Taichung is a relatively young city in terms of average age of the population but it increases more than 17,000 seniors aged 65 or older every year. Thus, the city government adopts many measures to strengthen welfare for the elderly and strives to build Taichung into a senior-friendly city. The city government encourages forming “old-boy baseball teams”, so that the elderly can exercise more and staying healthy.

Deputy Mayor Tsai Bing-Kun (蔡炳坤) pointed out at the municipal meeting on October 7 that Taichung City was named the most suitable city for the retirees according to a survey. It is an established policy of Taichung City to build itself up into a senior-friendly city.

Presenting her project report for the Chung Yeung Festival, Wang Xiu-Yan (王秀燕), Director-general of Social Affairs Bureau, said, “According to statistics, we have 248,747 seniors aged over 65 as of the end of August this year, accounting for 9.22% of the population in Taichung. Meanwhile, the rate of elderly population in Taiwan is 11.36%. In comparison, Taichung is relatively a young city.”

“However, Taichung will increase more than 17,000 seniors aged over 65 every year,” said Director-general Wang, “So, the Social Affairs Bureau must strengthen care and welfare services to the elderly in three main themes, namely economic security, health maintenance, and care for life. We will cooperate with each and every relevant bureau to offer better services to our elders.”

For the upcoming Double-Nine Chung Yeung Festival, Director-general Wang said to offer a series of benefit programs to show respect to the elderly. One of the offerings is to give NT$ 2000 gift money to seniors aged between 65 and 89; NT$3000 to the elderly aged between 90 and 99; and NT$10,000 to those aged over 100.

Moreover, the bakery and pastry industry has also launched a discount program for the elderly. Senior citizens aged over 65 will be offered 20% discount on any cake they buy and they will be given specialty products as souvenirs if the elderly visit any of the stores with Chongyang posters during the period between October 1 and 13.

Other programs include Social Affairs Bureau’s “Respect and Guard the Elder Campaign", "Senior Citizen Day”, and "Golden, Diamond, and Platinum Wedding Anniversary”; Cultural Affairs Bureau’s "Elder Art Tour by Bus" and "Senior Citizen Jazz Festival"; Civil Affairs Bureau’s "Fun Tour for Three Generations"; Chao Kang Cheng’s "Chongyang Gourmet Feast"; Wonderful Cinema’s “Fun Movie for Grandparents"; Dongshih Forest’s "Autumn Maple Outing"; Houli Horse Farm’s "Houli 120"; Lih Pao Land’s "Adventure"; and so on. There were 23 fun and dazzling events in total.

In addition, Ye Yu-Jin (葉玉錦), mayor of Dongshih District pointed out that seniors aged over 65 account for 15.9% of the population in Dongshih District.“As we have a relatively more elderly population in Dongshih, I hope the City Government will adopt some special measures to take care of the elderly in those ‘older’ districts like ours.”

Deputy Mayor Shyu Jong-Shyoung suggested that ‘old-boy baseball teams” be formed in every district. “There are only four ‘old-boy baseball teams’ in Taiwan and we have two in Taichung. It is very important to exercise if you want to live a good and healthy life. I suggest at least one ‘old-boy baseball team’ be set up in every district with serious aging problems," added Deputy Mayor Shyu.