Improving end of life care in China represents one particularly important opportunity to enhance the well-being of the country’s older adult population as they enter their final phase of life. Designing effective end of life care policies and programs for Chinese communities necessitates asking fundamental questions about the factors that enable people to die meaningfully, including:

• Does meaningful death signify only what is good for people themselves as individuals?
• How does one know what is best for oneself?
• What roles do doctors or families play in making critical end of life decisions?
• Is personal autonomy the sole criterion for advanced care planning?

To answer these questions, Dr. Jun JING, Professor of Social Anthropology at Tsinghua University, will discuss narratives on death and dying in mainland China based on hundreds of interviews conducted with family relatives, physicians, nurses, social workers, and voluntary workers in the field of palliative care. Dr. Jing will explore how these narratives relate to what he calls the “social ecology of healthcare,” defined as the social values governing healthcare systems, life-and-death decisions, and the corresponding behavioral patterns.

The event will be moderated by Dr. Winnie Yip, Professor of Global Health Policy and Economics and Faculty Director of the Harvard China Health Partnership.