For decades, a family in Shanghai has cared for a vulnerable neighbor, a commitment that has culminated in the city’s inaugural legal guardianship case between non‑relatives.
Ren, 71, has carried on a quiet tradition of compassion his parents modeled, providing care to his neighbor Xu, 56, for forty years, according to the Shanghai Law Journal.
Xu, born with a mental disability, hails from Xinjiang in northwestern China. He never married, has no children, and has no surviving relatives.
He relocated to Shanghai in the 1980s with his grandfather, who passed away several years later, leaving Xu to live alone.
Residing in the same apartment complex, Ren’s parents observed Xu’s situation and intervened to provide meals and daily assistance.
‘My parents cared for him purely out of sympathy,’ Ren said to local media.