Jiang Minci has developed the habit of recording her life story with a mobile phone after taking courses in smartphone photography. [Photo provided to China Daily]
Growing old can have some advantages. A greater tolerance for, and understanding of, what life can throw at you. But the reverse is also true. The elderly can sometimes drift into a helpless and hopeless situation where, as if by destiny, solitude and ennui become their companions.
British indie band Pulp lament in their song Help the Aged, we have to "help the aged, don't just put them in a home, can't have much fun in there all on their own".
However, in today's China, with the popularization of mobile technology and social media, some senior citizens are proving that they can have a lot of fun on their own. With or without external support, they can be admired and even adored by many.
On video streaming and sharing site Bilibili, known for being an online community for young people, a video with more than five million views is titled "I'm 90. Can I be a vlogger on Bilibili?"
The video was uploaded last year by Jiang Minci, the most elderly vlogger on the site, who now has over 372,000 followers. Viewers clicking on any of her videos will be met with a flood of comments floating across the screen that read "Hello, grandma".
She was first introduced to the website last year by her grandson known as Dou Dou, a sophomore at high school and also a Bilibili vlogger.
"I didn't know about these things at all before. When I saw him on this site, I asked what he was doing, and he simply replied 'I'm uploading videos'," Jiang says.
"I thought, if I make videos about the highlights of my life, it can be a form of entertainment for myself and possibly provide some positive historical reference."
Jiang's videos are mostly accounts of her own life experience, from living a turbulent and nomadic childhood during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), to pursuing an education that allowed her to become a railway engineer and, more importantly, an open-minded and independent individual.
"I thought of recording my life stories by writing an autobiography, but when I was a child, I attended school rather late due to the chaos of war, and I then specialized in science-related subjects, so my writing isn't good. I feel that shooting videos is easier than writing."
Now after nearly a year on Bilibili, she has not only managed to tell her stories, but also acquired the fundamental skills of a vlogger. Her videos are formulated and edited mostly by herself, with technical aid from Dou Dou.
"We seniors should learn about new things. We shouldn't think that, because of our old age, we can give up trying and learning. I feel that there's nothing you cannot learn as long as you put your heart into it. It's all a matter of personal determination," Jiang says.
She has been intermittently attending courses at the university for the elderly since 1999, learning subjects like pinyin, fitness, photography and video-editing.
Apart from encouraging young people to keep an open mind and a thirst for knowledge, in her videos she also focuses on her life experience and social issues, calling for public attention to the predicament faced by the elderly.
Another influencer of advancing years on Bilibili is Lu Zhengyi and arguably one of the most popular. Having uploaded 57 videos, he has gained 1.84 million followers and a total of 100 million views.
Jiang's first video, uploaded on Bilibili in April, 2020, was soon flooded with on-screen comments that read "Hello, grandma". [Photo provided to China Daily]
Most of his videos show him carving a square chunk of wood with a chisel and a small sander, creating the likenesses of famous characters from animation, comic books and video games.
In his bio, he writes: "I am Lu Zhengyi. I'm twenty-seven years of age, a young wood artisan." This is, in fact, a joke. He was actually 72 when he wrote that last year, and 27 is the age when he first started wood carving.
He is affectionately called xiaolu by his fans, meaning "little Lu". The term of endearment was first given to him by his cameraman, known as Awei. Lu accepted it with pleasure.
Lu is a craftsman who lives in Xianyou county, Fujian province, a place with a tradition of making classic furniture.
Initially a photographer working with Lu's son, Awei thought it would be a good idea to combine traditional craft with the anime culture adored by young people, so he approached Lu and showed him pictures of some of the genre's famous animated characters.
Lu was keen to try his hand at carving something new for a change. Awei then recorded Lu's process and uploaded the video on Bilibili. It quickly became a hit.
"I did not expect that young people would like wood carving. In the town in which I live, it's very rare for people under 30 to learn the craft or to even buy a wooden sculpture," Lu says.
"I'm very happy to be on Bilibili, because I get to know so many young people. Now whenever I have free time, I check the comments of my videos. It enriches my life a lot."
According to The 46th China Statistical Report on Internet Development released by China Internet Network Information Center in September, 2020, as of June, 2020, the proportion of internet users aged 50 and above had increased to 22.8 percent, indicating that the internet is further permeating the middle and senior age groups.
Internet users aged 60 and above account for 10.3 percent. The report shows that, by last June, there were a total of 940 million internet users in China. Consequently, approximately 96.8 million people over the age of 60 are now using the internet.
They are not only making use of basic functions, but showing skillful manipulation of the internet's many forms, as 99.2 percent of internet users are using their mobile phone to access online services and users over 60 have installed an average of 44 mobile applications on their devices.
The most frequently used mobile application categories are instant messaging apps, which account for 13.7 percent of total user time, while the second to sixth most frequently used are varied categories of video and music streaming apps, including short video and live streaming apps.
Sharing videos on social networking sites is now a form of entertainment for retirees. One of them, 60-year-old Tong Xueqin, started shooting videos and uploading them to short video sharing platform Douyin last August.
It has become an everyday routine for her to upload short videos of her dancing or singing, sometimes posting twice in a day.
Lu Zhengyi has gained 1.84 million followers with his wood carving videos. [Photo provided to China Daily]
"It puts me in a good mood to upload videos and make friends with like-minded people and, in doing so, I have also gained a lot of new knowledge," Tong says.
The hobby began after the COVID-19 outbreak, when she felt she had very little to do at home.
"I was suffering from periarthritis (inflammation around the joints), and my friends recommended that I take up dancing as a way of exercise, saying that it might alleviate the symptoms. I don't really like dancing in public squares, so I started learning short dances by other vloggers," Tong says.
Having learned the dances and rearranged a few by herself, shooting videos and sharing them with other dance enthusiasts gave her the drive to continue learning and practicing.
Opposing opinions from friends and family are not unusual to her, as there are those who believe that older people shouldn't be courting attention in such a public manner, but having received positive feedback online, she decided to keep up the hobby.
"I now take a tripod with me wherever I go. Sometimes when I see a pleasant view, I stop and film a short video. At first I was self-conscious of passers-by laughing at me, now it doesn't bother me at all."
For her, vlogging is a hobby based on personal choice, just as many retirees choose to play mahjong or poker.
She says that her symptoms are now substantially relieved and she has lost a lot of weight.
"I have also got to know a lot of Douyin users in my local area, and we often meet up and shoot videos together. A lot of my real-life friends are also shooting videos, though they may not upload as regularly as me."
She takes each video seriously, practicing sometimes hours for a single short dance routine. As video-making is also new to her, she also puts in a lot of effort on the production side, constantly exploring the tools on Douyin including editing or adding filters and captions.
"Once the video is uploaded, it's for people from all over the country to see, so I have to present my best image. I also feel that at this age, my mind is not as sharp as it used to be, so whenever I have the time, I learn how to dance better and make better videos."
Although essentially a personal account for recording her own life, each of her videos gains up to 1,500 likes, garnering a multitude of complimentary comments.
There will never be ample time for her to read and reply to each comment, but taking a glimpse at them each day is enough to put a smile on her face.
"Most of those who follow me are retirees from all walks of life. Every day, I receive greetings in the comments saying 'good morning'," Tong says.
