Our world is currently experiencing the global economic crisis and this has consequences for people from different socio-economic backgrounds.In coping with the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis，governments in Hong Kong and Macau provided moderate forms of social protection packages to help those social groups who were suffering from poverty or unemployment in the post-handover period.With significant social and economic changes taking place in Asia，particularly after experiencing economic downturn in the post-1997 Asian financial crisis and post-2008 global economic crisis，people in Hong Kong and Macau have heightened expectations for welfare provision and social protection packages from their governments.Despite the growing needs for social protection after the Asian financial crisis in 1997，most of the Asian governments have not drastically changed their approaches in handling the increasingly complex social welfare issues.Thus it is not surprising to see many people still suffered from economic hardship，especially in the midst of food price crisis before the current global economic crisis broke out in October 2008.In the past few years，the Hong Kong and Macau governments have proposed a series of policies to target working poverty and intergenerational poverty.The comparative study of the social welfare development of Hong Kong and Macau may offer comparative perspectives in analyzing the social welfare and social policy responses in East Asia.