Xia Jun, president of the Shanghai Changning District Homemaking Service Association, and a founder of the group of caregiver agencies, explained how the blacklist works:

The 30 agencies in the alliance have roughly 1,000 nannies in Shanghai, and nearly 10,000 all over the country, including some doing service for foreign families. Any (caregiver) that is found by any of the agencies to encroach on the seven taboos will be blacklisted, and their information will be shared by the people in charge of the 30 agencies in a chat group on WeChat.

The seven “taboos” mentioned by Xia include: not showing up for job interviews, presenting fake qualifications or forged resumes, refusing to pay a brokerage fee to the agency, borrowing money from employers, asking for more pay during the middle of a contract, and quitting the job if refused a raise.

“Some nannies exaggerated their experience or how many years they had worked, while others borrowed money from their employer and didn’t repay it. That’s why we want to deter such people, and those with bad credit records, from the industry, thereby protecting the interest of our clients with our utmost efforts,” said Xie.

The establishment of the blacklist comes at a time when demand for caregivers is rising in China. Over 20 percent of Shanghai families use a caregiver for at least a few hours each day, according to a recent poll conducted by the Family Development Research Center of Fudan University.

The abolishment of the one-child policy and a rapidly aging elderly demographic is putting a strain upon Chinese families: “As aging quickly gathers pace and more couples plan to have another child, the (caregiver) market will expand more rapidly,” said Hu Zhan, an associate professor at the University’s School of Social Development and Public Policy.

The post Shanghai Caregivers Create Blacklist To Help Protect Families appeared first on The Nanfang.

Jin told reporters over the weekend that the plans will be introduced in 2017, followed by a “five-year transitional period”.

China’s current age of retirement is 60 for men, 55 for female white-collar workers, and 50 for female blue collar workers. With the rapid decline in China’s labor force, largely as a result of the now-abolished one-child policy, the reforms are expected to ease the demographic shift.

Every year for the past four years, China’s labor force has declined by 4.87 million, while the total number of elderly continues to increase, putting enormous strain on the country’s pension system. It’s estimated that while three workers supported one retiree in 2015, the strain of paying for the social security of every retiree will fall to one for every 1.3 workers by 2050.

At the same time, life expectancy in China has grown by about 30 years since the mandatory age of retirement was first implemented in the mid-1950s. As the average life expectancy in 1953 was only 43 years, and most workers weren’t even expected to reach the age of retirement.

Fan Ming, Director of the Institute of Market Economy at Henan University of Economics and Law, said Chinese workers should look at the bigger picture when considering retirement: “People should realize that it is their responsibility to extend their retirement age because they are enjoying an increased life expectancy and many people can still work beyond the current statutory retirement age,” he said.

Wang Dewen, a social protection economist with the World Bank’s Beijing office, pointed out that the average age of retirement in China is 53, while life expectancy stands at 75. Wang said the gap is much wider than the 12 years he believes is a reasonable period for an individual to draw a pension.

Officials have been toying with the idea of raising the age of retirement for a few years now. In 2011, Yin Weimin, Minister of Human Resources and Social Security,announced that changes were imminent but was reluctant to announce a formal timetable. In 2012, social security official, He Ping, said China’s age of retirement should be pushed back so that everyone retires at the age of 65.

And last year, CCTV offered precise details of the future policy by reporting plans for a “gradual adjustment”:

The retirement age will only be raised by a few months each year after the plan is implemented. It will be rolled out by 2017. Before then, the public will have to reach a consensus on the change.

Experts and officials like Jin and He have pointed to a Western model which they believe China could adopt.

The post Shrinking Labor Force Means China’s Pension System is Drying Up appeared first on The Nanfang.

Unlike other buses, the #14 public bus in Songjiang District does not have a ticket seller who can give change. The driver offered the elderly woman a compromise: return to the bus depot where someone could give her the difference.

Zhou Wei, the driver of the #14 bus, suggested the solution so as to not interfere with driving his route:

I told her that we’d sort out the problem once we got back to the station. Once there, some other bus would take her home. However, she said she wasn’t willing to do so.

However, talk is cheap, especially when concerning something like a one yuan fare. Enraged that she couldn’t immediately get her change, the elderly woman grabbed the steering wheel of the bus as it rounded a corner, causing the bus to crash into the side of the road. One female passenger cracked three ribs as a result of the collision.

Fan Mingzhe, a police officer with the Zhongshan police sub-station, said the unidentified woman was charged with breaking statute 114 of the national criminal code and endangering public safety.

Here’s a video of the incident as recorded on various surveillance cameras:

The post Watch: Passenger So Angry She Grabs Steering Wheel and Crashes a Public Bus appeared first on The Nanfang.

As seen in pictures taken on October 19, walking like an animal on four legs is a morning ritual practiced by some 30 to 40 people daily in a historical park located in a shopping district of Zhejiang, Henan.

The crawlers explained there are a number of health benefits that come from the exercise. One person said, “Crawling like this has cured my cervical spondylosis (a deterioration of the spine related to old age). Making two circuits everyday on this sidewalk has made my body more limber,” while another said, “After crawling for half a year, not only has my neck stopped being so stiff, my blood pressure has dropped!”

Claims that walking on your hands and feet is good for your body are indeed backed up by a medical professional, albeit one in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Deputy Director of the Chinese Traditional Medicine Preventative Treatment Center Lu Peiwan said this exercise is a total body workout that uses muscles that are often under-utilized, thereby improving muscles, ligaments, and bones throughout your body.

Furthermore, Lu said the crawling exercise is rooted in traditional Chinese culture. According to Lu, it originates from famous Han Dynasty doctor Hua Tuo’s “Five-Animal Exercise” in which people can improve their health by copying animal behaviors.

One of the participants explained that although crawling is a recent phenomenon for many of them in Zhengzhou, it has deep roots attached to it:

Among us here, the person who started doing this is a Mr Duan who has been doing this for five or six years now. Mr Duan is now 90 years-old, and is in excellent health. After watching him crawl all day long, we’ve taken after him.

Despite being called “outlandish” by the People’s Daily Online, Chinese have been practicing this tradition for years, just as Mr Duan has been doing. Here’s a photo from back in January 2015:

From November last year in Changsha:

This one is from September 2012:

This one is from April 2011:

And this one also from 2011, as seen in a CCTV report:

In 2013, the World Health Organization listed China as the country with the 65th highest life expectancy at 75 years. Japan came in first with an average life expectancy of 85.

The post Newest Fitness Craze to Hit China: Walking on Your Hands and Feet appeared first on The Nanfang.

According to the Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning, the average life expectancy of a city resident is 82 years, while the average in Dongcheng and Xicheng District has reached an impressive 84 years.

The longer life expectancy has caused the city’s elderly demographic to swell in size. Close to one in four Beijing residents are over 60 years of age, totaling just over three million.

While the white paper showed Beijingers are living longer, the news wasn’t all positive. The report also showed that cancer rates continue to increase in the city, and is now the leading cause of death among Beijing residents. 169 of every 100,000 Beijing residents died of cancer in 2014, accounting for 27 percent of all deaths in the city.

The top cancers affecting male Beijing residents are lung, liver, and colorectal cancer, and lung, colorectal, and breast cancer for women.

The post Despite Pollution, Beijingers Apparently Living Longer appeared first on The Nanfang.

China’s one child policy has long been seen as an oppressive regulation that infringes on basic human rights, however exceptions to the law have long existed for certain families, such as those from certain areas or belonging to ethnic minorities. Some predicted a baby boom once the policy was lifted on a larger scale, but that hasn’t happened.

A CCTV poll found 30 percent of parents said they are not willing to have a second child because they don’t have enough money. Of those who want to have a second kid, providing companionship for their first born was the top reason for doing so (40 percent).

China’s one-child policy mandated children to have only one child at most, however the relaxation allows any couples with a parent who is an only child to have a second kid.

China’s only-child generation is growing up with some substantial burdens. Without any other siblings, a single child will be responsible for at least four elderly adults who will need care in their old age (father, mother, father-in-law, mother-in-law).

China’s elderly population is growing fast and putting more demands on social welfare and medical services. In Shanghai, a third of the registered population is classified as elderly.

Photo: CCTV

The post China’s One Child Policy is Relaxed, but Little Interest in a Second Child Anyway appeared first on The Nanfang.

So when a 92 year-old scholar took to the stage yesterday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to give a speech to some 6,000 post-secondary graduate students, you’d expect people to listen. But, as the People’s Daily Online reported, they didn’t.

Photos show a wide number of students sleeping in the back rows.

What makes this incident even more embarrassing is that the speaker, Wu Liangyong, had last been at the Great Hall of the People to receive the nation’s highest award for achievement in science and technology in 2012.

This very prominent example of disrespect towards one’s elders in one of the nation’s most important venues is an enormous loss of face for these students. As such, netizens took this chance to explain how they would have done better in the same situation.

Here are some comments:

倚苍穹：
First, not just anyone is allowed to go to the Great Hall of the People, so it’s a good guess to say these students were all “hand-picked” to be present for this speech. Second, am I right to assume this scholar chose a complicated topic of academia to speak about in his speech? Students have become numb to this type of content since they have been constantly bombarded with it. Third, any time you let me attend such a speech, I can guarantee you that I won’t fall asleep. [pitiful.emoji]

于超yzc：
Anyone able to attend the Great Hall of the People is fortunate! And yet, for 30 minutes these people can’t keep it together!

韩波MUSIC：
These are the best students as determined by the gaokao (university placement system). [haha.emoji]

请悟空当救兵：
You can’t just blame the students.

站起来像没站起来的我要站起来了：
How many people are there that want to listen, but aren’t able to? How many people that listen, but don’t cherish these words?

兰若寺燕赤霞：
Stongly propose to revoke the qualifications of these sleeping graduate students. Kick them back to being undergrads, and make them take the tests again.

可可橘：
Once (these people) become officials, they will take turns sleeping. They will sleep during meetings, they will sleep through their first mistress, second mistress, x number of mistresses.

大YOYO的小咸咸：
Are they all sleeping face down on the desks because… there’s no place to lie down?

The biggest shock to everyone must be how the public is more familiar to seeing people photographed and recorded while being wide awake at the Great Hall of the People.

Photos: cyol

The post Scholar’s Address At Great Hall of the People Becomes Slumber Party appeared first on The Nanfang.

That’s what happened to an unidentified 85 year-old man when police came to investigate a report of illegal sexual activity, reports QQ.

At 9 o’clock last night (September 2), police in Daqing, Heilongjiang Province found the elderly man in a hotel suite with an unidentified woman who was not his daughter, or his granddaughter, nor his great-granddaughter.

In front of the police officers eyes, the old man became very regretful at his shameful actions. Not without mercy, the police respected the old man too much to arrest him for the crime of soliciting prostitution. And so, the old man was set free, having only paid RMB 80 to the woman for her services.

The woman, however, was not as lucky. No such respect was shown to her, and she was taken into police custody to be properly processed by the law.

The report does not mention the age of the woman, who is assumed to be “not old”.

Photo: Caijing

The post Some Men Never Change… 85 Year Old Caught with Prostitute Set Free appeared first on The Nanfang.

The Statistics Bureau of Guangdong Province has released census data from last year, and we’re going to generalize it this way: the average Guangdong resident is male, married, lives in the city, is getting older, and has many friends in the same boat.

The 2013 provincial census is full of rather alarming statistics, none more shocking that the wide discrepancy that exists between the sexes: there are 55.4 million male residents compared to only 50.9 million females., a difference of 4.5 million, reported the Nandu. 

If you think living in the PRD is a great idea, many other people think so too. There are 57.1 million people living in the nine cities of the Pearl River Delta, an increase of 0.45% from the year before. They constitute 53.69% of the province’s permanent residents.

Moving to the city is tremendously popular in Guangdong. 72.1 million people live in cities while only 34.3 million people live in the countryside, a ratio of 67.76% to 32.24%. Last year, 720,100 people moved to the city, an annual growth rate of 1.01%.

The province has 106.4 million permanent provincial residents with an average population density of 593 people per square kilometer. The annual population growth rate of 0.47% has slowed down a bit, but this hasn’t made getting married any easier.

Married residents comprise the bulk of Guangdong’s population at 68.51%, while the unmarried population stands at 26.32%. Divorced residents comprise 0.81% of the population, of which widowers comprise a total of 4.36%. While there has been an increase in every other category, unmarried people continue to shrink as a group at a loss of 0.88%.

As well, Guangdong’s elderly population continues to grow, and for the first time ever comprises over 8% of the total population of the province. There are 8.6 million people over 65 in Guangdong, an increase of 1.2 million from the previous year, signifying a 16.26% increase in annual growth.

We’re not sure where the growing number of urban men will find their brides as the population continues to get older, but then they’ll likely get wisdom from their elders on how to find a date.

Photo: Nandu, dahe

The post New Census Data: There Are 5 Million More Men Than Women in Guangdong appeared first on The Nanfang.

Li X Wen has not visited his 80 year-old mother for a full seven years, and that’s a problem. Although Li has seven siblings, he alone has refused to visit her since he relocated to Foshan in 2007.

Li’s mother, Su, lives in Dongfang, Hainan Province. Her husband died in 2006, and her health has been deteriorating since she underwent surgery to repair a blood clot in her brain.

All that Su wants now is to see her eldest son, Li X Wen, and if a guilt trip isn’t able to do the trick, then a hearing in court will do just as well.

Another son, Li X Qiang, represented her in court and made the following submission:

“Our parents suffered bitter hardship in order to educate and cultivate him into the established man he is now. At present, he has become a success, but cares not for his elderly mother. He has neither come home to celebrate the passing of the holidays, nor just to come home once.”

For his part, Li X Wen argued that he was too busy to make the trip, and that his gifts of money to Su have been ignored.

Given that Judge Judy was unavailable, the People’s Middle Court of Foshan stepped in to order Li X Wen to visit his mother at least once a year and to provide her with a monthly living allowance of RMB 300. Li was also ordered to visit his father’s grave and light a ceremonial incense offering.

The presiding judge, Liang Han, observed that,

“Every child has a legal obligation to care for the welfare of their own parents. This not only includes children by natural birth, but also adopted children and stepchildren under special circumstances.”

Like being a “good samaritan“, “filial behaviour” is required by law in China, so you know that people all do it for the right reasons.

The “Elderly Rights Law” came into effect in July 2013, prompting online support and criticism from netizens . Almost a year later, it remains unclear if such a law is the embodiment of Chinese societal values, or if it is a punishment on children who failed to learn the definition of “filial” as it applied to their interactions with family.

* The “X” denotes information withheld from publication.

Photo: WSJ

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