WAN CHIU-MING'S neighbours in a Wong Tai Sin public-housing estate knew him as a grumpy old man living on a tiny welfare cheque in an even tinier flat. They would never recognise the smiley gentleman who now plays chess and flies kites at a home for the elderly in Zhaoqing, a southwestern suburb of Guangzhou.
Three months ago, while the 81-year-old was still living in Hong Kong, a pamphlet arrived under his door. It advertised a newly opened housing project for the elderly across the border. 'There was a telephone number on it,' Mr Wan said. 'I called, and someone asked me to give it a try.'
On the morning of February 1, Mr Wan and four other elderly people travelled nearly five hours by hydrofoil and coach. When they finally reached their destination, they saw a home for the aged head and shoulders above anything they'd seen in Hong Kong.
Financed by the Hong Kong Jockey Club and built by Helping Hand, an SAR-based welfare group specialising in services for the elderly, the $90 million Zhaoqing Home for the Elderly is the first of its kind - a mainland home backed by Hong Kong money, operated with Hong Kong expertise and taking in elderly Hong Kong people.
The idea has great promise. After all, Hong Kong's population is greying; by 2015, one in six residents will be 65 or older. But the SAR has fewer than 50,000 bed spaces in homes for the aged, both public and private. Meanwhile, many private homes have a reputation for poor service and cramped quarters, and the government-subsidised ones have 28,000 people on their waiting lists, who face a wait of up to three years.
But there are no such problems at the Zhaoqing home. Inside several two-storey buildings occupying 40,000 square metres, there are communal sitting rooms, exercise rooms, a clinic and a canteen - not to mention the 50 or so staff, including two resident doctors, a physiotherapist, eight nurses and eight trained care givers. Outside, there are gardens and ponds.