More entertainment programs focus on the elderly, Wang Qian reports.

Actress Leanne Liu keeps her television on for 24 hours, afraid of going out and inept at using technology, she says, before participating in the reality show Summer Refuge that concluded on Nov 25.

After her husband died in an accident in 2011, Liu has been living alone in Shanghai. Her lifestyle, similar to many elderly aging alone in China, triggered concern on social media.

China has more than 264 million people aged 60 and above, including 80.8 million in their 70s and 35.8 million older than 80, according to the seventh national population census.

"As the country is entering an aging society, the TV show aims to call for the public to pay more attention to the issues and challenges facing the elderly and break ageist stereotypes. Their today will be our tomorrow," a show representative says in a written response to China Daily.

Under the guidance of the China National Committee on Aging, the 10-episode show, which premiered on Bilibili on Sept 23, puts three people over 60 and people in their 20s together for a 21-day "social experiment" to see how the two generations get along. Two other seniors who appear on the show are Zhu Zengde, 89, a former businessman, and Wei Yongzheng, 81, a retired teacher.

For Liu, the show has helped her to step out of her comfort zone and unlock new experiences, "making her feel young again".

"In the show, we do not want to overemphasize the stereotypes about aging, but to represent the diversified, true and lovely lives of the seniors, which can be a reference, or even guide, to the young people facing aging in the future," the response says, adding the show can warm hearts.

"After the show, we hope the audience will pick up their phones and contact their parents or grandparents to tell them how much they love and miss them," it adds.

Summer Refuge has received a positive response from the viewers. A Bilibili viewer named Tuzi comments that the reality show is heartwarming, soft and real, providing insights into how we interpret life.

On the microblogging platform Sina Weibo, the hashtag for the show's name has been viewed over 160 million times so far. On major entertainment review platform Douban, it has a rating of 8.1 of 10 points.

"I burst into tears many times while watching the show, which reminded me of my own grandparents and made me think how I should face aging," a Sina Weibo user named Pisces comments.

As China is home to 284 million netizens, aged 50 or older, as of June, accounting for 28 percent of the country's total netizen population, according to the China Internet Network Information Center, it is no wonder that streaming platforms are highlighting senior citizens in entertainment shows.

This month, Forget Me Not Farm will be aired on Tencent's streaming platform focusing on seniors. It is the third season of Tencent's Forget Me reality show series since 2019. In the first two seasons, Forget Me Not Cafe invited three celebrities and five people with cognitive disorders to work together as servers at a restaurant in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, in a bid to raise awareness of intellectual disabilities in a lighthearted way.

Different from the previous seasons, the new 10-episode show has broadened its focus from people with cognitive disorders to elderly people. It puts three celebrities-actor Huang Bo, actress Tong Liya and Lamu Yangzi-and five people, aged 69 to 80, together to manage a farm in Chengdu, Sichuan province. Huang says the five seniors were selected from more than 7,000"candidates" across the country.

Video platforms and local and central TV stations have also strengthened coverage of seniors, who spend more time watching TV than younger generations. Last year, the average Chinese, aged over 65 spent about four hours and 48 minutes watching TV every day, the annual report on development of China's media industry by Tsinghua University's School of Journalism and Communication shows. The average time for all TV viewers in China was 132 minutes daily in 2020.

In June last year, China Central Television released Ode of Joy, a singing competition show featuring 32 choruses of senior citizens over age 60 and telling their stories behind the scenes. Huang Wei, the show's producer and chief director, says the show conveys the message that senior citizens can pursue a happy life.

In April, Wow! Mom, a 13-episode variety show was aired on Hunan Satellite TV, shining the spotlight on celebrities' mothers, who are typically aged 50 and above. In the show, 20 mothers, accompanied by their daughters, have prepared for the selection of a supermodel training camp. It aimed to showcase their healthy and positive lifestyles.

Besides the above genres, some dating TV shows for elderly people have gone viral on social media for the participants' "interesting conversations" and practical demand of relationships. Although there is no official data about the national single population aged over 60, the Qingdao Statistics Bureau estimates that by the end of 2016, about one-third of people older than 60 were single in Qingdao, Shandong province.

According to HBresearch, an entertainment industry observer in Beijing, the variety shows explore the challenges elders face, including social isolation and a lack of cross-generation dialogue, which has made the shows popular among viewers, both old and young.

"However producers need to develop and introduce diversified programs or themes related to the senior group to provide audiences more entertainment choices," HBresearch says.

"Good variety shows can dig into what old people really need and want and shed light on how to deal with the challenges they face," Wen Weihua, professor at Beijing Jiaotong University, says.

Wang Haidong, director of the National Health Commission's aging health department, told Xinhua News Agency that population aging is an important trend for the country's social development, which is also a basic situation for the nation over the long term. Taking positive and effective measures to improve the care of seniors matters a great deal for the construction of a modern socialist nation, Wang added.

The country's population aged 60 and above is expected to reach 300 million by 2025, peaking at 487 million by 2053, according to estimates by the National Working Commission on Aging.