China, Buddhist temples become retirement homes for the elderly
China has a rapidly aging population: in 2012 there were 60 million people over 194, at the end of 2013 it is estimated they reached 200 million (14,8% of the population). Demographic aging poses crucial problems for the public administration, first of all that of assistance and care for the elderly, both from a health point of view and from a more properly existential one. The problem is all the more urgent in a society where the one-child policy has made it more onerous for the new generations to take care of the elderly in the family. And it is in this emergence of the third/fourth age that the communist regime discovers the advantages of religion, in particular of Buddhism, which is widespread in the country. "The government should encourage nursing homes to provide their guests with diversified services," says Professor Du Peng of the Institute of Gerontology at China University in Beijing, "and it would be a sign of great progress if special spaces were provided in every nursing home." for prayer". Going further, the professor says he is in favor of religious institutions opening their own rest homes, since patients can find the necessary spiritual assistance in such structures. This is how several Buddhist temples have equipped themselves with retirement homes, financed in part by government funds and in part by donations from individuals and associations. One of them is Jixiang Temple in Fujian Province, which houses 100 elders aged between 71 and 102. "The teaching of Buddhist sutras and daily prayers" observes a 78-year-old guest "allow me to reach that inner peace that I could not find at home". The temples welcome everyone, even the faithful of other religions or atheists, but, as the nun Shi Nengqing observes, "many of these guests, initially far from our religion, end up being conquered by the Buddha".
http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2013-12/27/content_17199885_3.htm
