Abstract
China’s large-scale rural-urban migration and the ageing of its rural population has intensified the challenges of traditional family care. However, the majority of its rural elderly are reluctant to leave the village acquaintance society even after they are too old or sick to take care of themselves, and ageing in the village community is their primary choice. While various practice models of ageing in place (AIP) supported by the local government and communities have emerged in some pioneering areas of rural China, the existing literature has provided very little comparative analysis on these practice models. Based on firsthand data collected from field studies in rural Jiangsu, East China, this article compares and analyses three main AIP practice models, i.e., home-based care funded by the government and provided by volunteers, day care provided by community care centres, and institutional care provided by village-based “happiness homes” and senior apartments. The roles and operational mechanisms of the government, social organisations, market, and local community in promoting AIP in rural areas are discussed from a perspective of multiple collaborative governance. Moreover, effective partnership between different stakeholders for further development of AIP in rural China for the construction of rural age-friendly communities with improved socialised elder care facilities and systems is discussed. The research has significant implications for the promotion of AIP worldwide.
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Excerpt
Full text document will be published online on September 2024.
Outline
Introduction
Theoretical model
Methodology
Practice models of ageing in place in rural China
1. Home-based care
Government-purchased services
Mutual aid and voluntary services
2. Day care provided by community care centres
3. Institutional care provided by village-based happiness homes and senior apartments
The roles and operational mechanisms of the state, market, and social organisations
1. The role of the government
2. Increased collaboration between the government and other stakeholders
3. Operational mechanisms between different stakeholders
Conclusion and discussion
First lines
Introduction
With its rapidly increasing ageing population, China has entered the stage of a moderate ageing society. According to the seventh national census of China, there were 190 million older adults aged 65 and over in China in 2020, accounting for 13.5% of the total population. More strikingly, the proportion of the elderly population is much higher in rural areas than in urban locations due to the process of industrialisation and urbanisation creating a mass migration of young labourers from rural areas to cities for job opportunities (Yi, Liu, and Xu 2019; Yu, Ma, and Wang 2021). The proportion of rural people aged 65 and over was 17.72% in 2020, 6.61 percentage point higher than that in urban areas. Compared with urban areas, the ageing of the rural population is more prominent in intensity and speed, and the rural-urban inversion of population ageing will continue for a long time.
The migration of rural young adults has not only contributed to the rise in the proportion of ...
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References
Bibliographical reference
Yanxia Zhang and Chuanhong Zhang, “Practice Models of Rural China’s Ageing in Place: From the Perspective of Multiple Collaborative Governance”, China Perspectives, 134 | 2023, 9-18.
Electronic reference
Yanxia Zhang and Chuanhong Zhang, “Practice Models of Rural China’s Ageing in Place: From the Perspective of Multiple Collaborative Governance”, China Perspectives [Online], 134 | 2023, Online since 01 September 2024, connection on 06 December 2023. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/chinaperspectives/15708; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/chinaperspectives.15708
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About the authors
Dr Yanxia Zhang is Associate Professor, Department of Social Policy and Development Studies, College of Humanities and Development Studies, China Agricultural University. No. 17 Qinghua Donglu, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, China (yanxiazhang@cau.edu.cn).
Dr Chuanhong Zhang (corresponding author) is Professor, Department of Public Administration and Development, College of Humanities and Development Studies, China Agricultural University. No. 17 Qinghua Donglu, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, China (dianazhang@cau.edu.cn).
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