“We want a new home, not just a new apartment," Wang said. But it is interesting that Wang and his wife seem to move about their new apartment with the same familiarity they had when they lived in their old one.

“We have reformed the management of retirement homes to make the elderly people feel at home," said Wang Yingmei, an official with Tianjin municipal social welfare office.

Wang’s resthome is not the only one in Tianjin that tries to be more homey. Besides equipping the flat with the lodgers’ own furniture, the caretakers of these apartments for the elderly have taken various steps to cater to the increasing demands for better services.

They offer lodgers with around-the-clock services like ordered meals and visiting doctors. Experts on gerontics do a scientific examination on each person according to their case studies. They also enjoy being with many lively students who visit them regularly.

Tianjin has about 1.24 million people who are above the age of 60. They account for 13 percent of the municipality’s 9.6 million people. A survey indicated that more than 10,000 elderly people in the municipality prefer living in a resthome.

Experts say that this type of apartment for the elderly has created a new form of retirement home in China.

China has some 126 million people above 60, making up 10 percent of the country’s total population.

Chinese used to take it for granted that the aged parents should live with their children and were supported and taken care of by them. The tradition is fading away as the nuclear family is gradually taking the place of the big family, and their adult children are busier with work.

The one-child family planning policy adopted in 1970s makes more parents realize that it would be a hard job for a young couple to support four old people at the same time.

A survey showed that a growing number of elderly people, especially those who are better-off in cities, are living in the retirement homes.

(Xinhua)