More space, lower living costs lure Hong Kong elderly to retire in mainland China, but health care brings them back
- Not enough government help schemes for those who opt to retire across the border, experts say
- Rising demand for mainland subsidised care homes which have shorter waiting times, bigger rooms
Separated from her husband and estranged from their seven daughters in Hong Kong, retired cleaner Chan Yim-chun moved by herself to the mainland Chinese city of Zhongshan in 2000.
She bought a 600 sq ft flat in a rural area of the city in Guangdong province and had friends and relatives for company. Her monthly welfare allowances of about HK$3,700 (US$475) from the Hong Kong government covered her daily expenses.
“It is hard to survive in Hong Kong, but things are different on the mainland, where I had a big home and felt happy and carefree,” says Chan, now 78.
But after two decades, she is back in Hong Kong and sharing a tiny two-room flat in Sham Shui Po. Her room costs HK$3,500 a month, almost all of her monthly welfare allowances.
She returned last year because she needed long-term medical care for chronic conditions including high blood pressure.
