I believe it was in reference to how many older Chinese people live the countryside and life is difficult for them. Some have grandchildren who live with them, but life is very difficult for them as they are no longer capable for handling all the physical demand. The thing is that most of their kids are grown up and have jobs in the cities.
Since when was living in the countryside miserable?... cities suck big time, crime, polution, noise, arsehole neihbors playing music till 3am in the morning, and so on...
The only thing that sucks about living in the country is the size of the lawn you have to mow.