Discussion keeps the world turning.
This is Round Table.
With millions of children in China, being the only child in the family now, the responsibility falls to them to care for elderly parents.
The struggle is real.
Today we'll highlight the urgent caregiving challenges they encounter and the societal shifts necessary to support them.
And at this time of autumn, Osmanthus or Guihua gets the star treatment, delighting our senses with its captivating fragrance and delicious flavor.
We discuss how this beloved flower is blossoming into a thriving business.
Coming to you live from Beijing.
This is Roundtable.
I'm Heng.
For today's program, I'm joined by Steve Hatherley and Yuxian in the studio.
First on today's show, as of 2020, the seventh national census data shows that China's only child cohort numbers are 208 million strong.
With roughly 44 million elderly citizens needing daily assistance by late 2022, many millennial and Gen Z only children are facing the dual challenge of caregiving alone.
This double caregiving responsibility is poised to become one of the most critical of the coming decades.
To address this challenge, the southern city of Yangzhou has introduced policies for extra paid leave supporting workers with aging parents.
So let's explore these new efforts.
Yes.
He Yang, like you mentioned, and this is according to a recent article by a Shanghai based news portal, Six Tone, that Yangzhou in eastern China's Jiangsu province introduced a set of new regulations in mid October this year to address the social pressures created by China's rapid population aging.
And what is the new regulation?
So it basically stipulates that workers will be entitled to five days of extra paid annual leave per year to take care of parents who have been hospitalized with an illness or are disabled at home and requires extra caring.