Through in-depth interviews and questionnaire surveys of rural residents on the periphery of the city of Baoding, Hebei Province, this study examines the living conditions of old couples with two or more married sons in the last years of their lives. This study indicates that adult sons' setting up their own homes is a precondition for elderly couples' becoming "empty nesters," a situation which in turn leads to contracts for "care rotation." Many factors, including marketization, the transformation of social structure and the rising status of daughters-in-law in family decision-making are responsible for elderly people's loss of their role in such decision-making. Therefore, during the life course of the elderly, "care rotation" is in fact an arrangement imposed on elderly parents rather than their own choice.
