LIU CAIPING is a former maths teacher, now 71, who has lived alone in the western city of Xi’an since her husband died last year. The radio is her steadfast companion. Her eyesight is failing and she rarely goes out. Like many city residents, her former neighbours have scattered, and her two daughters are far away. When she can no longer cope on her own she will go to a nursing home, she says. That option remains extremely rare for old Chinese. And that highlights the problem: China is struggling to cope with a rapidly ageing society and a rising number of elderly people living by themselves.
今年71岁的刘彩萍曾经是一位数学老师，自从她的丈夫去世后，她就一个人独自住在西安西城。收音机是她不离不弃的伙伴。她的视力不好，也很少出去。和许多城市居民一样，她的前邻居住的都很分散，女儿住的也很遥远。她说当她不能生活自理的时候就去养老院，这个选择其实对中国的老年人来说仍然是非常罕见的。现在凸出的问题是：中国正在努力应对迅速老龄化的社会，以及一个正在增长的，要由自己养活的老年群体。
For most of the past two millennia the family has been central to how Chinese haveseen themselves—and the state has been seen as a family writ large. Filialpiety was somewhere near the heart of a Confucian order regulating society, and the family was an extended, stable unit of several generations under one roof.A very common sying encapsulated it all: yang er fang lao—“raise children foryour old age”.
在过去的两千多年中，家庭一直是中国人如何看待自己的核心，而国家一直被视为一个大家庭。孝道一定程度上是一个儒家社会秩序的核心，家庭是一个延续的，在一个屋檐下几代人稳定生活的集合。一句很普通的话就解释清楚：养儿防老----“养孩子为你的晚年”。
Today multi-generation families are stillthe norm. Almost three-fifths of people over 65 live with their children, a higher proportion than in most rich countries. Yet things are changing fast. Increasingly, parents are living apart from their children—and when one spousedies, as with Ms Liu, the other often lives alone. A fifth of all single-person households in China are made up of over-65-year-olds. In contrast to younger Chinese living alone, few elderly do so by choice. Many are poorly educated. Women predominate, because they tend to outlive their husbands.
今天几世同堂仍然是常态。65以上的人超过五分之三与他们的孩子住在一起，和最富裕的国家相比，这是一个较高的比例。然而事情正在快速变化。越来越多的父母和他们的孩子分开居住，当一方的配偶去世后，像刘女士一样，另一方往往会独自生活。中国单身家庭的五分之一超过了65岁。 相比年轻独居的中国人，很少有老年人做这样的选择。他们当中很多都是受教育程度低的女性占主要角色，因为她们往往比丈夫寿命要长。
China is unprepared for the consequences of solo dwelling among the elderly. Government policy enshrines the idea that families should live together and provide for the old and others unable to look after themselves. Despite efforts toextend pensions and other social protection, provisions fall far short becausethe state assumes offspring will help the old and sick. The welfare system isill-equipped to help the elderly living alone.
中国对老年人独居的后果是没有准备好的。政府政策认为家庭应该生活在一起，供养老人和那些不能照顾自己的家庭成员。尽管付出了提高养老金和其他社会津贴的努力，但提供的还远远不够，因为中国假设子女将帮助老年人和生病疗养。这个福利制度对独自生活的老年人来说还不齐全。
State financial support has improved in the past decade, but many millions of elderly Chinese still have no pension orretirement income. Health insurance is increasingly widespread, but usually covers only the basics. Rural areas lag far behind cities in the provision of pensions and health care for the old.
在过去十年中，国家财政支持有所改善，但仍有上百万的老年人没有养老金或退休金。健康保险越来越广泛，但通常只涵盖基部分。农村地区在提供老年人在养老金和健康护理方面远远落后于城市。
By 2025 nearly one in four Chinese will beover 60. China’s one-child policy has made a mockery of yang er fang lao—fewer among the younger generation are around for the old to move in with, a trend reinforced by starting families later. By 2050 there are likely to be just 2.5 working-age adults for every person over 65, down from eight today. Chinese born in the boondocks who migrate to far-off cities in search of work cannoteasily take older family members with them even if they want to.
到2025年，几乎每四个中国人中，就有一个年龄超过60岁。 中国的独生子女政策嘲弄了养儿防老这个传统理念，因位年轻的一代很少和老年人住到一起，这一趋势在以后的家庭中加强了。到2050年，可能刚好是2.5个工作年龄的成年人照顾一个老年人，今天是8个，降低了不少。出生在中国偏远地带移居到遥远的城市找工作的人，并不容易把年长的家庭成员接来生活到一起，即使他们如此的希望。
Despite the challenges, many in China stillregard responsibility towards their family as a defining feature of their culture. Not much difference with other countries there. But the expectation offilial piety means that those who are not recipients of it often feel ashamed or isolated, says Jean Wei-Jun Yeung of the National University of Singapore. Many are reluctant to seek the help of neighbours when they need it, forinstance. A study of old people in Shanghai by Yu Chen of Fudan Universityfound that 84% rarely or never attended social activities.
尽管面临诸多挑战，中国仍有许多人认为对自己的家庭有责任感，这是他们文化的一个典型特征。与其他国家没有太大的差异。但新加坡国立大学杨文军说，孝道中的期望意味着那些没有得到照顾的人往往感到羞愧或孤单，他们许多人不愿意在需要时寻求邻居的帮助，一项由上海复旦大学的研究发现，84%的当地老年人很少或从未参加过社会活动。
The government acknowledges the problem. When it relaxed the one-child policy somewhat in 2013, one reason it cited wasa growing number of elderly singletons. Some enterprising local governmentshave introduced schemes aimed at the lonely old. Young trainee doctors in Hangzhou in eastern China can have free board with old people living alone inreturn for companionship and basic medical care. Several cities encourage “timebanks”, a model borrowed from America and Japan, where over-60s help those.
中国政府承认这个问题。2013年就稍微防松放松独生子女政策，原因之一是越来越多的独居老人。一些有进取心的地方政府已经出台了针对这个孤独老人的方案。在中国东部城市杭州，年轻的见习医生会免费为独居老人提供为关心和基本医疗服务。一些城市鼓励“时间银行”，这是一股来自美国和日本的模型，帮助那些在60岁以上的老人。
With a weak social-safety net, littlesupport is in place for when families fail to help those living alone. A studyin 2013 by Na Yu of the Beijing Institute of Technology found almost no neighbourhood communities in the capital offering the full range of basic services elderly people needed. Elsewhere, cities offer social activities butlittle personal care. Because of a lack of doctors in the community, old people with chronic conditions tend to linger in hospital. Social workers are in short supply, underpaid and overworked and have minimal training. Residential care is growing but still scant. China has 5.8m beds (enough for nearly 3% ofover-60s), but there are often long waiting lists.
在一个脆弱的社会保障网络中，当家庭不能帮助那些独居的人时,其他很少有人支持。2013年，北京理工大学的Na Yu做了一项研究发现，在首都附近的社区几乎没有能 提供老年人所需要的全方位基本服务。在其他地方，城市会提供社会活动，但却很少有人关心。由于社区医生的缺乏，老年人的慢性病往往只能在医院里逗留。社会义工是短缺的，他们工资过低和过度劳累，并经受很少的专业训练。住宅护理正在增长，但仍然很少。中国有五百八十万张养老床位（够60岁以上老年人中近3%足够使用），但往往有长长的等待入住名单。
This is the background to a rise in the suicide rate among China’s elderly, even as that for other age groups is falling. In 2009-11 people over 65 accounted for just under half of all suicides, and more in rural areas: living alone in old age can be harsh anywhere, but in China it may be particularly isolating, given that so many young Chinese have left their villages, and parents, in search of work. The government has tried to enforce filial piety, passing a law in 2013 thatthreatens fines or jail if people fail to visit parents and feed their“spiritual needs”. It is a futile response. In a rapidly changing China, muchgreater state provision is needed.
正如其他年龄段的自杀率正在下降，这就是中国老年人自杀率上升的背景 。在2009年到2011年，年过65的人占所有自杀人数的接近一半，更多的农村孤寡老人在晚年生活窘迫，但在中国这可能是特别的分离，那么多的年轻人位了找工作离开了他们的村庄和父母。政府一直试图强制执行孝道：在2013年通过法律，如果人们不去看望父母，并给他们的“精神需求”，会以罚款或者违法的处罚作为威胁。其实这是徒劳的回应。在一个快速变化的中国，需要更多的国家层面的支持。
