From WeChat to Taobao, China's elderly are embracing big tech
Netease technology news, january 2 news, according to japanese media reports, more and more chinese elderly people are using mobile phone applications such as wechat and taobao to embrace big technology. In the process of rapid digital transformation, China's elderly people are not lagging behind. Like many Chinese, Xu Chang browses e-commerce websites on his mobile phone every day, chats with friends on wechat, and uses Gaud maps to travel the roads of Beijing. When the cold snap hit, he stayed at home and ordered takeout through the delivery app. But Xu Chang isn't a millennial, he's an 80-year-old pensioner. After reading an article about Alibaba founder Jack Ma and his e-commerce empire five years ago, Xu couldn't help downloading Alibaba's Taobao app. These apps not only make Xu's life more enjoyable, but also enable him to help others. He said: Relevant statistics show that by 2018, China's population aged 65 and above has reached 166.6 million. The rapid digital transformation once worried that many elderly people might not be able to adapt to the new technology and may be behind the times. China currently has more than 4 million applications, but few of them are dedicated to the elderly. However, there is evidence that the elderly in China are not alienated by digitalization. Instead, like Xu Chang, they are embracing new technologies. Tang Yanhang, an empty nester who lives in Changchun, is a good example. Because of living far away from his daughter, Tang once needed to go home alone with a heavy shopping bag. But after learning how to use the e-commerce app in 2017, the 64-year-old only shopped online, waiting for the courier to deliver the goods to himself. Zhong Peicheng, from Henan province, can also use WeChat to keep in touch with his sons. Mr. Zhong,59, treated his hometown, while his sons worked in the construction industry in Guangdong, thousands of kilometers away, only once a year. But According to a report released by Tencent last January, about 63 million people aged 55 and over use wechat in China. Although the figure sounds impressive, less than 6% of wechat monthly active users are Chinese seniors. In another study, Tencent pointed out that about half of the 800 elderly Chinese surveyed in 2017 used wechat payment or other electronic wallets. The proportion of the elderly who have online shopping or online consultation experience is relatively low. The elderly in China are also keen to help each other. In fact, Tang Yanhang, who lives in . . . read more Nikkei Asian Review
Elderly-care stations introduce facial recognition
By getting their faces scanned, senior citizens in a downtown aging community can enjoy a wide range of services. The Jing’ansi Subdistrict in Jing’an District, where more than 40 percent of residents are over 60, has set up seven elderly-care service stations. Every station has a facial recognition machine which allows seniors to have their faces scanned to enjoy services related to health care, mental support, entertainment and legal aid, among others areas. According to subdistrict officials, elders usually forget to carry ID cards and other valid documents, and some don’t know how to use smart phones. Now, they don’t need to take anything with them. After having their faces scanned, they can directly make appointments for house cleaning, meal delivery or foot care. And the fees are automatically calculated. Besides, the subdistrict has set up a team of 26 elderly-care consultants. The consultants are professionals from local elderly-care facilities and volunteers from grassroots elderly-care groups in the subdistrict. They will tell senior citizens about . . . . read more
China's evolving senior care sector; opportunities and challenges for Canadian care providers and business
Like many countries in North America, Europe, and Asia, China is facing the problem of an aging population. In 2017, 240 million Chinese were over the age of 60 – about 17% of the population. And this number is expected to grow, reaching about 35% of the population by 2050. As Chinese society ages, medical problems, particularly chronic diseases, abound. But, amid a growing demand for senior care services, the existing system to support China’s elderly is insufficient. The Chinese government has taken active measures to tackle this problem. Since the previous decade, there has been a “double movement” in state response to social problems in China. After three decades of fast-paced economic reforms, the government has withdrawn from a policy of retrenchment in welfare, committing substantive resources to provide subsidies to poor and rural populations, including seniors. But, simultaneously, it has also altered existing regulations to allow for the operation of private actors in the delivery of services to China’s more affluent urban residents, especially senior care and health-care services. The combination of increasing demand for high-quality care and the Chinese government’s policies to invigorate private delivery of senior care services, including by foreign companies, creates . . . . . read more here.
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Opportunities and Challenges for Chinese Elderly Care Industry in Smart Environment Based on Occupants’ Needs and Preferences
New developments in intelligent devices for assisting elderly people can provide elders with friendly, mutual, and personalized interactions. Since the intelligent devices should continually make an important contribution to the smart elderly care industry, smart services or policies for the elders are recently provided by a large number of government programs in China. At present, the smart elderly care industry in China has attracted numerous investors’ attention, but the smart elderly care industry in China is still at the beginning stage. Though there are great opportunities in the market, many challenges and limitations still need to be solved. This study analyzes 198 news reports about opportunities and challenges in the smart elderly care industry from six major Chinese portals. The analysis is mainly based on needs assessment for elderly people, service providers, and the Chinese government. It is concluded that smart elderly care services satisfy the elders’ mental wants and that needs for improving modernization services are the most frequently mentioned opportunities. Also, the frequently mentioned challenges behind opportunities are intelligent products not being able to solve the just-needed, user-consumption concept and the ability to pay, which is the most frequently mentioned challenge. The results of this study will enable stakeholders in the smart elderly care industry to clarify the opportunities and challenges faced by smart elderly care services in China’s development process and provide a theoretical basis for better decision making.
Read more . . . . US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health
Beijing to conditionally reopen nursing homes
Beijing plans to conditionally ease epidemic prevention and control restrictions over its 682 nursing homes from Monday. The institutions, with some 48,000 senior citizens who remained in residence during the Spring Festival holiday, have reported zero infections of COVID-19 since Jan. 27 when Beijing closed off nursing homes amid the severe challenge from the novel coronavirus. Starting from May 18, family visitors, returning and newly admitted senior citizens, returning and new employees, and medical and maintenance personnel are among those who will be allowed to enter the nursing homes after going through relevant procedures and ensuring adequate protection, according to Li Hongbing, deputy head of the Beijing Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau, at a press conference held on Sunday. Li said returning residents and applicants will have to take at least two nucleic acid tests before and after 14 days of isolation and medical observation. To cope with the impact of the COVID-19, Beijing will allocate 100 million yuan (about 14.1 million U.S. dollars) to support the operation of elderly service institutions, he said. Aside from the current operation subsidy, known as "bed subsidy" which is 100 yuan for each person admitted, Beijing municipal government will subsidize 500 yuan per person per month according to the number of senior citizens actually admitted to the nursing homes during the epidemic. Read more on China.org.cn.
China’s giants from Alibaba to Tencent ramp up health tech efforts to battle coronavirus
China’s tech giants are accelerating their efforts in the field of health-care technology using cloud computing and artificial intelligence, as the country looks to contain the fast-spreading new coronavirus. While U.S. technology firms from Apple to Microsoft have spoken publicly about their push into health tech, China’s companies have been quietly working in the background. But with the outbreak of the coronavirus, Beijing has called on the country’s tech giants to pitch in to fight the outbreak. Tech firms have expanded their surveillance capabilities to help the government track where people who have potentially been in contact with the virus are located. And now, the Chinese tech giants are also boosting their push into health care with a focus on providing tools to help the medical industry. Alibaba runs some of China’s biggest e-commerce platforms, a booming cloud computing business, a logistics network, and one of the country’s biggest mobile payment apps Alipay via its subsidiary Ant Financial. It has leaned into these to introduce some health-care features. In January, Alibaba launched an online clinic service on its Alipay and Taobao apps for users in Hubei province, where the coronavirus is believed to have originated and the region with the most number of cases. That service, which allowed people to get online consultations with doctors, was later extended to Beijing residents. In February, the company launched a drug delivery service for people requiring medicines to treat chronic diseases. It comes as hospitals are overburdened with coronavirus cases, and are sometimes left with little resources to help those with other chronic diseases who need urgent treatment. Alibaba’s research arm also developed a new artificial intelligence algorithm . . . . read more CNBC @ARJUNKHARPAL
