China Expands Intergenerational Education for Grandparents and Young Children

China’s “one old, one young” model is moving beyond putting grandparents and children under the same roof. It is developing into a system where older people and young children actively learn and interact together.

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Older people and infants should interact in ways that promote older people’s health and children’s holistic development at the same time.

The China National Research Center on Aging and Tsinghua University’s Institute of Education formally released a report on the model on Jan. 20. The report examined the educational value of interaction between generations and brought together experiments from across China. Its proposal is not simply to share facilities, but to create integrated education that promotes older people’s health while supporting children’s overall development.

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The one old, one young integrated education model promotes psychological and social health in older people and holistic development in children, including social skills, empathy, and learning manners.

The model grew from the combination of two demographic pressures: a rising older population and fewer children. China had already seen “senior kindergartens” appear in major cities in the early and mid-2010s. Shanghai alone had about 300 such facilities in the early 2010s. Some later adopted shared living arrangements, with children using a kindergarten on one floor while older people joined exercise and leisure programs elsewhere in the building.

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In a dual structure of smaller families and an aging society, we need to build an intergenerational social support system that does not rely only on blood ties.

The report describes benefits for both generations. Tsinghua professor Li Manli said the approach could improve older people’s psychological and social health, while helping children develop social skills, empathy, and manners. Gao Chengyun, head of the aging research center, said smaller families and an aging society required social support between generations that did not depend only on blood ties. China’s government placed combined eldercare and childcare among the highest priorities for subsidies in its 2026-2030 five-year plan. The model may offer a reference for countries such as South Korea, which face similar demographic changes.

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The one old, one young model can become a new form of social filial support that complements traditional family caregiving.