Chen had spent the lunar New Year's Eve with elderly people in the No. 2 home for senior citizens in Huangpu District for more than 10 years.

Grandmother Xu wore a yellow coat and a plaid red scarf for the dinner, the first time she had worn bright clothes for decades. She remembered the mayor promised last year that he would return for future Spring Festivals as long as he was in Shanghai.

Chen and the senior citizens celebrated their first Spring Festival together when the home was set up in 1989, while Chen was working in the district.

More than 30,000 of Shanghai's 2.4 million senior citizens live in the city's 453 welfare homes.

The public paid special attention to the senior citizens during the Spring Festival, offering dinners, presents and entertainment. 　　

Students from Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine gave advice on health care for the elderly and dispensed creams for hand care. Staff from the nursery schools in Xuhui District knitted scarves for the senior citizens.

Stewardesses from China Eastern Air Group set up an organization in 1994 to take care of the city's elderly during Spring Festival.

(Xinhua News Agency February 3, 2003)