Abstract: With the accelerating process of rural aging and rural empty nesting in China, the model of rural mutual support for the aged has emerged, which has become an important way to deal with rural aging in addition to family retirement and institutional pension. Based on the perspective of active aging, from the three aspects of social participation of the elderly, daily protection of the elderly, and care for the health of the elderly, the positive effects of the rural mutual aid and pension model were analyzed, and the long-term operation mechanism was considered to be the continuing pattern of old-age support for rural residents. As for the protection of development, it is suggested that a long-term operation mechanism be constructed from the three aspects of policy guarantee, financial support, and supervision and evaluation to promote the healthy and orderly development of the rural mutual aid and retirement support model.

Key words: active aging, mutual support for the elderly in rural areas, utility, operational mechanism