Paper short abstract:

“To bring up sons for one’s own old age” is an old proverb that still adequately describes the situation of elderly support in rural China. But new challenges for the elderly brought about by societal transformations are emerging.

Paper long abstract:

In managing the late years in their life course, the current generation of peasants in China still have to mainly rely on the financial and practical support shared in equal by their male offspring as the custom laws subscribe, since the old peasants get no pensions and only limited reimbursement of medical care costs from the state provisions of social security. However, dramatic changes that have taken place in the last three decades of the reform era have led to new kinship constellations: the elderly prefer to live independently by themselves and save their own resources for that purpose; increasing empowerment of rural women allows married-out daughters to interfere with the issue of elderly support in their natal family; brothers' income may vary enormously; juridical services offered by the local state protect the interests of the elderly.

But even the seemingly beneficial developments for the elderly (such as engagement of daughters, legal protection) are a mixed blessing. As a proverb says: "One should not expect filial sons when lying in sickbed for a long time". One huge challenge for the elderly people is to balance kin relations, in order to keep peaceful constellations. Juridical solution of family conflicts is always the last choice, and often the worst alternative.

This paper is based on ethnographic data collected from a village in North China. It discusses how state social policy intertwines with the traditional model of elderly support and investigates the anxiety of the rural elderly in coping with new challenges of societal transformations.