Elderly care-related industries are emerging in China, said Li Baoku, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and President of the CPPCC China Aging Development Foundation, on March 10.

The elderly, making up a large portion of Chinese citizens, cause great demand for aging products and services, said Li. However, the aging industry is still at an initial stage. The Chinese Government and related scholars and enterprises are all engaged in searching for solutions to better assist this industry.

Li said providing professional nursing care for urban senior citizens is an urgent need because the elderly care is currently based on in-home care, with community-care as support and organizational elderly care as a supplement. At present, 99 percent of Chinese elderly spend their late years at home.

"Premier Wen Jiabao also stressed the importance of establishing networks for providing medicare and other services for in-home care in this year's government work report. This is what we must do conscientiously," Li said.

According to a survey, the proportion of elderly in "empty nest" families has reached 30 to 50 percent in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Aged people without the ability to take care of themseleves in these families have amounted to over 150 million, thus creating a lot of commercial opportunities for professional nursing care services for urban senior citizens.

The China Aged Care Project, aiming at providing professional caring services for urban senior citizens, has aroused extensive attention from all walks of society, especially private enterprises. At present, there are more than 100 units operating on a trial basis.