A tourist visiting here has no reason to think about the plight of the elderly here and why should they, but it is quite possible they will take pictures of what seems like an army of very elderly people (both male and female) scavenging for cardboard boxes and going through rubbish bins for empty bottles and cans and wonder about this subject whilst they are here. After all this is the jewel of Asia, not some third world cesspit.
Hong Kong is a rich city, financially and yet we never seem to really take care of our elderly, I am talking Government assistance here by the way and honestly it was quite hard to wade through articles / reports etc which were in typical Government style ie totally incomprehensible, to get the basic facts.
What you probably do not know is that we do not have a mandatory retirement age here even though anyone over the age of 60 is entitled to old age allowances from the Government, many people continue to work well past 65, 70 and even 80.
A lot of this is pride, the Chinese are extremely proud and hardworking people, traits I have long admired but the fact is Hong Kong is a very expensive place to live, which is why we still have many people living in abject poverty.
According to statistics in late 2010, there were 688,000 people over the age of 60 receiving some form of Government assistance which ranges from Hong Kong $1,000 (US$128) to Hong Kong $2,590 (US $332) per month and yet it has been estimated that 350,000 of these people live in poverty and this is despite the fact that many also receive financial support from their children on top of the Government allowance, the Government also asks that people under 70 have to prove by way of an assets and means test that they are eligible for the allowance and many choose not to fill in the forms which would entitle them to higher allowances... confused yet?
The result is that we have a veritable army of pensioners scouring the streets for cardboard and other recyclable items to earn on average around Hong Kong $50 (US$6.50) to Hong Kong $100 (US$13) per day back breaking work for a pittance - The Government should be ashamed of itself and COULD DO BETTER, particularly when you consider that in 2010 Tourists spent over Hong Kong $200 Billion! (US$25.70 Billion) in Hong Kong which is serious money, you would have thought that some of this money would be given back to the Hong Kong people, particularly the elderly... or is it the Hong Kong Government considers the elderly army a tourist attraction?
I'm Jamie Lloyd and I have lived in Hong Kong for 35 years. I am a personal tour guide, I post articles about Hong Kong daily on my website, for an informative and sometimes amusing take on Hong Kong, visit my site daily Bringing Hong Kong to the World one day at a time - website - http://j3tourshk.com/ twitter - j3tourshongkong
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