China updates standards for filial piety

National authorities issued new action standards for filial piety with the aim of providing better care for senior citizens in the modern era, Beijing News reported Tuesday.

The new standards suggest adult children spend holidays with parents, cook meals for and make weekly phone calls to them, teach them to surf the Internet and buy them proper insurance.

People are also advised to care more about the mental health of their parents through such ways as helping widowed parents get remarried and listening to parents retell anecdotes from the past.

National authorities have been making efforts lately to update care guidelines for senior citizens. Adult children of elderly parents are required to visit their parents regularly, in a draft amendment to China's law on protection of the rights and interests of the elderly, which was submitted to the nation's top legislature for review in June.