When Qing Zhuren goes to work as the manager of the Shanghai Fahua Home for the Aged, he confronts a scene that he once could barely imagine.

The tiny rooms are all full. Three to four residents lie in touching twin beds. There's enough space in the room for only one person to enter at a time.

Decades ago, the idea that China's eldest residents would be put in the care of non-family members was laughable -- impossible, Qing said. In China's tradition-ruled society, parents and grandparents have always depended on their children, grandchildren or in-laws to care for them in their old age.

However, the full rooms at the Fahua Home for the Aged here are proof of a demographic change in this country of 1.3 billion.

Largely due to government policies, birthrates have been falling for the past few decades. At the same time, the explosion of China's middle class has produced millions of upwardly mobile, two-career families that are willing to move about the country or even abroad for their jobs.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Chinese government tried promoting contraception, and then encouraged later marriages and longer waits between children.

In 1979, China grew desperate and resorted to what's known as the One Child Policy. Under that policy, urban couples are limited to one child, while farmers and rural couples are limited to two.

The policy worked. From 1960 to 1980, China's fertility rate fell from six children per woman to two -- the most rapid decline in fertility ever recorded. It was a win for the government, but many Chinese consider it the loss of a tradition.

"Families traditionally used to having many siblings around to take care of older residents suddenly find themselves faced with a problem," said Xu Anqi, a professor and the deputy director of the Center of Family Research at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. "All the pressure is on one child to take care of his parents and grandparents and spouse's parents. It's too much for just one person."

Researchers have dubbed it the "1-2-4 problem" -- one child taking care of two parents and four grandparents.

The situation has become so pressing that the Chinese government is examining alternatives, including more elder care centers such as Qing's.

"A nursing home is a very good option," Qing said. "The kids, when they get older, they don't have enough time. The adults ... they don't want to be a bother. It's not a breakdown of the tradition; we still are going to take care of our families. The method, though, has changed. We are adapting."

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Generation gap

Researchers estimate that by 2030, the number of people 65 and older in China will reach 167 million, roughly half of the entire U.S. population.

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