BEIJING: When Wu Rui's 12-year-old daughter died she lost not just the only child she would ever have but also her source of security and support in old age.
Today the 55-year-old takes care of herself and her own elderly parents on a paltry pension in a ramshackle two-room home, living in fear of medical emergencies she has no way to pay for.
China's one-child policy normally leaves four grandparents and two parents relying on a single caretaker for old age -- and bereaved families with none.
An estimated one million families nationwide have lost their sole descendant since the measure took effect in 1980, and another four to seven million are expected to do so in the next 20 to 30 years.
Many, like Wu, will have no one to help them through the frailties or medical costs of old age.
"If I have a big illness then I probably won't have enough," she says quietly. "For sure there will be difficulties."
Today the 55-year-old takes care of herself and her own elderly parents on a paltry pension in a ramshackle two-room home, living in fear of medical emergencies she has no way to pay for.
China's one-child policy normally leaves four grandparents and two parents relying on a single caretaker for old age -- and bereaved families with none.
An estimated one million families nationwide have lost their sole descendant since the measure took effect in 1980, and another four to seven million are expected to do so in the next 20 to 30 years.
Many, like Wu, will have no one to help them through the frailties or medical costs of old age.
"If I have a big illness then I probably won't have enough," she says quietly. "For sure there will be difficulties."
