Rural casualties of an urban age
Older generations in the countryside can be at risk of suicide as children move to cities and long-standing roles in the family change
The last few decades have been an era of unprecedented change on the mainland as millions of rural people have left the countryside - and traditional family dynamics - behind for opportunities in cities.
Researchers say the shifts have been a big factor in the drop in suicide among transplanted rural women who no longer have to submit to the absolute authority of older generations. But many elderly people have become vulnerable as they struggle to cope with the loss of status within their families.
The good news is that prevention of suicide among older people is possible and can be as simple as planting a tree.
There has not been any official update on the national suicide rate since 1999, when the then Ministry of Health put the national average at 13.9 per 100,000 people per year. A study by the University of Hong Kong suggests that the suicide rate across the country fell by 58 per cent between 2002 and 2011, thanks in large part by the decrease in the number of rural women killing themselves.
More women moved to cities over that time, taking on new roles and authority.
But Gui Hua , a researcher at Huazhong University of Science and Technology's Research Institute of Rural Management, said the elderly had been left out of that process. Most rural residents took their spouses and children when they moved away but not their parents, who in turn were more likely to feel lonely, abandoned and prone to suicide in some circumstances.
Studies from Tsinghua University suggest that in the countryside the rate among people aged 70 to 74 was as high as 47 per 100,000 per year from 2002 to 2008, more than double the last published national rate.