Caring for someone with dementia can be very stressful for family members, especially in a country where care service is not widely available. Countless family members-turned-caregivers are finding support from each other and cyberspace.

Since her husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2005, Cao Guirong, a 56-year-old Beijing resident, has been participating in get-togethers of patient families and medical staff members held by the Peking University Institute of Mental Health.

"The get-togethers are very important to people like us," Cao says.