Orphan grandparents

Lonely and forgotten: Three-generation households have been the tradition in China, assuring the elderly that they would have a place to live and a family to care for them. This is changing as China's economy modernises. - Penn State University/MCT

As China’s respect for the elderly fades, they can sue kids who don’t visit.

YAN Meiyue, 90, said her 72-year-old daughter rarely visited, even for the annual Spring Festival, when families traditionally reunite. So Yan, a widow since her husband’s death nearly a decade ago, spends every weekday at a modest community centre near her home, where she plays mahjong and eats meals prepared by a volunteer staff.