Aging into an Era of Ecosystem Competition: Celebrating the 2nd Anniversary of Taikang Home Yuyuan and Decoding Taikang's 'Enjoy-Aging' Closed-Loop Model

Morning light pierces the thin mist, and a gentle breeze by the Jialing River brushes through the courtyards of Taikang Community·Yuyuan. Nestled in the heart of Chongqing’s Liangjiang New Area, this senior living community is redefining longevity in Southwest China through a two-year practical initiative.

On the morning of September 27, 2025, Taikang Community · Yuyuan celebrated its second anniversary, with more than 550 residents embarking on a new chapter of enriched senior living. Concurrently, Chongqing Taikang Community Yuyuan Rehabilitation Hospital officially commenced operations, becoming the 17th medical facility integrated within a Taikang Community senior living campus nationwide to deeply implement the model of integrated medical and elderly care.

2nd Anniversary Event Site

Taikang’s Innovative Integrated Medical and Elderly Care Model Fully Implemented in Chongqing: From the Physical Construction of “One Community, One Hospital,” to the Ecological Closed Loop of “Insurance + Medical and Elderly Care,” and Further to Value Creation Through Cultural and Active Aging, Yuyuan Has Delivered a Vibrant Answer Sheet Within Two Years.

This is not only the growth story of a senior living community, but also a vivid practice of the transformation and upgrading of China’s elderly care industry.

“Taikang Community Yuyuan Turns Two”—Upon entering the Four Seasons Atrium of Taikang Community Yuyuan, a colorful mosaic meticulously assembled from Rubik’s Cubes immediately catches the eye.

"Rubik's Cube Birthday Celebration Photo" Completed by the Elders of Yuyuan

The creators of this vivid artwork are the senior members of the Yuyuan Rubik’s Cube Club, whose average age exceeds 80. Driven by the enthusiasm for “remaining productive in old age,” each participant completed two to three pattern units according to design blueprints, ultimately assembling these colorful Rubik’s Cube modules into this meaningful piece. The work not only extends heartfelt wishes for the second anniversary of Yuyuan but also serves as a true testament to the vitality seniors have regained within a cultural elder-care environment.

Taikang Community·Yuyuan, located on the banks of the Jialing River in Chongqing Liangjiang New Area, covers a land area of 54,000 square meters with an above-ground building area of 108,000 square meters, and is planned to include 1,350 senior living units. The community innovatively features a vitality center spanning over 10,000 square meters, integrating multi-functional spaces such as a four-seasons atrium, buffet restaurant, library, university for the elderly, and fitness and sports center, providing comprehensive activity venues for seniors.

In terms of architectural style, as a key development by Taikang in the Southwest region, Yu Garden adopts an enclosed layout, with covered walkways connecting the Vitality Center to each residential building.

 Taikang Community·Yuyuan

Here, the lifestyle of seniors is being redefined: elderly care is no longer a traditional necessity for survival, but has transformed into a vibrant new experience of “enjoying old age.”

Over the past two years of operation, Yuyuan has centered on its core features of “vitality-focused aging” and “culture-enriched aging,” delivering high-quality integrated medical and elderly care services and a better life for seniors. Letai Academy offers 56 courses, with nearly 44,000 participations, and has organized more than 7,300 various activities, accumulating over 105,000 participations. Courses such as Rubik’s Cube, calligraphy, and runway modeling are taught by resident volunteers. The 23 resident activity groups function like ever-expanding root systems, allowing the wisdom of seniors to shine brightly.

The story of Aunt Yang, a resident, is particularly moving. A former physics teacher, she devoted herself to the art of paper-cutting after retirement. With the support of the “Dream Chasing Plan” at Taikang Community Yuyuan, she successfully held her solo paper-cutting exhibition titled “Craftsmanship Cutting Dreams, Paper Continuing a Millennium-Old Legacy” and launched paper-cutting classes, allowing this intangible cultural heritage skill to take root and flourish in the Yuyuan community. “Paper-cutting is the root of our culture. I am especially grateful to Taikang Community Yuyuan for creating this exhibition platform, which has brought every piece out of drawers and into public view, truly bringing them to life,” Aunt Yang remarked with emotion.

To date, the Yuyuan Community has successfully held seven “Dream Chasing Plan” activities. These initiatives not only encourage seniors to embark on new chapters of life with an optimistic and positive mindset but also strengthen their social connections by inviting family members, neighboring seniors, and staff to participate together, thereby helping seniors enhance their sense of fulfillment and achievement derived from value re-creation.

By infusing cultural vitality, Taikang Community·Yuyuan has revitalized senior living with a new brilliance, truly achieving a qualitative leap from “elderly care” to “enjoyable aging.” This innovative model of cultural eldercare is becoming a new benchmark for industry development.

According to staff at Taikang Community·Yuyuan, the community currently has more than 550 residents, with an average age exceeding 84 years and the oldest resident being 102 years old. Given this advanced-age demographic, professional medical resources and care services have naturally become the core values most prized by the elderly residents.

Prior to the official operation of Yuyuan Rehabilitation Hospital, the community clinic had already been interpreting the essence of high-quality elderly care services through its pioneering practice of “integration of medical and elderly care.” Over the past two years, the Yuyuan medical team has provided over 12,000 outpatient visits, delivered nearly 6,000 professional rehabilitation sessions, conducted more than 3,700 health visits, and administered emergency aid to approximately 500 individuals. These figures authentically underscore the necessity of “embedded healthcare” within elderly care communities.

Yuyuan Rehabilitation Hospital Officially Unveiled and Commences Operations

Today, Taikang Community Yuyuan Rehabilitation Hospital in Chongqing was officially unveiled and commenced operations. This Tier-II hospital, with a construction area exceeding 8,000 square meters, offers approximately 100 medical beds. Built on a foundation of 24-hour emergency response, it prioritizes the development of five key disciplines: geriatrics, rehabilitation medicine, health management, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) diagnosis and treatment, and palliative care. The hospital provides one-stop services spanning disease prevention, treatment, functional recovery, and end-of-life care, thereby achieving continuous health management across the entire life cycle.

Yuyuan Rehabilitation Hospital adheres to the Taikang International Standard Rehabilitation System (TKR), equipped with advanced rehabilitation therapy devices and a professional team of rehabilitation physicians. The hospital’s second floor houses a Rehabilitation Medicine Center spanning over 800 square meters, focusing on key rehabilitation techniques such as neurological rehabilitation, orthopedic and joint rehabilitation, and pain management rehabilitation, thereby establishing specialized medical advantages distinct from traditional elderly care institutions.

Rehabilitation Hall of Yuyuan Rehabilitation Hospital

Notably, the hospital fully integrates medical-nursing care with age-friendly design principles. The entire facility features barrier-free and fall-prevention designs, with low-position switches and dedicated service counters installed for wheelchair users. While ensuring patient safety and convenience during medical visits, the hospital is equipped with bright lobbies, comfortable sofas, and spacious wards, creating a warm and comfortable healthcare environment.

The opening of Yuyuan Rehabilitation Hospital marks the true implementation in Chongqing of Taikang’s innovative “One Community, One Hospital” integrated medical and elderly care model, serving as Taikang’s answer to the long-standing challenge of fragmented medical resources in the elderly care industry.

The fragmentation of medical resources is one of the major challenges currently facing the elderly care industry. Due to the lack of effective coordination between different medical institutions, older adults often have to shuttle among multiple facilities, making it difficult for them to receive continuous health management services. This fragmented landscape not only increases the healthcare burden on the elderly but also undermines the overall quality of elderly care services.

Taikang Community has pioneered the “One Community, One Hospital” model, establishing a triple safety net for seniors comprising “emergency response, health management, and geriatric rehabilitation.” This approach achieves full-lifecycle health management—from disease prevention and diagnosis to treatment and rehabilitation—by deeply integrating medical care with elderly care services. Furthermore, Taikang Community leverages high-quality medical resources across China within the Taikang Health Ecosystem, enabling residents to access premium healthcare services without leaving their homes, thereby creating a true “Home of Health.”

At Taikang Community Yuyuan, residents benefit not only from the comprehensive support of an on-site professional medical team and a rehabilitation hospital but also gain access to premium national medical resources through green-channel partnerships with Grade A tertiary hospitals and telemedicine services. At the community level, the Yuyuan Rehabilitation Hospital serves as a standard facility, addressing daily diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation needs. At the city level, Yuyuan Rehabilitation Hospital has established green-channel agreements with multiple medical institutions, including Chongqing People’s Hospital and Liangjiang New Area People’s Hospital, to ensure emergency care, referrals, and inpatient treatment for critically ill patients. Additionally, it has formed medical consortium partnerships with Xinqiao Hospital of Army Medical University and the Third Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, providing seniors with more comprehensive and specialized medical services. At the national level, leveraging Taikang’s five major medical centers, over 100 Taikang Dental clinics, and its broader medical ecosystem resources, the community facilitates nationwide complementarity of medical resources through joint health education initiatives, remote consultations, and remote imaging diagnostics.

This multi-tiered, comprehensive healthcare service structure effectively addresses the challenge of fragmented medical resources, enabling residents to access high-quality, continuous healthcare services from the comfort of their homes.

"As an aging society becomes the new normal, the demand for high-quality elderly care is no longer an optional choice but a mandatory question that the development of the elderly care industry must answer."

Currently, the elderly care industry is undergoing profound structural changes. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, by the end of 2024, China's population aged 60 and above had exceeded 300 million, accounting for 22% of the total population. The accelerating pace of aging has spurred enormous market demand for elderly care services.

Meanwhile, elderly care needs and medical needs are inextricably linked. According to data from the National Health Commission of China, more than 78% of the elderly population in the country suffer from at least one chronic disease, with approximately 220 million seniors affected by one or more chronic conditions. Elderly care services alone can no longer meet the needs of this demographic, making the integration of medical services an inevitable choice.

However, China’s elderly care industry currently faces challenges such as the “disconnection between ecosystem and services” and the “separation of medical care from elderly care.” While some regions boast high-quality ecological resources, they lack professional elderly care service support; conversely, some elderly care institutions can provide basic daily care but lack suitable environments for health and wellness, making it difficult to meet the diverse needs of older adults.

The challenges of integrating medical care with elderly care lie in the effective alignment of medical and elderly-care resources, as well as the absence of relevant standards. Medical institutions pursue maximized efficiency, while elderly-care facilities prioritize service experience; a balance must be struck between these two distinct operational logics.

Against this backdrop, the elderly care industry has entered a new phase of ecosystem-based competition. Single institutions or isolated services are no longer sufficient to meet the diverse needs of older adults; instead, a comprehensive industrial ecosystem must be established. Through its tripartite synergistic model integrating “payment + services + investment,” Taikang has achieved effective alignment between medical and elderly care resources, while also addressing payment challenges, thereby offering an innovative solution for the industry.

In July 2025, the National Health Commission issued the “Work Plan for Demonstration Projects of Integrated Medical and Elderly Care (2025 Edition),” explicitly launching the creation of demonstration projects for integrated medical and elderly care. This policy direction aligns closely with Taikang’s practices, signaling that the integration of medical and elderly care is transitioning from corporate exploration to industry standards.

The two-year growth trajectory of Yuyuan serves as a microcosm of Taikang’s medical and elderly care strategy. As of September 2025, Taikang Community has established a presence in 46 projects across 37 cities, with chain operations of 27 communities in 24 cities, serving over 18,000 residents. This standardized and large-scale layout creates network effects for the integration of medical and elderly care, enabling residents to engage in sojourn-based elderly care across Taikang communities in different cities.

Taikang Community integrates local characteristics into its senior living communities across different regions; for instance, Yuyuan incorporates Bayu culture, while Shuyuan reflects the unique features of the Land of Abundance. This “standardization + localization” model ensures service quality while fulfilling seniors’ sense of cultural belonging.

More importantly, Taikang Healthcare’s “5+N” strategic plan for key disciplines focuses on building five strategic priority specialties: the Digestive Medicine Center, Urology Medicine Center, Neurology Medicine Center, Health Management, and Geriatrics. Currently, Taikang Healthcare employs over 370 experts with senior professional titles, and 24 of its specialists have been included in the “2024 World’s Top 2% Scientists List.” This accumulation of specialized medical resources constitutes the core competitiveness of Taikang’s integrated medical and elderly care strategy.

The second-anniversary celebration gradually reached its climax amid laughter and cheer, with cultural performances spontaneously organized by residents wonderfully staged in the Four Seasons Hall... Yuyuan is not only another seed sown by Taikang Community in Southwest China, but also a vivid footnote to China’s elderly care revolution written in the Mountain City.

The two-year practice of Taikang Community·Yuyuan has not only successfully validated the integrated medical and elderly care model, but also clearly outlined the development direction of “ecosystem building” as a key track in the elderly care industry. It demonstrates that when enterprises can meet the diversified and high-quality needs of seniors through a complete closed loop of “payment + services + ecosystem,” the longevity era will present tremendous development opportunities rather than become a social burden.

From “elderly care” to “enjoying old age,” this shift is, in essence, an industrial value reconstruction driven by ecological forces. What Taikang has built is a virtuous ecosystem model that turns longevity into a celebration of life.