Seeing the Development of Rural Family Eldercare in Terms of Changes in the Operational Environment

Abstract

How far family support for the rural elderly can go depends on social need and the operational environment. Rural family eldercare will have no reason to continue, of course, if there is no social need for it. If there is such a need, however, rural family eldercare will still be difficult to realize where the operational environment does not exist. Generally speaking, the situation in China where aging occurs before attaining prosperity determines the objective need for continuing to practice family eldercare in rural areas, and the principal issue at present is whether we can maintain or set up the operational environment necessary for such eldercare.