China’s society is facing an aging population, and with inadequate supervision by the authorities, businesses have targeted the “elderly care through living arrangements” industry. After a travel and living service company collapsed, numerous elderly people found themselves trapped in a Shanghai hotel.
The Haijing Haigang Hotel in Fengxian District, Shanghai, is now home to a group of elderly people with an average age of over 70. They are members of the Shanghai branch of the Guangzhou Changsong Home Travel Service Limited Company.
According to a report from mainland media The Observer, after the collapse of the Changsong Home travel and living project in April this year, some elderly people were placed in the Haijing Haigang Hotel in Fengxian District, Shanghai. They had originally thought they would enjoy a leisurely retirement living arrangement across the country, but now they are stuck in this deserted hotel with nowhere else to go.
The hotel is located in a relatively remote area, making it inconvenient for the elderly residents to go out. Many rooms in the hotel lack television and wireless internet, and seniors have to clean up after themselves for hygiene. They also need to bring their own bowls and chopsticks to the cafeteria to queue for meals, which they then have to wash on their own.
83-year-old Grandma Zhang, in an interview with mainland media, said, “Although the over 40,000 yuan (RMB) for elderly care has gone down the drain, my losses are not the greatest.” She stated that she has given up on hoping for a refund and plans to move out of the hotel by next spring.
Grandma Zhang explained that she used to live in Yangpu District and joined this project by purchasing a card because she didn’t want to bother her children to take care of her. She didn’t expect this outcome. Now, she has to pay an additional 30 yuan per day, paid monthly.
Mr. Sheng, in his seventies, suffered losses exceeding one hundred thousand yuan by joining this elderly care travel arrangement. After retiring, he was involved in the travel industry and often planned travel projects for classmates and friends. He was attracted by the promotion of the “Changsong Home,” claiming to have 16 bases nationwide where members could freely switch accommodations. The daily rate for room and board was just over one hundred yuan, fitting well with his spontaneous lifestyle.
At the time, the salesperson claimed that the project would send out tours every month, providing “business cooperation opportunities” for Mr. Sheng. Participating in the project would also allow him to receive rebates.
In the second half of 2024, Mr. Sheng visited the Shanghai base of the “Changsong Home” named the Pujin Hotel with his classmates and was informed that the company had acquired shares of the hotel. There were already over a thousand elderly residents staying there, and the company was quickly preparing to open a second base in Fengxian and a third base twice the size of Pujin Hotel.
Sales personnel privately promised that if a cardholder did not come to live in the facility, the company could “sublet” the bed space with high returns. By purchasing an annual card for 35,640 yuan, if not residing in the facility, one could receive a return of 3,960 yuan per year, yielding a return rate of approximately 11%, which was deemed more profitable than depositing money in a bank.
Ultimately, under the inducement of the sales staff amidst the bustling scene of recharging cards and signing up for “elderly care rental fees,” Mr. Sheng purchased a three-year membership card worth 96,228 yuan and a one-year membership card worth 35,640 yuan, totaling 131,868 yuan.
However, the promised “return” did not arrive as scheduled. After numerous inquiries by Mr. Sheng, he only received three months of rebate at the end of 2024. When Mr. Sheng contacted the sales director again in March 2025, he was told the truth, “Changsong Home is now facing turbulent times, trying to appease clients and resolve issues every day.” Mr. Sheng’s investment of over a hundred thousand yuan seemed to be in vain.
Additionally, Aunt Ge, who didn’t want to live alone after her husband passed away, also joined the project. She spent 200,000 yuan on a three-year card but lived in the Pujin Hotel for only a year and three months before it closed down. She and some members were first relocated to a hotel in Pan’an, Zhejiang for a month, and then returned to Shanghai to stay in the Fengxian hotel.
Reporters found that there were over a dozen elderly persons lining up in front of the restaurant at this hotel. They brought their own bowls and chopsticks, and after the meal, they washed them and took them back to their rooms.
It was reported that sales personnel claimed the company had “acquired” shares of the Shanghai Pujin Hotel, but in reality, the Changsong Home owed a substantial amount for the transfer of equity, which led to the failed acquisition. The amount over 20 million yuan was confiscated due to breach of contract, and the management of the Pujin Hotel had long been listed as an obligated person for owing tens of millions in rent.
In April 2025, employees of the Changsong Home had collectively gone on strike due to unpaid wages, leading to the closure of the Pujin Hotel, forcing all members to evacuate.
Industry insiders state that the profit model of the elderly care and living arrangements industry is still unclear to date, with some business models suspected of being Ponzi schemes, filling income gaps from old members with the recruitment of new members. Once business shrinks, funding recirculation decreases, leaving no way to cover high commissions and facility construction gaps. Many such cases have been ultimately determined as illegal fundraising activities.
In November 2025, the Guangzhou Changsong Home Travel Service Limited Company and its Shanghai branch were listed as discredited entities by the People’s Court of Hongkou District in Shanghai, and their legal representatives were restricted from high consumption.