Wei Zhenyu "lied" the first time he came to "share children". The old man asked him who he was, and he said, "I am your daughter's friend."
He is not a liar. More than half a year ago, a woman sent a request through a social platform, asking him to visit her mother, who lives alone in Beijing, and pay him an hourly wage of 300 yuan. They reached a tacit agreement not to disclose to the elderly that this was a paid service.
At first, Wei Zhenyu saw other netizens posting posts offering services to accompany the elderly. This young man who was born in 1996 is an activist and decided to give it a try. Unknowingly, he "tried" until the end of the year. After a long period of practice, he increasingly felt that if this service could be standardized and promoted like shared bicycles and shared power banks, it might be very innovative. Recently, through multiple media reports, Wei Zhenyu has made more people understand and discuss "sharing children".
Online discussions include concerns about the loneliness of empty-nest elderly people, as well as ethical questions about "employing people to fulfill their filial piety." Some people recall that in the 2000 Spring Festival Gala sketch "Hourly Worker", Song Dandan's classic line "Someone pays me to hire me to chat with others" has become a reality, but most of the practitioners are young people, many of whom are college students.
The energy and chaos of a new thing always intersect. A large number of new registered accounts with the names of "Sharing Children" appeared in large numbers, from different addresses, with AI-generated avatars and posters, claiming that they had also begun to take orders. While Wei Zhenyu was talking to reporters, friend requests and private messages from strangers popped up on his personal WeChat and social accounts, basically asking for advice on how to become a "shared son and daughter."
Wei Zhenyu is a little worried, not only because of the backlog of news, but also because of the "barbaric growth" of the industry. He said that the Internet has created a kind of equality of opportunity, making it possible to "take orders immediately after posting", but this convenience has obviously also created another situation: on the one hand, the number of children ordering this service for their parents is increasing, and on the other hand, it is becoming increasingly difficult to identify reliable service providers.
Some young people have become the "most trusted people" of the elderly
Wei Zhenyu and the client never met in person, and the entire process was communicated online. They spent some time together to confirm whether a stranger could take on such a part-time job that would penetrate deeply into the family.
He introduced his situation remotely and sent an ID photo, but also asked the other party to fill in a questionnaire about the old man's personality, preferences, and habits. They made an appointment to "try it out" for the first time, mainly to see if the old man could get along with him and if they were competent. He spent his own money to buy a bouquet of flowers, and the old man liked it very much.
When he came to accompany him for the first time at the end of 2025, Jiang Yizhe, a master's student at Zhejiang University, had been thinking about how to open the topic and whether he would be unable to answer the conversation. He later discovered that all worries were unnecessary, as the old man himself would slowly bring the topic back to his original life course.
This post-00s generation who named himself "Sharing Sun" is the co-founder of "Time Accompanying Guests", an entrepreneurial project for emotional companionship for the elderly. Regarding the companionship of the elderly, Jiang Yizhe mentioned the "life review therapy" learned in social work majors. By reviewing the successful and proud things in the life course, the elderly can gain a sense of psychological perfection at the end of life. However, when he was actually working, he only regarded it as a simple companionship and chat.
Companionship was not initially regarded as a specialized work segment in elderly care services. Li Xueyan, born after 1995, who has studied and engaged in elderly care services in Sichuan for more than 10 years, recalled to reporters from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily that she was the first student in the school to offer elderly services and management majors. At that time, she did not understand the prospects of the industry, and the teachers were all newcomers. All they could share was the knowledge in textbooks.
Later, Li Xueyan experienced more "firsts". After Chengdu began to implement community-embedded elderly care and home-based long-term care insurance, she left traditional nursing homes and became the first batch of staff to enter this field. In 2022, a number of elderly care policies were introduced intensively in Chengdu. She resigned and started her own business this year, focusing on providing home-based elderly care services for the elderly in rural and remote areas.
Her first job was in a nursing home where she was one of the youngest caregivers. Other nursing staff are all in their 50s and 60s. “What they do every day is mostly feeding the elderly, wiping themselves, and handling urine and urine.” They rarely pay attention to the psychology of the elderly or chat with them. Li Xueyan is willing to chat with the elderly. She found that the elderly are eager to listen and have a strong desire to share: their reluctance when they were young, their relationship with their children, their regrets at work... Everyone in the institution does the same job in nursing work, but because Li Xueyan can respond to the elderly and can chat with anyone, she has become their most trusted person, "closer than their own granddaughter."
After home care, the psychological problems of the elderly have been taken more seriously. "As soon as we arrived, the old man took out the fruit, set up a 'Dragon Gate Formation', and kept chatting. We were about to leave, and the other party asked if the time was up, when he would come next, and if he could come every day. I could feel the loneliness in his heart." Although Li Xueyan has never heard of the term "shared children," she has experienced many similar companionships.
In reality, emotional guidance and family companionship can only be one of their responsibilities. The professional quality requirements of home care services are higher than those of institutions, and the work is more complicated. The door-to-door personnel are responsible for the elderly's daily care, basic care, rehabilitation services, and sometimes help to pick up express delivery or purchase daily necessities.
Home-based elderly care services in cities were originally in a similar situation until “accompaniment” was slowly spun off. Wei Zhenyu used his service targets as an example. The elderly are admitted to nursing homes, and their food and daily life are guaranteed. However, his work does not overlap with that of caregivers. "What he focuses on and targets are their spiritual needs."
A study published this year by Yao Yao's team, a researcher at Peking University's China Health Development Research Center, proposed that the "three losses", namely disability, dementia and loss of happiness, have brought a heavy burden to the elderly, families and society. Among them, the incidence rate of "amusement" caused by long-term depression and loss of interest is as high as 41.7%, far exceeding disability and dementia.
Wei Zhenyu's job is urban planning, and he pays more attention to the supply of space, such as whether there are community canteens, elderly assistance services, elderly activity rooms, etc. on the streets, but these spaces alone are not enough. Many children of empty nesters work and live in other places and have no time to take care of their parents. Although material supplies are becoming increasingly abundant, the emotional void in the elderly's later years needs to be filled urgently.
"This area is relatively blank, so now there are some spontaneous, small-scale, point-to-point supply and demand matching among the private sector." Wei Zhenyu said.
Temporary "eyes and ears"
When he was an undergraduate student, Jiang Yizhe conducted a survey on meal assistance services for the elderly. At an elderly canteen in Hangzhou, he met an old man who came to eat by himself and ordered a whole fish, one meat and one vegetarian. To his surprise, the old man took the initiative to let him sit next to him and chat, and even picked up chopsticks to let him eat together.
The old man lamented that his wife and old friends had passed away one after another, and his children and grandchildren were no longer around. He had very little contact and communication. He did not want to go out to socialize. He only liked to stay at home and talk to people in a quiet, familiar, and safe environment. Later, Jiang Yizhe met many old people in similar situations. After taking the postgraduate entrance examination, the concept of "sharing children" became popular. He felt that he could turn the pain points he had seen before into concrete and implementable services.
Among the two sectors: public welfare and paid projects, "Time with Guests" gradually favors the latter. Liu Cheng, the founder of "Time with Customers" told reporters that they considered that the payment model can put forward higher requirements for service quality, while meeting personalized needs, and more importantly, allowing the team to continue to operate. He mentioned that this also requires vocational colleges to enhance talent supply and promote relevant policies to incorporate spiritual care services into the community home care service system.
"Our service personnel focus on the two groups of college students and community youth, hoping to provide them with a job option to cope with the severe aging problem of the entire society." Liu Cheng said. They position "Time Companion" as an intergenerational integrated smart elderly care service platform, covering cities such as Suzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Tianjin, Qingdao and Chengdu. There are nearly 600 "Time Companion Masters" registered on the platform.
Zhang Jincui, a lawyer at Shanghai Landi Law Firm who is deeply involved in legal services for the silver hair industry, believes that people are no longer unfamiliar with the matter of "care": helping with meals, bathing, cleaning, accompanying patients... These functional cares have become relatively mature. The niche services she mentioned have also become new career choices for many young people.
Today, in-home escorts are replicating this path. Reporters from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily saw outside a nursing home in Dongcheng District, Beijing, that in advertisements related to home care, companionship service has become a separate appointment option, priced at 200 yuan per hour, and introduced that this service is provided by nursing care staff who have been trained and assessed by the institution or young people with relevant learning backgrounds in the nursing profession.
However, whether it is "home companionship" or "sharing children", judging from the name, the responsibilities are not as clear as accompanying a doctor or assisting with bathing. Zhang Jincui observed that "there is no unified standard in the industry, and the practices of each company vary greatly" as to which services should be included in the service scope of "Sharing Children".
She told reporters that "shared children" lacks regulations and most of the people currently engaged in services in the industry are not qualified, especially those who do not have medical care qualifications. Therefore, professional matters such as long-term care, medical accompaniment, medication guidance and rehabilitation, as well as property management and legal affairs agency for the disabled elderly should not simply be left to ordinary "shared children". It must be verified whether they have relevant professional qualifications, and when necessary, professional institutions and professionals are entrusted to assist.
So, how to effectively describe the work content of Sharing Children to users? Liu Cheng's experience is that companionship is not a virtual concept, it must be attached to specific things. He opened the "Time Companion Guest" mini program and showed some special projects: celebrating birthdays for parents, helping parents hold golden weddings, writing life memoirs, running small fraud prevention classes, etc.
The demand side and the paying side are separated, which is the key to understanding the business of "sharing children". Liu Cheng said that the children who placed the order originally just felt that they needed someone to visit and care for their parents for a period of time. The specific form could not be thought of at the moment. Listing the service items in detail can give them some inspiration. He said that "sharing children" is more like a pair of temporary "eyes and ears" when the children are not around.
"This is the person my daughter specially invited to go shopping with me."
Because the elderly person who had been accompanying him for a long time was hospitalized, a companion offered to withdraw. She has already invested in real feelings and is afraid to experience the death of such an important elder in her life while accompanying her. This case inspired Jiang Yizhe that a psychological support system should be established for companions.
When starting a business, he and his team often explored things that no one had done in the industry. For example, in terms of the protection mechanism, each partner is required to wear professional clothes, and with the consent of the elderly and the protection of privacy, accompany them to record and videotape the entire process for subsequent review and traceability of disputes. Before the escort is allowed to take the order, the person in charge will take him to participate in charity activities and conduct on-site observation and screening. "Some people take two photos and come out immediately. Some people are willing to stay in the room for a while, chat a few more words with the elderly, and even have physical contact. As soon as these details come out, preliminary screening has already taken place." He hopes to explain to reporters through many details that this job "cannot be done just by saying, 'I am willing to deal with the elderly.'"
In Zhang Jincui's view, these reflections are necessary. She hopes to see the industry become more standardized while flourishing. "From the perspective of market supply, there are currently four forms of 'shared children': individual orders, platform matching, community sites and institutional extensions. Their degree of regulation and legal risks are completely different."
Zhang Jincui supports the development of platforms, sets higher entry thresholds, and uniformly completes background checks for practitioners, so as to reduce the time cost and trust cost for consumers to screen service personnel. She suggested that the platform could even learn from the practices of the psychological counseling industry and label practitioners with service labels, such as being good at chatting, teaching on mobile phones, and reading newspapers, to help accurately match the elderly and their families.
But she also mentioned that taking an overseas platform that has accumulated millions of orders as an example, it still receives a large number of complaints about the personal safety and property safety of the elderly. "As long as the service scene occurs in the elderly's home or in a closed space, safety risks will always exist."
Zhang Jincui reminded that some families tend to ignore the elderly's right to know and make decisions when purchasing such services. It is recommended that family members must inform the elderly and obtain their consent before purchasing services.
Practitioners and family members who place orders choose to jointly conceal the fact that they pay for services and come to visit them as "friends of their children". This is largely because they are worried that the elderly are unwilling to accept the "outsourcing" of filial piety from their children. However, many interviewees felt that "concepts are moving forward" and the elderly rarely have any resistance to living in nursing homes and receiving professional care. "A grandma who knew the truth said very directly: This is the person my daughter specially invited to accompany me shopping. I was surprised at the time. I didn't expect the acceptance rate to be so high." Jiang Yizhe said that they decided not to hide their identity anymore and use high-quality services to establish a reliable professional image.
Wei Zhenyu believes that the public will become more and more open-minded towards their children's "employment of filial piety". Because the quotation marks of "sharing children" will never be removed, he will not replace the children, but fill the shoes, injecting a new force into the family structure. He believes that not only will the children and parents be satisfied, but other family members will also be happy to see such services in society.
Some chaperones proposed that they hope to go one step further and become a full-time "shared child". Jiang Yizhe declined for the time being. He felt that neither the industry nor their team's business volume had reached this stage.
This young man who was starting a business and studying at the same time had a more visible change: he told his grandmother that she could call him at any time. "As long as I have nothing particularly urgent, I will not hang up on you; if I hang up, I will get back to you immediately after the call is over," he said.
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Chen Yulong
Source: China Youth Daily
November 10, 2026 Version 04
