China Focus: Senior canteens fill stomachs and hearts of China’s elderly

BEIJING, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) — It’s lunchtime, and the canteen in a Hangzhou residential community is buzzing with energy. Inside, a tempting array of freshly cooked dishes awaits the elderly residents of the neighborhood.
“Mr. Chen, seafood and soy products aren’t suitable for you today,” a message flashes across a screen as one senior enters.
The personalized reminders appear for certain residents and offer meal suggestions based on their health data.
Welcome to the senior canteen in the Cuiyuan No. 1 Community, one of the first government-subsidized dining halls for seniors in Zhejiang Province. The canteen offers discounted meals and delivery services for elderly residents.
China, like many other countries, is undergoing a demographic shift. Official figures show that China has nearly 300 million citizens aged 60 or above. That number is expected to top 400 million by 2035 and approach 500 million by around 2050, at which point it will account for nearly 35 percent of the country’s total population.
About 90 percent of China’s elderly population live at home, 7 percent rely on community support, and the remaining 3 percent rely on commercial institutions for daily care.
FILLING STOMACHS, WARMING HEARTS
For 66-year-old Hu Huali, visits to the Cuiyuan No. 1 Community’s senior canteen, which is just a five-minute walk from her home, have become a part of her daily routine.
“I absolutely love the Dongpo pork and braised beef here. The meat is so tender and flavorful,” she said ahead of the country’s Seniors’ Day, which falls on Friday this year. “A hearty meal with one meat dish and two vegetable sides costs around 16 yuan (2.27 U.S. dollars). It’s delicious and affordable.”
Cuiyuan No. 1 Community is home to over 9,800 people, a quarter of whom are aged 60 or above. And as the community’s needs have evolved, so has the canteen’s technology.
“Our canteen has become much smarter,” said Xiang Feifei, director of the community residents’ committee. “For seniors who require special care, the day care center monitors their vital signs and feeds this data into the canteen’s digital system. If someone is allergic to seafood, the system detects it and generates a customized menu, advising what to avoid.”
To protect privacy and ensure security, facial recognition and health data usage are governed by a privacy agreement. Both elderly residents and their children sign this agreement, ensuring the data is used only with their consent and strictly for non-commercial purposes, Xiang noted.
The initiative not only improves the quality of life for the elderly but also provides crucial support for younger family members, including those who have to work during the day and are unable to look after their parents at all times.
Chen Peng’s parents, both of whom are nearing 80, enjoy three discounted meals a day from Monday to Friday, right in their neighborhood.
“In the past, their meals were often makeshift — flatbread and fried dough in the morning, boiled porridge with pickled vegetables — sometimes they would eat like that all day,” Chen said. “We were really worried.”
Now, this burden has been eased. “For elderly people like my parents, they can enjoy hot, affordable meals and have someone to chat with, which helps alleviate loneliness,” he added.
NO NEED TO FEAR GROWING OLD
A Ministry of Civil Affairs survey has revealed that 22.1 percent of elderly people require meal assistance services, making such services a critical aspect of home-based care. In response to this data, the ministry and several other government bodies released an action plan in October 2023 to significantly increase the coverage of meal assistance services across the country by the end of 2025.
Senior canteens have been popping up across the country in recent years — and they are not limited to affluent provinces like Zhejiang. Southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality has established nearly 1,600 senior canteens, which are expected to serve over 1.8 million people annually.
In Zhengzhou, the capital of central China’s Henan Province, plans are underway to open 600 meal facilities for seniors by the end of the year, aiming to cover 40 percent of urban communities and 10 percent of rural villages.
Senior canteens are a part of China’s efforts to boost home-based and community-based elderly care services. Other measures include issuing supportive policies, offering subsidies, attracting private capital and training talent, said Wu Lijuan, an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at Peking University.
In July, over 300 measures were unveiled at a key Communist Party of China leadership plenum to push for deeper comprehensive reform, with the plenum pledging to develop community-based facilities to improve the supply of basic elderly care services.
“The Chinese government’s emphasis on elderly care aligns with the long-standing tradition of respecting the elderly and practicing filial piety,” Wu said.
“We often say that caring for our children is caring for the future of our country. In fact, taking care of our elderly is about caring for each of our own futures,” Xiang from the Cuiyuan No. 1 Community told Xinhua.
“By creating age-friendly communities, we ensure that no one has to fear growing old,” she said. ■