(4) Senior citizens' rights

The government will continue to improve the social security system for the aged, pushing forward the establishment of a service system for the elderly and guaranteeing their legitimate rights and interests.

- Revising the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly, and reinforcing legal protection of senior citizens' rights to housing, property, marriage, medical care, old-age support and other areas.

- Establishing an integrated service system for the elderly, with home-based care as the basis, community care as support, and nursing homes as supplement. The government supports and encourages social engagement in old-age services through various means, including private running of public facilities, government-supported private facilities and government purchasing services for the elderly. Communities will play an important role in senior citizens' care, tending their physical, psychological and medical needs.

- Pushing forward the construction of old-age service facilities. An additional 2.2 million beds will be placed in the service centers for rural households enjoying the "five guarantees"(guarantee of food, clothing, housing, medical care, and burial [education] expenses for elderly people, handicapped people and residents under the age of 16 living in the countryside who have lost the ability to work, have no sources of income and have no people to support them). Some 800,000 new beds will be added to nursing homes for bereaved seniors in towns. A batch of nursing homes will be established in big and medium-sized cities. Nursing homes, recreation centers and comprehensive welfare centers for senior citizens will be constructed in rural areas, with the target coverage of 75 percent in the villages and towns.

- Enriching senior citizens' cultural life. More colleges and schools for the elderly will be opened. At least one well-equipped recreation center will be established in each county in the western region of the country, and in every township in the central and eastern areas.

- Developing nonprofit non-governmental organizations that provide service to the elderly, and increasing the number of volunteers and social workers.