Editor's note: Zhang Xiaoqing, a deputy to the 13th National People's Congress, proposed that China should establish a system to allow single children to take paid leave to care for their sick parents. Forum readers share their opinions on the proposal.

TedM (UK)

Chinese society has changed since the days of large families living at home and caring for the elderly. Following the one-child policy, the migration of adults to the cities and increasing Western attitudes, the practices of filial duty can now cause unhappiness and divorce. The elderly may now find that they are abandoned. It is an urgent problem with the increasing elderly population of China.

The only answers are for the state to provide for the elderly, and/or invest in a return to rural industries and businesses through use of the internet. This is a global problem that each country is trying to resolve in its own way. Paying children to stay home is not a feasible idea, as too many Chinese young people now want their independence.