For example, the Shanghai Mental Health Centre, one of the oldest and largest mental health facilities in China, allowed us rare access to film their wards and arranged for us to speak to some of their patients.
The physicians were also very candid about Chinese neglect in professional mental health development – something which the government is now attempting to redress.
Similarly, we found that our young Chinese interviewees, as well as parents, were forthcoming about their conditions (though some understandably preferred to remain anonymous). A few parents acknowledged they lacked understanding of the pressures their children endure.
Their openness shows that the topics of mental health and illness, while still heavily stigmatised in China, is increasingly being normalised.
As for eldercare, we were allowed access to a couple of nursing homes. And there, we found equally candid conversations around ideas like filial piety.
Decades ago, most Chinese would consider children unfilial if they left their parents in a care home. But the ageing population and shrinking working class is creating a shift in such values.
Watch how people in China are negotiating these difficult topics, on Insight.
Daniel Heng
Executive Producer, Insight
