Urbanization rate

Similar programs are also under way in a number of other cities and towns in Inner Mongolia. The urbanization rate of the autonomous region had risen to 60 percent by the end of last year from 42 percent in 2000. The number is expected to climb further to 65 percent by 2020, when more than 16 million people will live in cities and towns.

In the Dongsheng district of Ordos, the residential area has 126 buildings. Each six-story building has 12 apartments, two per floor. As part of a government project to relocate farmers and herdsman from the nearby counties of Hantai and Bojianghai, the apartments are sold at a price of 600 to 1,000 yuan per sq m, around a quarter of the market price of similar apartments.

Liu Qingshan, 69, and his 64-year-old wife moved to their new apartment in Dongsheng in early 2012. They came from a village in Hantai county, about 10 km from the downtown area they now call home. He said the relocation is good for him and his four children. "There was no food market in the village and we could only eat the few types of vegetables that we could grow ourselves. The youngsters couldn't stay in the village because they are aiming to make better careers in the cities. If we hadn't moved, it would have been hard for the children to take care of us."

It is estimated that China will have 160 million people aged 65 and older by 2020. Meanwhile, in the coming decades, the number of families comprising a couple, two sets of grandparents and a child will increase immensely, placing a much greater burden on middle-aged family members than in previous generations.

In Ordos, residents aged 60 and older account for 11 percent of the population, according to statistics released at the end of last year.