The Evening Sun is Infinitely Beautiful, Love Makes a Home: China Life's Warm Answer to Pension Finance

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Getting older often starts from these moments: a back no longer walking swiftly, more medicine bottles at home, or a sudden fall. For this large group, later life is not just square dancing and sunbathing, but also risks and challenges brought by declining physical functions.

When accidents break the peace, when disability traps families, when the digital divide stands in front, who will shelter and support the elders? In China Life Insurance Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “China Life,” stock code: 601628.SH, 2628.HK)’s pension financial practices, a solution about guardianship is emerging.

An Invisible Cane

Jining, Shandong, the hometown of Confucius and Mencius, where the elders are full of spirit. However, for seniors, even the best mental outlook may not withstand a fall.

Ms. Chen, living in Rencheng District, once led a peaceful life. One afternoon before and after Arbor Day last year, she was riding an electric bike along the village road when she suddenly felt dizzy, and the world tilted before her eyes. The bike fell, pressing on her leg, with sharp pain piercing through her.

“At that moment, I couldn’t move after the fall. The pain was like drilling into my bones,” Ms. Chen recalls, still with lingering fear in her eyes. Neighbors helped call 120, and the hospital’s diagnosis soon came: proximal fracture of the right humerus.

To reconnect the bone, doctors inserted 10 steel nails into her shoulder. The surgery was successful, but the bills that followed made this already not wealthy rural family struggle. The total cost of surgery and subsequent treatment was over 30,000 yuan, with nearly 16,000 yuan paid out of pocket. For Ms. Chen and her husband, both retired with limited savings, this was a heavy burden.

“We’re old, and a fall is not like when we were young. It’s very painful. The money issue is even more suffocating,” Ms. Chen sighed.

The turning point came from a nearly forgotten phone number. Ms. Chen suddenly remembered she had purchased an insurance called “Yinling Ankang” at her community, a product launched by China Life specifically for seniors’ accidental injuries. With a try-and-see attitude, her husband dialed the number.

The response exceeded their expectations. Within two days, over 8,400 yuan in claim payout was deposited into Ms. Chen’s account.

“We’ve gotten through the hardest time,” Ms. Chen sat on her sofa, sunlight shining on her gradually recovering arm. She and her husband can now go to the market together again.

That insurance policy was like an invisible cane. It wasn’t expensive, but when storms come, it firmly supported the elder’s back, telling them: keep going, don’t be afraid. In China Life’s “service archive,” countless cases like Ms. Chen’s demonstrate this. This is about caring for the elderly—using financial power to hold up a rain shelter for vulnerable individuals.

Families Trapped in Time

Accidents are sudden shocks, but disability is a long, exhausting battle of will. When seniors are bedridden, with turning over, feeding, and washing becoming repeated daily tasks, families often become the first to feel exhausted.

At a specialized care facility in Jining, Ms. Hu’s mother is completely disabled due to illness and cannot care for herself. Before coming here, the burden of caring for her was entirely on Ms. Hu and her husband.

“The pressure was too much,” Ms. Hu’s voice hoarse. “We had to take turns taking leave to care for her, which seriously affected our work. No one could pick up or drop off the kids. Both of us were exhausted, but her condition didn’t improve.”

This is a microcosm of many Chinese families. Traditional filial piety, in the face of modern fast-paced society and high care costs, often feels powerless.

What changed everything was the implementation of long-term care insurance. This system, called the “sixth social insurance,” aims to provide long-term care cost reimbursement and professional care services for disabled and semi-disabled seniors. China Life, as a key participant, has managed over 70 long-term care insurance projects nationwide.

Now, Ms. Hu’s mother is in a designated care facility operated by China Life. “This is 24-hour professional care,” Ms. Hu pointed to the busy caregivers in the ward. “Things like turning, back support, bathing, and haircuts—these are things we simply can’t do professionally at home. Here, it’s just like a regular hospital, but the costs can be reimbursed through long-term care insurance.”

In the ward, caregivers skillfully turn the elderly, gentle yet firm. They are rigorously trained to prevent bedsores and ensure adequate nutrition through feeding.

More importantly, long-term care insurance restores dignity for the cared-for and peace of mind for families. Ms. Hu can finally return to her job with confidence and pick up her children from school in the evening.

Long-term care insurance is like a warm protective barrier, solving the needs dilemma of the elderly and safeguarding their and their families’ dignity.

From Retirement to Enjoyment

Having addressed the worries of “supporting” the elderly, the next question is “enjoying.”

In Tianjin, a community called “Guoshou Jiayuan·Tianjin Lejing” is breaking the stereotype of “nursing homes.” Without some age-friendly facilities, it’s hard to associate this vibrant social space with a traditional elderly community.

Aunt Zhang was the deputy director of a hospital in Beijing, having cared for countless patients over her career. But when her husband suddenly had a stroke in May 2023, leaving him paralyzed on the right side, this strong medical worker also felt helpless.

“He couldn’t even hold a spoon, and needed someone to care for him constantly. So I thought of coming here,” Aunt Zhang recalled.

After moving into Lejing, her life changed. The community offers not only age-friendly living environments but also professional rehabilitation teams. Doctors conducted scientific assessments of her husband and devised detailed training plans.

“Following the doctor’s scientific guidance, we adjusted the training step by step,” Aunt Zhang gestured. “He can now walk by himself and even swim.”

On the community’s sports field, the elderly couple swings clubs on the grass. Though their movements are not as agile as young people, their faces are brighter than ever.

Here, aging is no longer a passive wait for time to pass, but a fresh start.

China Life has established multiple such health and wellness communities in Suzhou, Beijing, Chengdu, Nanjing, and other cities. From Suzhou Yajing’s classical gardens to Tianjin Lejing’s modern vitality, they are elevating “aging” to “enjoying old age” with professionalism and love.

Warmth Crossing the Digital Divide

In the invisible online world, change is also happening.

China Life’s insurance app launched the “Respect for the Elderly Mode.” Larger fonts, simpler pages, no complicated marketing pop-ups—only policy and health services that matter most to seniors. This is not just a UI adjustment but a service logic overhaul. The app has become the industry’s first to receive the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s barrier-free and age-friendly certification.

“Aiming at the preferences of elderly customers who favor traditional hotline services, our 95519 customer service line has also been upgraded for age-friendliness, providing dedicated ‘one-touch access to human service’ for seniors,” said a China Life representative. When an elderly person calls 95519, the system automatically recognizes their age and connects them to a human operator with one click. The 28 nationwide contact centers can provide services in 53 dialects. With love, sincerity, and care, they earn the comfort, trust, and peace of mind of elderly clients.

In the past two years, China Life’s counters nationwide have served over 12.11 million elderly customers. Behind these numbers are patient answers, reminders in anti-fraud seminars, and efforts to make sure seniors “understand and can use” the services.

Pension Is Not Just Family Business, But National Matter

Whose responsibility is elderly care?

A significant portion of people can only rely on basic pensions to maintain their pre-retirement lifestyle. Therefore, the third pillar—personal commercial pension insurance—is no longer a “should I” choice but a “how to buy” necessity. China Life is helping young people plan early and raise awareness for aging preparedness through diversified products.

Always in sync with the nation’s development pulse, facing the century-old challenge of population aging, China Life offers a comprehensive answer integrating “support,” “enjoyment,” and “service.”

The nation is made of countless families; with love, there is home.