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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

7. MRS. CHOW CHEUNG WAI-PING asked the following question (in English):- Throughout many years the Council has spared no effort to improve and provide various indoor and outdoor sports and recreational facilities for Hong Kong people especially those who like to participate in vigorous games such as squash, and other ball games. However, as age distribution changes the make-up of our population, will the Council consider adopting a policy to provide facilities to meet the needs of our senior citizens who prefer to engage in traditional Chinese sports and recreation in all weathers, such as shadow boxing, respiratory art (), chess etc?

MR. SAMUEL P. W. WONG, CHAIRMAN OF THE RECREATION SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese): The question asks whether the Council will consider adopting a policy to provide facilities to meet the needs of senior citizens who prefer to engage in traditional Chinese sports and recreation activities such as shadow boxing, respiratory arts, chess, etc.

It is Council policy to provide recreation and sports facilities to meet the demands of all age groups. Many indoor and outdoor venues are suitable for use by practitioners of traditional Chinese sports and recreation. All parks and playgrounds contain areas particularly designed for such use; new develop- ments will continue this tradition; examples can be found in the planned piazza in Kowloon Park and the Tai Chi Garden in Hong Kong Park. These areas are usually provided with pavilions and other structures to provide protection against inclement weather. Particular attention is paid to ensure ease of access to these areas by the elderly.

Many parks and gardens also contain modern features designed with senior citizens in mind. Concrete chess tables have become particularly popular with this group. 278 tables have been built in Council parks, with a further 60 planned for completion in the next 5 years. All of these are located under cover in pavilions or in the shade of trees.

Indoor venues suitable for traditional Chinese sports are available in the multi-purpose games rooms found in Council's 21 indoor games halls. Many are booked by associations or individuals wishing to use them for these purposes.

The Council has a long tradition of promoting various non-violent forms of shadow boxing (Tai Chi) as participant sport activities. The Council organizes classes in Tai Chi, Tai Chi Sword etc. for adults including the elderly at various Council venues. In 1986/87, 276 classes were organized for 11 596 participants. For 1987/88, a similar number of classes will be organized for 11 696 parti- cipants. This level of activity is considered to be in line with public demand and will be maintained in future.

The Council also organizes a number of other types of free activity for the elderly. In particular fitness classes for the Aged have become popular, as have swimming classes and sports days.

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MRS. CHOW CHEUNG WAI-PING (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, is it true to say that when we design in-door venues and also multi-purposes games halls, they are catered more for the young people than for the elderly? Regarding the usage of such venues, are the young people targetted as the main users as well?

MR. SAMUEL P. W. WONG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I think what Mrs. CHOW said is partly correct. A few years ago, when we planned for the indoor venues, the population has not been ageing as much as it is now. Now with ageing of the population, we will pay more attention to this aspect.

MISS CECILIA L. Y. YEUNG (in Cantonese):—Could I ask a supplementary question? Mr. WONG has just mentioned that a number of classes will be organized for the people. Does he know that recently there has been a revision of entry fees which will discourage the participation of many people?

MR. SAMUEL P. W. WONG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I don't have any information in hand. If Members require it, I will provide a written answer.

THE HON. HILTON CHEONG-LEEN (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, could I ask Mr. WONG whether there is any promotion exercise in respect of respiratory art classes?

MR. SAMUEL P. W. WONG (in Cantonese):—As far as I know, we do not have any promotion exercise for the time being. As respiratory art is only becoming popular in the recent ten years and there are quite a number of schools of practices, we are still studying which are better. I hope that we can do more in future.

MR. JOSEPH Y. S. CHAN (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I understand that many elderly people are interested in sports. As far as the indoor venues are concerned, young people make a greater use of the venues. I would like to ask whether we could organize suitable activities for the elderly in the indoor venues, e.g. aerobic dance because I know that this is popular among the elderly people. Secondly, do we give any concessionary rates to the elderly e.g. halfing the prices etc. for the Tai Chi and respiratory art classes?

MR. SAMUEL P. W. WONG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I would like to answer the second part of the question first. As regards the question of providing free activities or concessionary rates, we have not yet implemented such a policy but perhaps in future we can give a concessionary rate to the elderly people. As to the first part of your question on why we couldn't try to give more opportunities to the elderly to make use of our indoor venues, as I have just said, only slight changes and arrangements are required to allow the elderly people to engage in activities like aerobic dance in indoor venues.