Lola Wang , a 28-year-old marketing officer in Shanghai , makes a six-hour trip to Shandong province in eastern China to see her parents twice a year -- once during the Lunar New Year and again during the National Day holiday in October . `` I feel like I should visit my parents more but having a job in the financial industry means I have to work long hours and sacrifice some of my personal time for work , '' Wang , an only child , tells CNN . Wang 's dilemma is faced by many young people in China , where a one-child policy and three decades of economic reforms have accelerated the decline of the traditional extended family . It 's also a matter of concern for China 's new leaders as they grapple with the burden of supporting the growing number of elderly people . New law . A new national law introduced this week requires the offspring of parents older than 60 to visit their parents `` frequently '' and make sure their financial and spiritual needs are met . `` People are accusing young people of not visiting their parents enough , '' says Wang , adding she agrees with the aims of the law . `` Admittedly , some of them use their career and long working hours as an excuse . My problems are that I do care about my parents , but I have little vacation and my parents live far away . '' According to the state-run Xinhua news agency , China had about 185 million people above the age of 60 at the end of 2011 . The figure is expected to surge to 221 million in 2015 and by 2050 a third of China 's population will be classed as elderly . Neglect . The `` Law of Protection of Rights and Interests of the Aged '' was amended by China 's legislature in December after a spate of reports about elderly parents neglected by their children . In one particularly horrific case in China 's eastern Jiangsu province , a local television station reported that a farmer had kept his 100-year-old mother in a pigsty with a 440lb sow . Chen Shoutian told the station his mother had been happy to live there : `` She wants to stay here because she feels it is convenient , '' he said . A modest pension and social welfare system , particularly in rural areas , means elderly people are usually dependent on their children for support . More than a fifth live below the poverty line , according to figures from the National School of Development at Peking University . Changing values . Although respect for the elderly is still deeply engrained in Chinese society , traditional values like filial piety have been weakened by the country 's rush to modernity . `` The traditional family support system is eroding for many reasons and I think the government would like to slow this process down , '' said Albert Park , the director of the Emerging Markets Institute at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology . The law stipulates that children can not give up their inheritance rights in attempt to evade their duty to take care of their parents . It adds that children should pay a monthly allowance to their parents if they refuse to take care of them . The legislation also allows for the elderly to sue their children but does not specify the process or what penalties they might face . It may also prove difficult to enforce , says Ding Yiyuan from Beijing Yingke Law Firm . He told the Guangzhou Daily newspaper the law fails to qualify the word `` frequently . '' He added that few elderly people were likely to sue their own children . First case . On Tuesday , XInhua reported that a 77-year-old woman from Jiangsu city of Wuxi sued her daughter for neglecting her . In the first case after the new law came into effect , the local court ruled that her daughter must visit her at least twice a month and provide financial support . But the law 's introduction has proved controversial . Some say it puts too much pressure on those who move away from home for work , study or other opportunities . Cheng Zhegang , 50 , whose only child is studying for a master 's degree in the United States , said the law `` distorts the parent-child relationship . '' He hopes his daughter will head to a big city like Shanghai or Beijing to find a job on graduation and not return to the small town where she grew up . `` I do n't want my daughter to have a burden both physically and spiritually , '' he told CNN . `` For me , my daughter 's career is the most important thing . As the parent of an only child , I have spent so much time and money on my daughter 's education and now I want her to be successful . ''
New Chinese law requires people to visit elderly relatives . Care of growing elderly is a big concern for China 's society . One - child policy and economic reform have broken up extended family . Some say is controversial and hard to understand .