The elderly deserve better care and happier life

Sad news came one after another in the past week. A man in his 70s froze to death in a shack at a village in Weifang, Shandong province, leaving his brother alone. A 63-year-old man living alone in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, and an aged man in Chengdu, Sichuan province, were found dead in their homes days after they "disappeared".

Earlier in Chengdu, a couple in their 80s died unnoticed, and their bodies had rotted by the time they were found.

The series of tragedies give an indication of the problems China's fast aging population will bring. According to the China National Committee on Aging, the period of rapid aging that started this year will end only in 2035, and during this time the population of the elderly is expected to increase by 29 percent, from 212 million to 418 million.