BEIJING, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Mrs. Zhou, an 82-year-old widow, lives alone and has no children in Nanjing, the provincial capital of Jiangsu in east China. Her daily life has brightened up since a 24-year-old man began visiting her home to chat, teach her how to use a smartphone and warn her about scams.
The visits are part of a growing practice in China known as "shared children," in which young people are paid to keep elderly people company -- a service seen as filling a gap in emotional support for the country's aging population.
Late last year, the man, Heng Mengyu, first knocked on Zhou's door and soon became a regular visitor. Zhou had no relatives or friends nearby and rarely left her apartment. She was depressed and pessimistic, and had repeatedly mentioned writing a suicide note. After several months, her outlook on life began to change.
One afternoon, Heng arrived at Zhou's apartment as scheduled. He checked for safety hazards -- inspecting kitchen outlets and the gas valve, looking through the refrigerator and clearing out expired food -- while Zhou offered him fruit.
Heng did not try to talk her out of her feelings. Instead, he listened. Over repeated visits, he helped Zhou identify telecom fraud schemes, corrected her health misconceptions, and encouraged a regular routine and a better diet. Zhou gradually opened up, sharing her thoughts and daily life, and regained confidence.
The service is Heng's own venture. He became interested in elder care in college and has worked in the field since graduation. Late last year, he came up with the idea of "doorstep companionship services" and developed a detailed checklist covering home safety inspections, organizing supplies, clearing expired food, smartphone tutorials, anti-fraud education, emotional support, and recording the elderly person's condition.
"Our service isn't just simple care," Heng said. "It focuses on the life and psychological blind spots that the elderly often overlook." After each visit, he records the client's physical condition, emotional state and living situation, and reports back to their children or community.
Heng's visits last at least two hours and start at 200 yuan (about 30 U.S. dollars). His team has grown from one person to nine, including stay-at-home mothers, working teachers, nursing graduates and psychological counselors.
Most "shared children" providers nationwide are young. A post-90s graduate of a Shanghai university, surnamed Qiu, provides weekend visit services, such as chatting with elderly clients, or accompanying them to get haircuts. One client treats him like her own child.
Many individuals and organizations advertise "shared children" services online. Rates are usually hourly, with a single two-to-four-hour visit costing from several hundred to over 1,000 yuan.
The rise of "shared children" reflects a demand driven by population aging. At the end of 2025, China had over 323 million people aged 60 or above, accounting for 23 percent of the population. The figure is projected to surpass 400 million around 2035.
Surveys show the elderly prefer to live at home, and the country has large numbers of empty-nest and disadvantaged elderly, with a high old-age dependency ratio. The fifth sample survey on the living conditions of China's urban and rural elderly found that in 2021, 14.2 percent of elderly Chinese lived alone, while empty-nest elderly -- those living alone or only with a spouse -- accounted for nearly 60 percent.
Mental health needs are equally acute. A blue book on elderly mental health published by the China Research Center on Aging found that 23.76 percent of elderly Chinese experience loneliness to varying degrees, while 26.4 percent show depressive symptoms, including 6.2 percent with moderate to severe depression.
Ye Qing, president of the Wuhan Filial Piety Culture Promotion Association, said increased population mobility has made empty-nest households the norm. Among urban families of only children, the "4-2-1" structure -- four grandparents, two parents and one child -- accounts for 62.3 percent, steadily weakening the traditional family's care-giving role. Children far from home may want to fulfill their filial duties but are constrained by distance and limited energy. The rise of "shared children" responds to this reality, Ye said.
Clients of such services are mostly elderly people who live alone, are socially isolated and emotionally low. Long periods of solitude breed negativity, and with no one nearby to confide in, what they want most is someone to listen to them.
Heng said this is a key difference between "shared children" and ordinary domestic help. "We don't do assembly-line service. We only do companionship with warmth." The core of his team's work is not completing tasks but sensing changes in the elderly person's mood and inner needs, easing loneliness through companionship.
The doorstep model is flexible and customizable to each family's situation, suiting the realities of home-based elder care. Market demand has also created a new employment field, allowing people with a passion for elder care and flexible schedules to work through companionship and care-giving.
Ye and other experts believe the new sector fills part of the gap in emotional elder care, but needs guidance to become standardized and institutionalized. They suggest building efficient supply-demand matching mechanisms through internet platforms, improving user review and credit systems, and refining income distribution and incentive mechanisms -- stabilizing the workforce and ensuring sustainable and quality service over the long term. ■
