According to a recent media survey, 22 percent of the respondents visited their parents every six months, 28 percent once a year and 8 percent had not done so for many years. The respondents were people working or living away from their hometowns.

Now, Beijing municipal authorities plan to grant "filial leave" to employees to encourage them to visit their parents more frequently. The plan is part of the draft of the municipality's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20).

The municipal authorities should be lauded for their effort, but their move may not be enough to prompt people to visit their parents more often. The fact is, employees get public holidays plus two-day weekends and, according to a 2008 regulation, they have the right to get paid leave of between five and 20 days. The problem is that not many can get paid leave. According to a Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security survey conducted in 60 cities in 2015, only about half of the respondents, most of them government or State-owned enterprise employees, enjoyed paid leave. Private enterprise employees were worse off.