时间：2022-06-24 08:41:28
When the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Land and Resources （BMBLR） announced that the details of its plan for Beijing’s first piece of subsidized land reserved for the exclusive use of senior care services would be released in early 2013， Zhu Fengbo was understandably excited.
Zhu， chairman of the board at Beijing Sun City Group （BSCG）， had been waiting for this announcement for almost a decade. In 2001， he applied to the government for a piece of land for the exact same purpose， but was roundly rejected. That year， Zhu started his Sun City real estate project， a housing community geared towards providing care for the aged. With the newly favorable policy， and astounding growth in Zhu’s target market， he’s unlikely to miss his chance this time around.
Needs Must
When Zhu Fengbo debuted his idea of “retirement care real estate” in 1999， it was a brand new concept for China. At the time， “elderly care” meant spending a lonely retirement in the family home， or， in a tiny minority of cases， moving to a State-run retirement home.
At the time， there were three types of nursing home in China： welfare houses， retirement homes and military retirement centers. Military centers were reserved for army veterans， and retirement homes only accepted those who had qualified for State assistance. While welfare houses took in State-assisted seniors， they were also permitted to accept paying customers.
Zhao Liangling， former director of the Fifth Social Welfare Institution of Beijing， told NewsChina that there were three of these welfare houses in Beijing. In 1988， the First Social Welfare Institution of Beijing became the first to launch a paid service， but failed to gain interest from its target customers. In its first two years of operation， it brought in almost no business.
The problem was not the lack of a market by the end of the 1980s， Beijing was already beginning to develop an aging population problem， with one million citizens over the age of 60. According to the internationally adopted standard for elderly care， roughly 4 to 5 beds are required for every 100 elderly members of a population. That is to say， Beijing was in need of 40，000 to 50，000 beds， and falling worryingly short.
Industry insiders say that it was Chinese social norms that were keeping the country’s aged from moving into welfare houses. In China， a country whose traditional culture puts great emphasis on filial piety， sending one’s parents to a welfare house was an act tantamount to betrayal.
Yet， as parents of China’s “only child” generation， the product of the One Child Policy， grew older， their children began to have difficulty finding the time to take care of their parents while working to raise their own children. Pressure forced the beginnings of a gradual change to lessen the burden on their children， some elderly people decided to try the paid services at welfare houses. After running for two years， business finally began to pick up at the First Social Welfare Institution.
In 2000， the State Council issued a notice encouraging the privatization of governmentowned welfare houses. Private investment was absorbed into the industry， and Zhu Fengbo’s business began to take off.
Experimentation
Born in 1957， Zhu Fengbo was the youngest of seven siblings in his family. Growing up in such a big family， he says he gained a deep understanding of the mentality of elderly Chinese people.
In his opinion， the nation’s elderly would rather save their money than spend it， and those who open their wallets tend to spend money on their children rather than on themselves. With their frugal habits， most Chinese seniors would only choose to move into any sort of care home if they were unable to take care of themselves.
However， currently， nursing homes are not particularly welcoming to those who are likely to rely heavily on the care workers. Zhao Liangling explained that since most nursing homes had limited resources， they were doing their best to minimize risk.
In many cases， nursing homes spend heavily on their hardware， investing most of their money in their buildings and interior decoration. In the view of both Zhao and Zhu， if the service itself is not improved in accordance with the practical needs of the elderly， this “high-end investment” was a complete waste.
NewsChina found that this trend had resulted in high vacancy rates in many high-end nursing homes. At a home in Beijing charging around 10，000 yuan （US$1，610） per person per month， the vacancy rate was 90 percent.
When planning the Sun City project 10 years ago， Zhu placed his emphasis on practical needs. He spent much time conducting firsthand market research he would visit a senior citizens’ choir at weekends to ask for their advice， and consult with various experts in the elderly research departments of top universities and research institutes.
In 1987， a family misfortune resulted in what Zhu calls his “lifelong regret.” When his father suffered a heart attack， Zhu took him to the hospital， before leaving to go to work. While riding the bus home from the hospital alone， his father had another heart attack， and died. Zhu blamed himself for the tragedy， and claims the experience taught him to appreciate the impor- tance of hospitals and first aid care for the aged. Later， while planning his “retirement care real estate” project， he included not only a hospital， but an entire system to provide health care for old people.
In 2004， the Sun City Hospital was built in the Sun City International Compound for the Aged in northeast Beijing. The first-class hospital covers an area of 10，000 square meters， with an emergency call system that ensures an emergency vehicle can reach any apartment in the complex in five minutes or less. Also， the health records of every elderly person living in the compound are kept in the emergency room， allowing hospital staff to distribute medicine accordingly.
The compound itself covers an area of 300，000 square meters， of which 70 percent are residential buildings for sale， and the rest are ancillary buildings， including the hospital， a supermarket and a nursing home with beds for rental.
In total， there are 1530 residential apartments for sale in the compound， and 1200 beds for rent in the nursing home. Zhu hopes to provide“continuous care” for the aged： apartments for when residents are healthy， hospital treatment for when their health begins to deteriorate， nursing care for when they are unable to take care of themselves， and hospice care for the terminally ill. The model has seen a positive market response. Currently， both sales and rental rates in the compound are at 100 percent.
Zhao Liangling said that in the nursing homes or communities with ancillary health care facilities， the mortality rate is lower. However， with limited land resources and the high professional threshold， only slightly more than 20 percent of the 400 nursing homes in Beijing have in-house infirmaries.
Lost Time
Though a large number of China’s elderly are notoriously frugal， others are displaying a newfound desire to spend money on a comfortable retirement. In recent years， “retirement care tourism” is gaining popularity， as Chinese people born in the 1950s begin to enter their twilight years.
Zhu Fengbo and most of his siblings are among this generation. He said that having spent their youth amid the economic hardship and political turmoil of the Cultural Revolution（19661976）， many of his generation plan to make up for their lost childhood in their retirement.
Zhao Liangling told our reporter that thanks to China’s economic boom over the last few decades， this generation has a comparatively high income. Added to which， most have only one child， upon whom they do not expect to be able to rely in their old age.
In Zhu’s opinion， these people have learned to spend money on themselves. Many of them like to go on vacation with friends of the same age， a phenomenon that Zhu predicts will become a major trend over the next decade. He also expects these people to move into nursing homes together， and to spend more on highquality care. He is in the process of establishing a national society of nursing homes to provide a combination of retirement care and off-season tourism.
Zhao Liangling said this generation would really open up the market for aged care in China.“The current demand for aged care is mostly out of necessity. But in the future， the demand will become more and more active，” he said.
The generation born in the 1950s is gigantic. With a policy to encourage birth in the first 10 years after the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949， the population increased from 450 million that year to 660 million by 1959. There were a total of 210 million people born in that decade.
Figures from the Ministry of Civil Affairs indicate that by the end of 2012， there were 3.9 million beds for aged care in China， equal to 20.5 beds for every 1000 senior citizens. Compared with the internationally adopted ratio， this leaves a shortfall of about 4 to 6 million beds. With supply falling so drastically short of this rising demand， Zhu Fengbo will by no means be the only entrepreneur who has noticed the gap. In the coming years， the battle for the real estate market may be won or lost on care for the elderly.