China to step up efforts to tackle aging problem with a more positive attitude

China will keep channeling efforts and resources to create a social environment of respect and caring for the elderly to help tackle the aging problem with a more positive attitude.

As the Double Ninth Festival — a traditional Chinese festival to celebrate harvests, pray for longevity and express respect and love to the elderly — approaches on Wednesday, the nation is carrying out a State-level program from Oct 10 to Oct 31 with diversified activities and benefits made available to the elderly during the period, These include visits to left-behind or disabled elderly, encouraging nursing homes to offer trial stays for the aged and organizing events like dancing, singing and photography for senior citizens.

To better increase public awareness about the nation's aging problem, 22 central departments, including the Ministry of Civil Affairs, released a guideline recently to help popularize knowledge on problems and policies, besides laws and regulations on caring for the elderly.

"Aging will be one of the basic national conditions in the near future and it's necessary to raise the public's awareness and knowledge about it, in order to tackle the problem with a more positive attitude," said Zhang Xiaofeng, an official from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, at a news conference on Monday.

He said that, based on the guideline, courses on the problems associated with aging will be introduced in training programs for members of the Communist Party of China and its cadres, as also in school and university lectures and social promotion programs to let civil servants, the young people, the elderly and the public get a better understanding of the related issues.