Will parents really want to take bad offspring to court?
A mainland law stating children must visit their mums and dad often will be hard to enforce
Where wealth accumulates and men decay - that was the lamentation of an English poet in 1770 during the Industrial Revolution. Look at the filial piety legislation in China and one may see a hint of truth in it.
The Chinese have historically been a people steeped in filial piety, with the classic stories of Twenty Four Filial Exemplars being passed down through generations.
But as rapid economic growth turned China into an increasingly affluent society and a superpower-in-waiting, its families have witnessed fraying bonds, sometimes to the extent that parents face their children in court.
After a string of widely publicised cases in which abandoned elderly parents were left to fend for themselves, or die at home unnoticed, the Chinese legislature in December made amendments to the 1996 Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly Law, which take effect from July 1.
The current 50-article legislation already made for impressive reading. Elderly people are given legal protection in virtually every aspect of life, from entitlement to basic provisions and family maintenance, to freedom from discrimination and to marry without interference from their children.
The new amendments, 85 articles in all, feature a duty that may raise some eyebrows: those who live away from home should visit their elders often.