▲ Childcare (The photo above is not related to the contents of the article.)
Controversy over grandparents raising grandchildren is spreading in China after it was revealed that a woman who raised her granddaughter for 15 years filed a lawsuit against her son demanding tens of millions of won in childcare expenses.
According to Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) on the 8th, the People's Court of Songjiang District in Shanghai, China, recently disclosed a case where a woman in her 60s, surnamed Xu, filed a childcare expense lawsuit amounting to 360,000 yuan (approx. 72 million won) against her son, surnamed Liang, late last year.
Xu, who lived with her son after divorcing her husband, practically took over raising her granddaughter—born in 2010 and four years old at the time—after her son divorced in 2014.
After the son remarried and moved out of the house with his new wife, Xu reportedly shouldered not only the granddaughter's daily life but also living expenses, medical bills, and education costs.
In the lawsuit, Xu argued that her son lacked a sense of responsibility and failed to properly fulfill his duties as a father, but the son countered that his monthly income at the time was only 3,000 yuan (approx. 600,000 won) and that he supported his daughter within his means.
Following court mediation, the son agreed to pay his mother 200,000 yuan (approx. 40 million won).
In Beijing as well, a case was made public through the court where a couple covered the living expenses of their granddaughter from the age of one and then filed a lawsuit against their son and daughter-in-law demanding 320,000 yuan (approx. 64 million won) in childcare costs.
Cases highlighting the physical and mental burden of looking after grandchildren are also continuing to emerge.
Last month in Hunan Province, the story of a 59-year-old woman who lost 20 kg in weight and was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder after six months of helping her son with childcare became a hot topic.
Within China, debates continue over whether grandparent childcare should be viewed as a traditional family obligation or recognized as "unpaid care work" carrying economic value.
This reflects social trends in China where mutual support between generations has traditionally been valued, but the childcare burden on grandparents is growing due to urbanization, an increase in dual-income households, and changes in childcare environments.
Particularly in rural areas, as parents leave for cities in search of jobs, grandparents often become the primary caregivers for so-called "left-behind children" (children left behind in rural areas separated from their parents). Even in cities, it is common for grandparents to step in to care for grandchildren due to an increase in dual-income couples and a shortage of childcare services.
The SCMP explained, "In the past, taking care of grandchildren was accepted as natural sacrifice and affection by grandparents, but recently, the perception of viewing it as care work with economic value is spreading."
Zhang Liyong, a social welfare scholar in Hubei Province, said, "Compensation can take various forms," adding that while families should share living expenses and actively communicate, there is also a need to socially expand public childcare services.
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