I thought that this photo series by Italian site Cinnaoggi is a nice complement to Samuel Green’s excellent four part series on China’s elderly (Part 1 Here, Part 2 Here, Part 3 Here, and Part 4 Here.)

Several of the pictures really give a sense of how much care is required for sick elderly in China’s countryside.  The pictures are not representative of the countryside as a whole, but our focused on some of the most extreme poverty.  In this sense they mirror what one might see anywhere in the world, developed or not.  I saw many similar scenes in Eastern North Carolina, where elderly women were living in homes and trailers without running toilets or piping.

But, they give a sense of what Samuel was talking about, especially the first picture of the two women lying in adjunct beds being fed by caregivers.

This sort of attention requires full time care, and costs a lot of money.