Research On The Community Services For Elders In Rural China

Chinese society is an aged society. At the end of 2004, there are 143 million people who are older than 60 in China. It occupies 10.97 percent of the total population. The population of the elders living in rural area is about 85.57 million and it occupies 65.82 percent of the country's total. Comparing with the problem of aged care in urban area, the problem in rural area is more urgent.The state, community, family and individual are four kinds of support for aged care. The services of the rural community offer a way to alleviate the pressure of the aged care in rural China. The services of the rural community are built on the basis that the collective economy of village has enough capability to supply the services or the villagers have the consciousness to help each other. The community service is a kind of innovation of villages and will ameliorate the quality of the elder's life. It can satisfy the needs of the elders in rural China because the measures can be adjusted according to the local conditions.The paper on the community service in rural China will guide us to explore some kinds of new forms for the aged care in villages and enrich the theory system. This paper will focus on the content of the services for elders in the rural communities. Firstly, this thesis pays attention to the action of the two committees (village committee and party committee) and how they offer the services to the elders in their villages; Secondly, this paper focuses on services from the villager groups, such as elder association; Thirdly, this paper refers to services from the extensional power of the community, such as the township-village enterprises, factories from outside and able persons of villages. By analyzing the interacting network of aged care which is composed of the state, communities, families and individuals, this article tries to summarize the categories, functions, effects and problems of the community services in rural China, and put forward some rational suggestions. In this paper, the author uses many survey data to analyze the innovation of the community services.This paper is composed of four chapters.Chapter one: PrefaceThis chapter introduces the background, frame and methods of the research. The author explains some concepts, such as community, rural community, and services for elders. This essay summarizes the development course and research documents of the research on the community services for elders in rural China.Chapter two: The societal condition and the policy background of the aged care in rural areaThis chapter explores the ways of aged care in rural China, and analyzes the problems of aged care. The author tries to analyze the importance and the status of the community services for elders in rural China. This thesis explains the cooperative system that is composed of the state, communities, families and individuals.Chapter three: The supply ways of the community services for elders in rural ChinaThis chapter introduces the origin and categories of the community services for the elders in rural China. The author summarizes the state and change of the five guarantees, and explains its formal social support and informal social support Then, the chapter summarizes the categories of the pension insurance in villages and how the village committees supply the services, such as sustentation fund. This thesis summarizes other forms of the community services for elders in rural China, such as community care, collective pension, collective social salvation, infrastructure for aged care, and affectional care. It analyzes the main body of the services supplying in rural communities.Chapter four: The future of the community services for elders in rural communities and suggestionsThis chapter analyzes the challenges and the opportunities of the community services for elders in rural China. At last, the author brings forward some suggestions on developing the community services for elders in rural areas.