Chinanews, Shanghai, Aug 16 – Recently, a group of university students at Shanghai Jiaotong University carried out a research about the old people who live alone at their homes. Their research ended in a report that was released on Monday. The report shows that in Shanghai, about 30% of the old people live alone at their homes. They are called "old people in empty nests". In order to provide proper care for them, students suggest that Shanghai set up some day care centers so that the lonely old people can stay at the centers during the day.During the summer vacation, seven students at the Chemistry Department of Shanghai Jiaotong University visited several social welfare institutions and working offices for senior citizens. Through these investigations, they find that the number of old people who live alone at home has increased year on year. Many social welfare institutions do not have enough bed space for old people. Liu Lujia, one of the members of the student team, told this reporter that when they visited a senior citizens working office, they were alarmed by the information submitted by the person in charge of the office.According to information released by the Shanghai Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau and the local statistics bureau, in 2006 among the 2.76 million old people in Shanghai, 830,000 lived alone, which accounted for over 30% of the total number of old people in Shanghai, and 15% of the old people living alone needed someone to take care of them.The university students then went to an old people's day care center located in Guangzhong Road of Hongkou District. During the time when they were thinking about how to solve old people's problems, surprisingly, at the old people's day care center in Hongkou, they found the solution.In the day care center in Hongkou, many old people go to the center at nine o'clock in the morning and return home at five o'clock in the afternoon. During the day, the old people play chess, do physical exercises, and play computer games. When the clock strikes five, they start to go home. A commuter bus will pick up the old people from their homes and send them to the day care center in the morning and send them back home in the afternoon. There are various kinds of facilities in the day care center. Apart from the sitting rooms and multi-media halls, old people can take a walk or do some physical exercises in the center's Air Garden, Liu said .“For many healthy old people, what they really need is not someone who can take care of their daily life, but a place where they can feel happy,” the student team said. For those who could not take care of their own life, the nursing home might be a good place for them. However, for those old people who remain sound in wind and limb, the day care center might be a better place, the students said.