Chinese avoid online 'parental visit' services   

网店推“代看望老人”服务遇冷 专家称亲情无替代品

Lanzhou (CNS) -- Having someone visit your parents for you has turned out to be a bad business model in China.

Offers for the service on the nations's biggest e-commerce website Taobao.com have received no customers so far.

The services, which charge from 10 yuan (about $1.6) to 1,000 yuan, sprouted up soon after a new law came into effect this month requiring adult children to pay frequent visits to their elderly parents.

They target people who are too busy or have bad relationships with their parents.

The service is disrespectful to the elderly, said Mo Xingbang, an expert at the Gansu Psychotherapist Institute, on Tuesday.

Such a service is in contravention of the idea of filial piety, which is one of China's traditional virtues, Mo added.