Zhou Ming, a manager at the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions' Guangzhou office, predicts that a large number of elders living in Guangzhou will return to Hong Kong within a few years, for medical treatment or financial assistance.

Financially, Hong Kong's elderly residing in Guangdong can't support themselves over the long term, unless they have strong family assistance. Relying on Hong Kong's old age allowance will leave them far short, he said.

Zhou observed that Hong Kong retirees began settling in Guangdong in the early 1990s. Many bought houses in Guangdong in the hope of spending their senior years in comfort. The Hong Kong dollar was at a big premium over the yuan back then. Life on the mainland seemed inexpensive.

Today, circumstances have reversed and now play against formerly complacent Hong Kong retirees.

Cai Xiaoqin, 30, head of an elder care home in Dongguan, Guangdong, told China Daily more than 40 Hong Kong people have stayed at the home. Eighteen remain. The rest either have returned to Hong Kong for medical treatment or died.

Cai said she heard many Hong Kong clients, usually the children who brought ageing parents to the home, complain about continuing appreciation of the yuan against the Hong Kong dollar. They have to spend more income in Hong Kong dollars to pay for a bed costing up to 3,500 yuan a month.

The Hong Kong seniors appreciate having their own room, less crowded facilities, fresher air and more attention from nursing workers, compared to private nursing homes in Hong Kong, Cai said.

But when it comes to serious medical decisions, they always want an ambulance and to be escorted back to a hospital in Hong Kong.

In the beginning, Cai escorted them only to the Shenzhen border because mainland visitors must have a business visa or join a tour group to Hong Kong.

Since July 2003, residents in eight cities in Guangdong are permitted to make individual visits to Hong Kong.

"Since then, I have accompanied elderly frequently to Hong Kong hospitals, and I lost count of how many times I have done that," Cai said.

(HK Edition 06/28/2013 page6)