The everyday challenges of China's ageing population demand attention

At 50 and in excellent health, I had hardly given any thought to ageing. Having spent the past two weeks at my father's hospice in Nanjing, however, I was pushed to confront the grim reality of it and the extremely alarming situation China's vast ageing population will face.

My 86-year-old father, terminally ill with a heart condition, had lived at home with my 78-year-old mother who cared for him. When she could no longer cope with her heavy-boned and demanding husband (he would wake her up in the middle of the night just to ask for some warm tea), our family decided to send him to this nearby hospice.

It consists of a concrete yard with a flowerbed in the centre, and a nondescript four-storey building which houses 70, mostly terminally ill, patients.

It's not a grand establishment by any standard. Yet there's a three- to four-year wait to get in. My father was ushered in through the back door, thanks to a good guanxi there.

The hospice was established 10 years ago in response to market demand and to cope with China's "grey tidal wave".

Many countries, in Europe, North America and some Asian countries such as Japan and Korea, face similar problems, but none is nearly as severe as China's. Some 185 million Chinese are aged 60 and above. It is also ageing with unprecedented speed, thanks to a sharp increase in the average life span and a dramatic drop in the fertility rate.