It's a cold, drizzling spring morning as Bai Bing walks out of Beijing's Yuetan Home for the Aged. She puts a plastic bag in her bicycle's front basket and heads off.

Nearly half an hour later, she knocks on an apartment door and calls out "Grandpa Feng". "Come in," a voice finally replies. "It's unlocked."

Stroke victim Feng Guangya, 78, stands by his bed, smiling. "What's for lunch today, Xiao Bai?" says the elderly man.

"Meat and vegetables as usual," says Bai, taking out three containers and helping him to the table. "Today's special is chicken wings. They've been properly cooked till the bones are soft but you'd better still be careful. Do I need to bring supper, grandpa?"

The old man smiles. "No, thanks. This lunch will be more than enough - I'll probably have plenty left over for tonight," he says. "Then use the microwave oven carefully," Bai says. "And keep yourself warm, it's chilly today."

Feng returned home from the Yuetan Home for the Aged two years ago and Bai and her colleagues have been delivering meals to him every day since. They also provide such home care services to a dozen elderly residents in the same neighborhood, including meal deliveries, haircuts, body cleaning and lifts to and from hospital.

Feng's plight is being mirrored around the country more and more. Official figures show that China has an ageing population, with 153 million people now over 60 and around one in five of them in need of long-term care.

A growing number of Chinese children choose not to live with their parents after getting married and in turn, parents now tend to rely less on their children's support than ever before. The government has accelerated the transfer of support for the elderly from families to social institutions and in some cities, home help services have emerged as an alternative to old-age homes.

Feng and his wife thought they could take care of themselves after their two daughters left home but as they aged they struggled with the housework, particularly after Feng was hit by cerebral thrombosis. He stayed at Yuetan for a year to recover.

"It was good to have many people to talk to. But some patients were noisy and annoyed me," he says. "Sometimes I couldn't sleep well at night, because the care staff would wake up my paralyzed roommate and help him go to the bathroom."

Zhang Yan, deputy-secretary of Hetong Charitable Foundation for the Aged (HCFA), says many elderly people value their privacy and feel much more comfortable at home. Some children also think it is not correct to put their parents into old folks' homes.

"People would rather employ a domestic helper but they also worry they might not be well qualified to take good care of them," she says. "For instance, basic nursing and psychological skills may be needed, especially for those who are physically and mentally disabled."

A non-profit organization based in Tianjin, HCFA runs the Yuetan Home for the Aged with the approval of the Yuetan Neighborhood Committee. The home can accommodate up to 50 people but the area has as many as 26,000 elderly residents, of which 12 percent are "empty-nesters" (living alone), like the Fengs.