ABSTRACT
A traditional pattern of old age support in the rural society of China can be characterized as that of a family taking full responsibility in caring for its elderly. In the rural areas of Suzhou, the residents name the long-term compensation related to land requisition by purchase To Bao and the rural pension insurance Nong Bao. Pension insurance and community services can be regarded as newly established social mechanisms meeting the basic material needs of aged people and providing them with mental satisfaction in rural Suzhou. In China, the usufruct right over land is a vital source of income for farmers and a subsistence guarantee for most rural people. The farmers as the selling party can hardly bargain with the much more powerful buying party, the government. Usually the amount of money received by farmers from land acquisition is insufficient to give them a long-term subsistence guarantee as farmland would have.
