So it means more and more elders will be left unattended. Here in Beijing a community with 20 households has found a special way to look out for elderly residents, especially those living alone.
Blinds carry a secrete code that's only shared between 79-year-old Sun Yufen and her neighbor.
"We keep an eye on each other's windows regularly. If the blinds remain closed down, it signals that something's gone wrong, because we might get too sick to even make a phone call. We'll come to knock on each other's doors. If nobody responds, we'll then get our neighborhood committee."
Sun and her husband still manage to do some light housework. Their children can't visit them all the time. But 80-year-old Su Guiru has been living on her own since her husband passed away several years ago.
"We work in pairs. She keeps me on her mind and comes to check on me often. And I do the same. There's a bond between us. It gives me peace of mind knowing somebody cares about me."
The idea of a curtain pact originated from two families who supported each other for more than two decades in a neighboring community. When the idea was introduced to this neighborhood by social workers, residents worked out their own curtain codes.