Beijing parents sue 36-year-old daughter to force her to finally leave the nest

An elderly Beijing couple has apparently had enough of their ungrateful and unmarried 36-year-old daughter, taking her to court to demand that she finally move out.
The old couple, both surnamed Chen, criticized their “leftover” daughter for taking all that they have done for her for granted. However, they did put some of the blame on themselves, admitting that they may have pampered her a bit too much, the Beijing Morning Post reports.
The Chens told reporters that their daughter had become increasingly rude as she grew older and frequently fought with her parents. They suggested going to the community’s judicial office in hopes of reconciling their relationship through mediation; however, the daughter refused to do so.
The parents said that their daughter’s behavior has serious affected their daily lives. They had even lent her 150,000 yuan to buy a house, hoping that she would take the hint and move out. But she refused, insisting that she should live with her aging parents to take care of them.
The Beijing court said that the parents are the legal owners of the house, and therefore are entitled to exclude others from living there — including their own daughter, who is an adult with a stable income. Therefore, the court ordered that the daughter must move out.
At the end of his verdict, the Confucian judge said that children are obliged to obey, respect and care for their parents and urged the family to reconcile their differences.
Netizens took to Weibo to discuss the unusual case:
User @王小捣 wrote, “Not getting married is fine, but you’re an adult and you need to be independent.”
“Bad parenting skills! Now, after their daughter has grown up, the parents have to bother the court to fix their mistakes,” @ 白月光20170 wrote.
“My leftover women friends are all independent and own their homes. They are willing to have their parents live with them,” @天使的魔力秀 wrote.
@CD长空鹰 raised a question about what this case means for recent filial piety laws, “Will the court order the daughter to move back if she doesn’t visit her parents regularly in two years?”
“If they always fight, what’s the point of living together. I’d rather live alone. I think it’s fine when my mom stayed with me for a month. But by the second month, we couldn’t stand each other. After a six-month stay, we’d both almost gone insane,” @辛辣流真 commented.
However, in a country that values tradition and respect for its elders, this isn’t the first case of parents taking their own children to court. Back in 2013, an elderly woman in Fusheng sued her children for not taking adequate care of her after a new law enforcing filial piety came into effect.
Hey, at least the daughter in this case didn’t leave her two elderly parents to sleep outside in the hall.
By Lucy Liu
[Image via People’s Daily]