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A 71-year-old vagrant who sought to spend his remaining years in prison has aroused widespread concern over the well-being of China's 120 million elderly people, particularly the 90 million in rural areas who often fall through the welfare safety net.

With no home and no money, Li Zhaokun decided prison was the best place for him. On November 9, he deliberately started a fire in a mountain forest in Zhongshan, a manufacturing center in the southern province of Guangdong.

Investigators found Li had finished a five-year term on charges of arson only a week before, but he said he wanted to return to prison, which promised food, shelter and an end to his lifelong vagrancy.

He never had a document to prove his identity or residence and didn't even know where he was from. He remembered begging with his parents as a child, and they both died before he was 10.

As a young man he eked out a living by begging, collecting junk and doing hard physical work. His subsistence became a problem in 2001, when his life savings of 50,000 yuan (US$6,250) were exhausted.

He attempted suicide twice, but each time was saved and institutionalized for short periods. "They would let me go and tell me to seek help from the local government in my hometown. I don't know where I'm from. Even if I did, no one would recognize me there and I don't have an ID."

An official at Guangzhou's civil affairs bureau said, "He needs to find out where he's from. The local government in his hometown should take care of his needs and probably send him to a senior citizens center."

Other cities were not likely to provide for him because "relief funds for the homeless came from local budgets and local taxpayers", the official said on condition of anonymity.

Old Customs Breaking down

If being homeless is the ultimate cause of Li's agony, thousands of other elderly people suffer just as much even though they have a homeplace.

Vagrants of Li's age are often seen begging at railway stations and tourist destinations in big cities. Most are unattended by their children.

At least 90 percent of China's 900 million rural population fall through the welfare safety net and have no adequate pension or medical care, which is largely available for the city people, said Prof. Yuan Xin, a sociologist with the Tianjin-based Nankai University.

The situation is getting worse as the number of rural residents aged over 60 is increasing by 850,000 annually and is expected to hit 120 million in 20 years, he said.

Chinese farmers traditionally rely on their children for support in old age. Nearly 94 percent of them still do, but old customs like the obligation to venerate and care for the elderly are breaking down.

As millions of young farmers joined the mass migration to the urbanized east in the past decade, old people were left behind -- many with little financial support but grandchildren to feed, a farmer-turned legislator in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province found.

Zhai Yuhe, a deputy to the provincial people's congress and owner of a private coal company, personally financed a study of the situation of the elderly in the countryside at the end of last year.

The results of the two-month survey, which covered 10,400 peasants over 60 in 31 provinces, showed 45 percent were not living with their children and five percent did not know where their next meal would come from; 69 percent had just one set of clothes and 67 percent couldn't afford medicine.

Those surveyed reported an average annual income of 650 yuan (US$82). Eighty-five percent of them still toiled in the fields and 97 percent managed household chores.

Zhai spent 100,000 yuan (US$12,500) to finance the survey, which was conducted by seven retired people from Heilongjiang's provincial capital Harbin. "I'm from the countryside myself. It's painful to see some peasants suffer poverty and loneliness after decades of hard work."

At least half of the young farmers they surveyed were apathetic to their parents, said Zhai.

"I know a man in his 90s. His six children collectively give him 30 to 50 yuan a month, but no one offers to accept him in their home. No one would be there to help him if he had an accident or fell ill," Zhai told Xinhua.

In the national capital Beijing, more than 2,000 rural parents sued their children for support last year, according to the city's Intermediate People's Court.

But the majority of farmers avoid taking their unfilial sons and daughters to court fearing a loss of face.

Filial Piety Crucial to Social Harmony

Though he proposed to the provincial legislature that local governments and NGOs should raise more funds to build senior citizens' centers and offer better pension schemes to farmers, Zhai said he personally believes the best place for a retired life is at home, while children should be caring for the elderly.

"As a developing country, China cannot yet sponsor pension schemes for all the rural poor. Besides, Chinese traditionally value family life and elderly people tend to feel abandoned when they have to move out," he said.

This calls for a revival of traditional values such as filial piety and respect for the elderly, which are essential in China's building of a harmonious society, he said. "It's a shame that the younger generation of Chinese tend to dote on their children, but neglect their parents."

In his proposal to the provincial congress in March, Zhai proposed amendments to China's criminal law and law on senior citizens' rights, suggesting harsher penalties for those who physically or mentally abused elderly people.

Though the legislator saw no immediate results from his proposals, he's happy to see some clear gestures to remedy the situation.

In several Chinese cities, officials have to prove they are model sons and daughters to have any chance of promotion.

The city government of Jinchang, northwest China's Gansu Province, interviews the family, friends and neighbors of officials up for promotion to test their respect for parents.

The same requirement is applicable in Hejin city in Shanxi Province and Daming county in Hebei Province.

Chinese schools are also embracing a revival of traditional values. Preschoolers are taught to chant old-time classics on virtue, including respect for teachers and parents, care for youngsters and dos and don'ts on different social occasions. Several universities and colleges have listed traditional Chinese culture as a mandatory course for students who are increasingly enamoured with what they perceive as a Western lifestyle.

Insiders say the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television will encourage domestic producers to highlight filial piety in films and television dramas by subsidizing 300,000 to 800,000 yuan (US$37,500-US$100,000) each.

(Xinhua News Agency December 3, 2006)