Peking University has set up a research center on senility, with Tong Tanjun, a professor with the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, as its head.

Prof. Tong pledged that the center would dedicate itself to basic research on senile molecules, diabetes in old age, osteoporosis and urinary tract diseases in old age and would provide theoretical support in clinical use for prevention and treatment of diseases in old age.

China has outstripped developed countries in terms of its aging population, according to Tong.

Statistics show the country's number of people at or above 60 years amounted 132 million by 2002, accounting for 10.2 percent of the country's total, and the number would rise to 200 million by the year of 2015.

Elderly people are expected to make up 20 percent of China's total population by 2025.

(People's Daily March 22, 2004)