Abstract: Institutional caring， as a traditional elderly welfare service， has gone through three stages of development since the founding of PRC. With the pension pressure brought about by the arrival of an aging population， the pension agencies are faced with a conflict， i.e.， gross inadequacy and low utilization of accommodations， which has trapped and troubled institutional caring. Home-based community caring， taking family as the core and falling back on communities， provides pension services through the social network， thus having the benefits of both family support and institutional caring. This increasingly prominent advantage has made it a new model of elderly welfare services. The transition from institutional caring to community caring indicates a fundamental change of Chinas elderly welfare services in terms of policy objectives， governmental responsibilities， and contents as well as modes of elderly caring.

Key words: institutional caring, home-based community care for the elderly, elderly welfare service, policy change