Introduction

It is an issue of debate whether an policy on ageing currently exists or has ever existed in Hong Kong. Formal government concern for older persons' welfare started in the early 1970s, when the growing population of older persons began to stir official interest in formulating a policy for the welfare of the elderly in general and needy older persons in particular. Such interest has progressed intermittently over the subsequent three decades, although a comprehensive and applied policy is still to emerge.

Indeed, if “policy” is taken to mean a coherent conceptual framework linking different practices for the achievement of a goal or mission, the gradual development of such a policy framework has been evident since the 1970s, but services provided have not always been consistent with the policy. However, if “policy” is taken more generally and pragmatically to imply a central government effort towards collating public services, then there has been, at the most, only a direction for formulating such policy. In the 1970s, there was no evidence of a central policy framework. Using the first conceptual framework for the present review, the government of the Hong Kong started looking at ageing issues in the 1970s, and actually made a number of attempts to formulate a central policy in the 1980s and 1990s. However, coordination between the different service departments became so difficult that issues related to ageing became focused principally on health and personal social service issues, the policy responsibility for which lies with the Health and Welfare Bureau. Things have changed somewhat since Mr Tung Chee-hwa became chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of China, as it has been termed since 1 July 1997. After his first-term election in 1997 (he was re-elected in 2002), Mr Tung announced that three commissions would be set up to attempt an overview of their respective areas: the Housing Commission, the Education Commission and the Elderly Commission.