Support for visits to elderly

A draft revision of the law protecting senior citizens' rights and interests was recently submitted to China's top legislature, and one controversial rule states that family members should pay regular visits to their seniors. This is a well-intended move, but lawmakers need to ensure the regulation is workable, says an article in Beijing News. Excerpts:

Some people argue it should be a moral request instead of a legal obligation for people to pay regular visits to senior family members. That is not entirely true. After all, morality and laws are inseparable, and some moral requirements should be brought clearly within the law.

It is reasonable to make the moral requirement for people to regularly visit their senior family members a legal obligation. Nonetheless, uncertainty remains whether such a stipulation can be enforced once it becomes law.

The public's concern is understandable. According to another regulation issued 20 years ago, unmarried employees are entitled to 20-day leave every year to visit their parents with round-trip travel expenses reimbursed. The regulation, however, is unknown to most people and remains symbolic.

But even if the new regulation is just symbolic, it will help raise people's awareness about the welfare of senior citizens, especially those living alone and left behind in the rural countryside. Of course, the most desirable outcome would be a feasible regulation and other supportive measures, so that people, especially those who are keen to visit but are unable to take leave, can visit their senior families on a regular basis.

(China Daily 07/03/2012 page9)