husband, adopted a boy who had been abandoned by a prostitute and she now hopes he will give her the support which her flesh and blood denied her. Her husband died in 1998 and in 2004 the youth passed the university entrance exam and went to study in Beijing. Chang begs for alms to support her adopted boy in his studies. She said: "He borrowed 40,000 yuan for his tuition fees from the university and I raise 200 yuan a month for his living expenses." Every Sunday afternoon I stop begging and wait for his call at a pharmacy. He always cries during the phone call and says he will find a job and support me as soon as he graduates. I'm so happy and am counting the days. I will stop begging and live with him soon. My grandson is my hope for the future."
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