The Shenzhen Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau subsidized a private home for the elderly to the tune of 440,000 yuan (US$55,000) Thursday, saying it would make it a permanent policy to encourage and finance such premises.

The government subsidy to the Jingxiyang home in Nanshan District comes from the Shenzhen welfare lottery center's public welfare fund and is based on a subsidy of 3,000 yuan for each bed and 130 yuan for each senior citizen per month.

The civil affairs bureau has drawn up a policy to grant preferential treatment to private homes for the elderly to encourage more businesses to run retirement homes.

"Privately run homes for the elderly are better than public ones in terms of costs and efficiency. We will not consider setting up more old-age homes in future and will continue to support private ones with earnings from the welfare lottery," said Liu Runhua, director general of the civil affairs bureau.

Ye Gaoqing, president of the Jingxiyang home, said she appreciated the support from the government and was considering establishing another one in a few years' time. With the support of her husband, Ye invested about 5 million yuan setting up Jingxiyang in July 2002.

"I didn't set up the home for the money. I feel happy as these old people are happy and their families are content, and that makes my life worthwhile," said Ye, whose home now accommodates 93 elderly people.

There are now 25 government-run retirement homes and two privately owned ones, able to accommodate more than 3,000 senior citizens. The other private one is Hong Kong Rehabilitation Society's Shenzhen branch in Yantian, sponsored by Hong Kong Jockey Club, whose patrons are mostly Hong Kong citizens.

Though a young city, Shenzhen is facing a severe ageing problem. Statistics show that there are 97,500 people over 60 holding Shenzhen permanent residence permits or hukou. The number will rise to 200,000 by 2010. The city also has another 160,000 nonpermanent senior citizens. The government has introduced a series of policies to ensure a better life for senior citizens in Shenzhen including the support of community activity groups.

Editor: Donald