Elderly people play poker in Caiji Social Welfare Center.[Photo by Yang Yang/China Daily]

As China's population of the elderly grows, the private sector is stepping in to fill in the gap in services for the old

It is a cold day early in the Lunar New Year, and 82-year-old Cai Hongyi Is sitting in a wooden chair at the entrance of the four-storey Kangyi Nursing Home in Caiji Town in Suqian, in Jiangsu province.

The home, with a capacity of 400 beds, appears deserted as most of the 80 residents have been taken home by their families for the Spring Festival.

Cai has just returned from his original home in a village about 5 km away, where, as a farmer, he spent his whole life and raised four children with his departed wife.

About 10 years ago, Cai's wife was bedridden. So, in order for her to receive appropriate care, the couple moved into a nursing home.

Then, when Kangyi was set up two years ago, the family decided to transfer the couple there as it offered better facilities and was closer to their home.

On the third floor, the nursing home is connected with a neighboring hospital.

At the end of 2016, Cai's wife died, so now he spends 1,500 yuan a month for a place in a two-bed ward with an attached bathroom at Kangyi.

"I've become used to this place, so staying at home is not as comfortable as living here," he says, explaining why he returned to the home quickly after the New Year celebrations at home.

Most of the home's residents are over 80, and are either wheelchair-bound or bedridden.

On the third floor, two men aged over 100, are in a three-bed ward.

Zhou Qin, the 38-year-old in charge of nursing services, goes over to one of them and says: Xin Nian Hao (Happy New Year)!

The man listens carefully and replies after several seconds with a quiet "Xin Nian Hao."