Ave Shifted the Study of the Video Deficit to Older Ages Once Again
He was one of millions of Chinese seniors growing old alone. So he put himself up for adoption
Terrified of dying alone, Han Zicheng taped a re-create of his adoption 'pitch' to a omnibus shelter in his neighbourhood. And then he went dwelling house to expect
TIANJIN, China — Han Zicheng survived the Japanese invasion, the Chinese civil war and the cultural revolution, but he knew he could not endure the sorrow of living lone. On a chilly twenty-four hours terminal December, the 85-year-one-time Chinese grandfather gathered some scraps of white paper and wrote out a pitch in blueish ink: "Looking for someone to adopt me."
"Lonely one-time man in his 80s. Strong-bodied. Tin can shop, cook and accept care of himself. No chronic disease. I retired from a scientific research institute in Tianjin, with a monthly pension of vi,000 RMB ($950) a month," he wrote.
"I won't go to a nursing home. My hope is that a kindhearted person or family will adopt me, nourish me through old age and bury my body when I'm expressionless."
He taped a copy to a bus shelter in his busy neighbourhood.
And then he went home to await.
I won't become to a nursing home
Han was desperate for company. He said his wife had died. His sons were out of touch. His neighbours had kids to raise and elderly parents of their own.
He was fit enough to ride his cycle to the market to buy chestnuts, eggs and buns, simply he knew that his wellness would i 24-hour interval fail him. He besides knew he was just i of tens of millions of Chinese growing former without plenty support.
Improved living standards and the one-child policy have turned China'southward population pyramid upside down. Already, 15 percent of Chinese are over 60. By 2040, it volition be nearly one in iv, according to current projections.
Information technology's a demographic crunch that threatens China's economic system and the fabric of family life. Businesses must chug along with fewer workers. A generation of single children treat aging parents on their own.
In 2013, the Chinese government made a law mandating parental visits. In practice, millions of "empty nest" elderly — seniors who don't live with their spouses or children — accept little protection. Children go out. The social safety net is total of holes.
Han had tried and failed to detect caregivers. This fourth dimension, a woman saw him taping a note to a shop window, snapped a picture and posted it on social media with a plea: "I hope warmhearted people can help."
A boob tube crew from an online site called Pear Video came to tell the story of the lone Tianjin grandpa. Han'due south phone started ringing.
And through his last three months, it did not cease.
—
At first, Han was hopeful.
He had been trying for years to get people to listen to him, stopping neighbours to tell them he was lonely, that he was scared of dying, that he didn't want to die lone.
At present people were reaching out, showing concern. A local restaurant offered nutrient. A journalist from Hebei province promised to visit. He struck upwardly a phone friendship with a 20-year-erstwhile law student in the south.
But his mood soured when he realized the family unit he imagined would exist tough to find. He rejected offers he considered below him. When a migrant worker called in January, he dismissed him and hung upwardly the phone.
Han had lived through a lot. Born in 1932, he was a boy when the Japanese invaded China, a teenager when Mao Zedong founded the People's Republic, a boyfriend in the hungry years that followed.
I promise warmhearted people tin can help
He got a job working at a factory, met his wife and somewhen enrolled in night classes and and then enrolled in university. Their sons grew up during the Cultural Revolution, a decade of mayhem that fractured families and minds.
"Chinese people my age have actually suffered," he said.
Having endured so much, his generation expected to grow sometime like those before them: living in a family compound, cared for by sons and grandsons. For Han and millions of others, that has non happened. That made him mad.
The problem, Han told anyone who would listen, was that young people take abandoned the old model, just the government had nonetheless to observe a new system for senior care.
Jiang Quanbao, a professor of demography at the Plant for Population and Evolution Studies at Xi'an Jiaotong University, said that the challenge is that China is both an aging lodge and a developing country. China "got erstwhile before it got rich," he said.
Peng Xizhe, a professor of population and development at Shanghai's Fudan Academy, called the supply and quality of nursing homes in China "seriously inadequate."
Even those similar Han who could afford a decent room in a nursing home are generally skeptical. Older people don't want their peers to think their children abandoned them, said Peng. Children are afraid of actualization unfilial.
Han said he vicious out with 1 son and that the other emigrated to Canada in 2003 and didn't phone call him enough. But he declined to provide their contact numbers — he didn't want to embarrass them, he said.
Han compared his plight to a withering plant. Elderly people are "similar flowers and trees," he said. "If we are not watered, we cannot grow."
Merely when people who saw his story called to check in, he frequently launched into tirades against the authorities or the food at the local seniors abode – which he tried and hated. The portions were as well small for the price, he said. The soup was thin.
If we are non watered, we cannot grow
As winter settled in, the calls became less frequent. Han was once once more consumed by fear that he would die in bed, alone.
—
The final weeks of Han'south life are a mystery, an ending obscured by stubborn silence and missed calls. What is clear is that the organization failed him — and will likely neglect others.
Han spent his terminal days trying to connect. In February, he started making calls to a help line for seniors chosen the Beijing Dearest Delivery Hotline. The line's founder, Xu Kun, founded the service to prevent suicide, particularly among seniors who live solitary.
Xu said the elderly ofttimes get angrier as they age. The problem is that this pushes people away just when they need them well-nigh. "Family and society find it hard to empathize the grumpiness, the low that comes with growing sometime," she said.
Han would call the line a couple of times a week, venting to the staff well-nigh his loneliness and lamenting the country of Cathay's seniors homes. He stopped calling in early on March, Xu said.
Han also kept in touch with his law-educatee friend, Jiang Jing. He told Jiang there was another young person, a military machine man named Cui, who was in regular contact and interested in adopting him.
Jiang last chatted with Han on March 13. On March 14, she missed a call from him. The next time she called, in early April, an unfamiliar voice picked up: his son, she later learned. He said his begetter died March 17.
In Tianjin, Han's death went unnoticed. Two weeks after he died, the neighbourhood committee that is supposed to keep an centre on residents was surprised by news of his death. Five neighbours said they had noticed his absence in the hallway, only did not check on him.
Han'due south son, Han Chang, flew in from Canada to handle his affairs. He was aroused at his father for posting an adoption observe and angry at reporters for roofing it.
The younger Han said his father had been lying, that the old human being had three sons, not ii, and that they took skilful care of him. He refused to provide the names or numbers of his siblings or anyone else who could confirm his business relationship.
His begetter had not been lonely, he insisted, but old. "This could happen anywhere," he said.
He did not want to talk over his male parent's life, only confirmed the basic details of his death: When Han fell sick on March 17, he called an unknown number in his phone. The son would not say who — it could have been the military man, another prospective adopter, or someone else.
Han'due south greatest fear was that he would die in his bed, that someone would find his bones. But when his time came, he had someone to call. He made it to the hospital.
When his heart gave out, he was not alone.
— The Washington Post's Yang Liu contributed from Tianjin and Beijing
Source: https://nationalpost.com/news/world/he-was-one-of-millions-of-chinese-seniors-growing-old-alone-so-he-put-himself-up-for-adoption
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