Residents wait for their haircuts in Nanjing Road, Shanghai, on Aug 20. People get free haircuts and repairs of small items such as umbrellas, radios and watches on the 20th of every month, in line with a 20-year-old service for the community. [Photo: CFP]

Four years ago when his wife died, Wang Zhende, 88, decided to rent out his apartment and moved into the Quyang Neighborhood Retirement Home in the north of Shanghai.

Wang has been living with his 77-year-old roommate, Ren Zeru, in a 15-sq-m room on the third floor of the home. The monthly rent rose from 800 yuan ($117) to 950 yuan this year.

Every day, Wang gets up at about 5 am and practices tai chi.

"Daytime passes quickly and I go to bed at about 6 pm," Wang said.

With an aging population and rising demand for retirement homes in the city, many will consider Wang lucky.

Shanghai, one of the first places in the country that is seeing negative population growth, is aging fast and trying to address the problems that go with the worrying trend.

By the end of last year, there were about 70,000 beds at Shanghai's 560 retirement homes. At the same time, more than 20 percent of Shanghai's permanent residents, or 2.86 million, were aged above 60, official figures showed. That percentage is considered to be one of the highest in the country. By 2030, it is expected to increase to more than 33 percent.

Senior citizens in the city have an average life span of 81, according to official statistics.

Meanwhile, the number of people of working age - 15 to 59 - has been in decline, as a result of the one-child policy. That figure is expected to keep declining in the next decade.

Younger generations seeking more independence and freedom have also tended to live with their own family, instead of staying with an extended family with their parents or even grandparents.

Similarly, both Wang Zhende and Ren Zeru think that with societal development and an aging population, living in a retirement home is no longer considered the worst way to spend the remaining years of one's life.

The four-story Quyang Neighborhood Retirement Home is situated in the middle of a block of old residential buildings built in the 1980s. It is home to 62 residents aged 60 to 100, with two or three of them sharing one room. In Wang's room, there are two beds, two tables, a TV, an electric fan and an air-conditioner.

"I feel happy to live here with no need to worry about meals," Wang said.

The Quyang neighborhood committee decided to turn an old house into the retirement home a decade ago, in response to the government's request to build more facilities to accommodate the increasing number of aging people in Shanghai. The home has 24 bedrooms, two shared bathrooms on each floor, a game room, a playground, kitchen and office.

However, it is far from being able to meet the demand.