Suzhou will build a municipal activity center for seniors that is expected to open in 2015. The center covers over 3,000 square meters in total.

Suzhou was one of the first cities to become an aging society in China. There will be 1.8 million seniors over 60 years old in Suzhou by 2020. On average, one in four citizens is elderly. The elderly require both physical and mental care. Suzhou’s development of senior spiritual culture, however, is relatively backwards. The city lacks public culture and activity facilities for seniors. Moreover, the existing senior centers are old and small, with fewer activity facilities. They cannot meet the spiritual and cultural needs of a huge number of elderly people.

Last year, the Suzhou Municipal Association of Older Persons and Gerontological Society of Suzhou submitted to the government a report on the construction of a municipal activity center for seniors, calling for greater investment in public cultural facilities for the elderly. The construction program has been released.