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In China, developers experiment with retirement homes as families rethink cultural expectations about caregiving

  • Developers are moving cautiously because of the deeply ingrained Chinese expectations that children must care for their elderly parents
  • Longfor this month opened its first retirement home with 151 beds in Chongqing

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Older Chinese exercise in Ditan Park in Beijing in June 2016. Beijing's parks have become a common place for older people to spend their time in the morning, where they can gather with friends or take care of their grandchildren. Photo: Simon Song

Longfor Group Holdings is the latest mainland Chinese property developer to jump in to experiment with retirement homes for the country’s growing older population – already the largest in the world.

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But, like other developers, it is moving cautiously because of the deeply ingrained Chinese expectation that children must care for their elderly parents. It’s known as yang er fang lao  “raise children to support your old age.”

That expectation, however, may slowly be changing.

Some parents now in their 40s or 50s with only one child due to China’s only recently loosened restriction of one child per family say they might choose to live in a retirement community, both for friendship and fun but also to avoid burdening their child.

That explains why the Hong-Kong listed Longfor – one of the top 10 developers in China by sales – is testing the waters with its first retirement home in Chongqing, an important southwest municipality where the company got its start 25 years ago.

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