By the end of April, the second stage of the Starlight Project had built more than 13,800 homes and activity centres for the elderly in more than 400 medium-sized cities across the country, helping provide them better living conditions, Wang Suying, director of the Welfare Department under the Ministry of Civil Affairs, told China Daily at the weekend.

Launched in June 2001, the three-year project is expected to involve an investment of more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion), the largest amount spent on the elderly since New China was founded in 1949.

The project has put cash into building welfare homes, day care centres and entertainment and leisure facilities, all with the simple aim of helping elderly people live in comfort, Wang said.

"The Starlight Project's funds have come from various sources including the Ministry of Civil Affairs, departments of civil affairs at provincial level and public sources," she said.

Approximately 600 million yuan (US$72 million) of this year's Starlight Project funds were allocated by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, 800 million yuan (US$96 million) came from provincial public welfare foundations, and the remaining 3.2 billion yuan (US$385 million) was provided by local government budgets and public sources.

"Welfare lotteries have contributed a great deal to the project," Wang said. A total of 16.8 billion yuan (US$2 billion) was raised from sales of welfare lottery tickets last year, an increase of 20 per cent from the previous year, statistics show.

The first stage of the Starlight Project had helped more than 6,000 elderly people's homes and activity centres in more than 30 major cities across the country by the end of May 2002.

The third and last stage of Starlight Project will be launched in June to benefit elderly people living in small cities and towns.

"Improving the welfare system for the elderly is a major task of the country which has an increasing number of elderly and a pervading 'empty nest' phenomenon," Wang said. An "empty nest" family refers to one with an elderly person living alone or with his or her spouse.

According to data provided by the Chinese Association of Senior Citizens, more than 25 per cent of elderly people in China live in such "empty nests." The figure is on the rise. It is estimated that by 2005, "empty nest" families will account for more than 50 per cent of elderly families in China.

Without any local community contacts, the elderly are in a dangerous situation.

However, experts believe a community or neighbourhood care system would be the best way to deal with the challenge before a fully-fledged social welfare and pension system is established in China.

(China Daily May 19, 2003)