A crisis in care for the elderly

"I stopped practicing Chinese painting and calligraphy after I had a stroke in 1998, but I still try to look on the bright side of life," he said.

Eighty-year-old Wang Kuo-chang (王國璋) from Shanghai has been living at the home for 12 years and said he loves it here.

"I don't have to worry very much about anything," he said. "I'm a Christian. I'll wait for God to call me to heaven."

Demographics

According to the latest data made available from the Department of Statistics (統計處) at the Ministry of the Interior, Penghu County has the highest percentage of senior citizens among all of Taiwan's 24 counties and cities. Its senior citizen population represents 14.11 percent, followed by Kinmen County with 12.9 percent and Chiayi County at 12.04 percent.

Taipei County has the lowest figure, recorded as 6.31 percent, trailing Taichung City's 6.43 percent and Kaohsiung City's 6.92 percent.

Taipei City ranks 13th highest with 9.44 percent. According to the UN, a society is considered to be an aging one if the figure is over 7 percent.

Although Penghu and Kinmen counties have a high percentage of senior citizens, this does not necessarily mean that they have more senior citizens' homes.

"Because the families we have here are very close-knit, most people prefer to take care of their own elderly instead of putting them in a nursing home," said Lu Wan-shih (呂萬仕), secretary-general of Penghu County's only public senior citizens' home, the Seniors' Home (老人之家).

Wang Hsien-ku (王先固), deputy director of Tatung Home (大同之家), Kinmen County's only public senior citizens' home, agreed.

"It's all about face," he said. "Although times and society itself have dramatically changed, it's still a very conservative place here -- most people think of it as an embarrassment to send their parents to a nursing home."