NANNING, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- At a painting class in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region's capital in south China, lawyer Liang Yinxia lays out art supplies and guides a group of elderly residents through the lesson. On other days, she reads the news with them, takes walks or helps them use smartphones.
Liang is not employed by the care home. Since August, she has lived there, paying part of her rent with volunteer hours.
At Nanning Wuxiang Nursing Service Center, 30 hours of volunteering a month cuts the rent by 500 yuan (about 74 U.S. dollars). Forty hours earns a 750-yuan discount, while 50 hours covers the entire 1,000-yuan rent.
Liang spent four years working in hospital nursing before becoming a lawyer in 2024. The center was near her workplace, and the rent reduction appealed to her.
Applicants must be aged 22 to 40 and meet requirements, including not owning a home in Nanning. The center gives preference to people trained in social work, healthcare, psychology or law.
Other cities have adopted their own rules, as Chinese authorities explore systems of care involving volunteers trading their time for help with accommodation.
In Jinyun County, east China's Zhejiang Province, young people can stay in unused staff rooms at participating care homes and earn rent reductions by volunteering 10 to 30 hours a month. One home has housed 95 young people since the program began in 2024, with 13 living there now.
The programs remain small in scale. Four care facilities in Nanning were selected for similar trials in 2025.
Official data shows that China's population aged 60 and above exceeded 323 million by the end of 2025, accounting for about 23 percent of the national total.
WHAT BOTH GENERATIONS GAIN
Liang had years of nursing experience, but she found that getting to know her new neighbors took time. At first, she struggled to gain their trust. Gradually, residents began telling her about their past.
"The elderly have accumulated a lifetime of experience and wisdom," she said. "You can only appreciate that by getting to know them."
An 83-year-old resident surnamed Li said she now had more people to talk to and participate in activities with. When she fell behind during a video-guided class, a young volunteer explained what to do.
In Jinyun, Wu Weifeng, a young man from neighboring Jiangsu Province, moved into a care home's staff accommodation after taking a hospital job in 2024. He had struggled to find a place to rent.
"At first, I didn't know how to start a conversation. Instead, the elderly residents came over and asked about me," Wu recalled.
The experience has made him more patient with older members of his own family, he said.
At another home in Hangzhou, the provincial capital of Zhejiang, young residents teach older people how to use artificial intelligence tools, while the older residents share memories of the city and stories from their working lives. One young tenant, Qiu Shaoqi, arrived for the free room, but later found he was reluctant to leave.
There are precedents overseas. In the Netherlands, the Humanitas retirement home in Deventer has offered university students rent-free accommodation in exchange for spending at least 30 hours a month with older residents. The arrangement drew international media attention in 2015.
The OECD's 2025 Cities for All Ages report discusses intergenerational housing as one response to loneliness and housing affordability problems, citing projects in Europe and the United States.
THE CHALLENGE OF STAYING
Liang completed 30 volunteer hours in August. In September, work commitments and health problems left her four hours short. The center agreed to let her make up the difference in October.
Social workers and care staff guide the volunteers, with their services recorded and regularly assessed.
"We need to ensure the quality of volunteer services while also considering young people's circumstances," said Huang Zibiao, the center's deputy director, adding that some young people had given up plans to live at the center because their workplaces changed, or the commute became too long.
"Moving in and becoming part of the community are two different things," said Zhang Yingxi, a researcher at the National Academy of Economic Strategy under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).
Some young tenants may regard cheap accommodation as a temporary solution, making it difficult to maintain lasting relationships with older residents, Zhang said.
There are practical limits, too. The volunteers are not professional caregivers, and care facilities must manage safety, privacy and other risks, said Xia Xuemin, a researcher at Zhejiang University.
In Jinyun, 24 care institutions are testing a volunteer "time bank." Participants can earn points to exchange for care services or daily necessities, or transfer them to immediate family members. More than 1,000 people have signed up.
National guidelines released by Chinese authorities earlier this year encourage localities to develop systems for recording volunteer hours in mutual elderly care programs, with credits redeemable for care services or transferable to immediate family members. Volunteer hours can be recorded, and in some places, saved as credits.
However, several elderly residents at the Nanning center said they valued regular visits and conversations more than occasional group activities. They wanted someone who would keep coming back, sit down and listen. ■
