An Ethical Glimpse into Nursing Home Care Work in China: Mei banfa

Abstract

ABSTRACT The ethical dimension of care work is less explored in Chinese long-term care (LTC) settings. This paper accentuates care ethics embodied by direct care workers (DCWs) from an ethnographic study of care at Sunlight Nursing Home in central China. I include the notion of xiao (filial piety) to construe care ethics by engaging both feminist and intersectional approaches. Empirical findings highlight the narrative of mei banfa (‘there is nothing you can do about it’) in revealing the complexity of caregiving in a commercialised environment where both physical and emotional care intertwine. Mei banfa compels DCWs to invoke their agency in care practice despite inadequate support from the nursing home and negative social portrayals of care work. It is a cognitive coping strategy of DCWs to harness their energy in upholding care ethics for both the elderly residents and their own family members. Such commitment is unlikely to be sustained if structural barriers continue to impede the recognition of care labour as part of social production. Arguably, an ethically informed approach to both policymaking and care practice gives voice to human interdependency in care work and affords ways to reimagine a caring future.