Much of the debate on aging society in China has focused on the material challenges faced by senior citizens-the level and fairness of pensions, the cost of healthcare and the financial support that should be provided by their children. Not much has been said about the challenges of emotional and social care faced by a society that within the space of two generations has changed from one in which the elderly enjoyed an honoured status in extended families to one where the number of "empty nests" is growing by the millions every year.

Needless to say, the annual sessions of the National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference should thoroughly discuss the increasingly acute social problem and come up with plans to solve it.

Recent media reports of pensioners in Luzhou (Sichuan province), Qingdao (Shandong province) and Wuhan (Hubei province) found dead alone have awakened people to an impending social crisis that China must confront head on.