CRI听力:Refusal to Visit Parents May Have Credit Score Degraded

The local regulation is set to take effect on May 1st.

The language in it requires adults to fulfill their duties to their parents, as well as provide them with economic and spiritual support, and quote - "come back home often."

The new regulations will enable elderly people in Shanghai to file a lawsuit, forcing their children to visit them.

Those found violating the court-ordered visits could see their credit rating take a hit.

Shi Kai, with Shanghai's Municipal People's Congress, says the new rules should be able to do what previous ones couldn't.

"We used to lack detailed and feasible punishments for those failing to take good care of their parents. This was a loophole in the laws and it's what the new regulation is trying to fix."
Lawyer Yue Cheng says he believes the new regulations do clarify things.

"With the law in hand, it will be easier than before for the elderly to sue their offspring for failing to support them financially or attend to them regularly."

The changes to the regulations in Shanghai are drawing mixed reactions.

"Most working people lead a strenuous life, having to look after not only their parents, but also their kids."

"My child is usually busy. It's OK as long as he kept us parents in mind. We should not blame young people simply for their seldom visits to us."

Professor Lu Jiehua with Peking University says he believes is more a question of morals than laws.

"As an old saying goes, law makes morality visible. It's more important to make people more aware of their moral responsibility towards their parents than simply make it legally compulsory for them to provide support and regular visits."

Local authorities in Shanghai have not detailed how much a person's credit rating might be affected if they don't visit their parents enough.

The regulations also don't include specifics of how often is "often" when it comes to people visiting their parents.

China's central authorities amended the national laws on protecting elderly people's rights and interests in July 2013, for the first time making it compulsory for children to visit their parents regularly.

Local regulations have also been established in the provinces of Jiangsu and Guangdong, as well as in Beijing, requiring children to "come back home often."

For CRI, this is Fei Fei.