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“It is too little, for sure, I think twice a year would be good,” she said. “We Chinese people raise children to take care of us when we are old.”

China’s legislature amended the law in December following frequent reports of elderly parents neglected by their children. It says offspring of parents older than 60 should see that their daily, financial and spiritual needs are met.

Although respect for the elderly is deeply engrained in Chinese society, three decades of market reforms have accelerated the breakup of China’s traditional extended family, and there are few affordable alternatives, such as retirement homes.

Xiao said even before the Law of Protection of Rights and Interests of the Aged was amended, there were several cases of elderly parents suing their children for emotional support. Court officials generally settle such cases by working out an arrangement for sons or daughters to agree to visit more frequently. Typically, no money is involved.

The number of people aged 60 and above in China is expected to jump from the current 185 million to 487 million, or 35 percent of the population, by 2053, according to figures from the China National Committee On Aging. The expanding ratio is due both an increase in life expectancy – from 41 to 73 over five decades – and by family planning policies that limit most urban families to a single child.

Rapid aging poses serious threats to the country’s social and economic stability, as the burden of supporting the growing number of elderly passes to a proportionately shrinking working population and the social safety net remains weak.

Zhang Ye, a 36-year-old university lecturer from eastern Jiangsu Province, said the amended law was “unreasonable” and put too much pressure on people who migrate away from home in search of work or independence.

“For young people who are abroad or work really far away from their parents, it is just too hard and too expensive to visit their parents,” she said. “I often go to visit my parents and call them … (but) if a young person doesn’t want to, I doubt such a law will work.”