The problem is, even for Chinese who desperately want to visit their parents on a regular basis, the burden of doing so in the mobile, urbanizing society that the Chinese government has engineered, is difficult. “If the parents live in northeastern China, and their children living in the southeast, they’re unlikely to go home with any frequency,” tweeted a user in Shaanxi province via Sina Weibo — China’s most popular microblogging service — on Monday. “Can they take several flights in a week? What if the children live in another country?” For China’s hundreds of millions of low-paid migrant laborers, the burden is even heavier: For them, travel tends to be restricted to national holidays and unbearably expensive.
Nevertheless, few Chinese would object to the notion that visiting and caring for one’s parents is a moral imperative. Reverence for elders remains a cultural obligation. But over the last three decades, Chinese society has been transformed into one where modern responsibilities are overwhelming traditional responsibilities. For many, this is the bittersweet price of progress, and some microbloggers and newspaper editorialists have produced poignant commentary on the evolution of Chinese values. One of the best was published Monday in the Communist Party-owned Zhuhai Daily newspaper:
“While applauding the progress the law represents, we feel a kind of sadness in our hearts. Taking care of one’s parents is a basic Chinese duty that shouldn’t require legal encouragement. It’s shameful for children to be encouraged by the law in this way. The new law should be a wake-up call to visit your parents before they’re gone, or feel regret.”
The Chinese government is counting on it.
(Adam Minter, the Shanghai correspondent for the World View blog, is writing “Junkyard Planet,” a book on the global recycling industry. The opinions expressed are his own.)
Article Appeared @http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-02/in-china-visit-granny-or-you-might-get-sued.html