The Chinese proverb “养儿防老” means having sons is a good way of ensuring you are looked after in your old age. For one 83 year-old man in Shenzhen’s Longhua New Zone, this couldn’t be more true… sort of.

After the man, Huang, had gone missing for 8 days, his sons found him in a homeless shelter. To ensure they won’t lose him again, they have shackled his ankles with cloth, local media reported yesterday.

Huang suffers from dementia and has a tendency to wander around aimlessly and get lost, according to his wife, He.

Huang’s wife who is also in her eighties

The couple have two sons, but both are too busy to look after Huang, as are their wives, He told media. Initially, neighbours suspected that Huang was being abused by his sons, but the family denies the claims.

The sons paid to bring Huang and He down from Sichuan so they could look after them in their old age. Last year the sons paid over 10,000 RMB for life-saving brain surgery for Huang.

When he was missing for eight days, the sons bought an advertisement on television to find him, according to Sina News.

The sons have a business in Baoan District’s Chuangye Park and give their parents an allowance of 1,000 a month.