Sometimes, if I wanted to talk to someone I'd talk to the TV." Yang, 91, lives on the outskirts of China's bustling capital Beijing. Following the death of her husband, she was so lonely that she says she even considered the possibility of voluntary euthanasia. "I asked my son about it but he told me it was banned.
I told him that if it ever becomes legal I want to do it - I didn't want to live any longer." Suffering glaucoma, with failing eyesight, she was unable to even do basic things like adjust the controls on her air conditioner. Cases such as Yang's have become increasingly common in Chinese cities which Associate Professor Teresa Kuan, from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, says is "exacerbated by the structure of society and the modes by which people interact". There are many causes of isolation in China.
Most of it happens when rural migrants pursue economic opportunities, leaving behind close-knit support networks for urban centres where loneliness and uncertainty can be difficult to overcome, or when graduates uproot themselves chasing employment on the other side of the country. But now a growing "loneliness industry" has emerged to try to fill these gaps in people's lives. Yang says her life has been transformed by one of these services - Wang Yingwei and his electric scooter delivery team - who started coming over twice a day with hot meals but whose help extends far beyond that.
"We see ourselves as community children," Yingwei told the BBC. "It means putting yourself in the shoes of older people and carefully considering their needs. "For example, they may be drinking tap water which can be cloudy and contain a lot of lime.
I can fix this problem with a filtered water tank. Such a small thing can make them much happier. Maybe they can't shower because their equipment is broken.
I'll buy a part, replace it and their shower is fine." "The elderly treat us like their children, and we treat them like our own parents," he added. Yingwei's services cost less than half the price of employing a caregiver. The former mobile phone salesman says he started his company to help seniors remain at home without having to move into retirement facilities.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
