The Chinese character on the cover of this book means old . I am a Chinese American; I will describe my personal experience and feelings from two cultural perspectives-East and West. This book begins by reviewing major demographic, historical, and cultural changes, which is intended to be a resource providing facts and figures for later discussion. I then turn to some accepted sociological theories about why we age, the aging process, everyday life of the elderly and social programs available to them. The focus of this book is on the health care, the dying, death and many ethical issues closely related to senior citizens. I hope I can convince my fellow senior citizens that death is the final stage of growth in this fascinating process.