A group of glamorous grannies shows you can still be sexy at 60
Print Edition
Lin Wei never dreamed about becoming a 鈥渃elebrity鈥 at the age of 64, nor did she expect that what made her famous was a 15-second video of her street catwalk.
A retired nurse in Beijing, Lin started modeling part-time at 45. She has considered herself just one of the many modeling enthusiasts until a video went viral showing her and three other senior models, with an average age of 67, strutting the catwalk on a Beijing street in traditional dresses.
Posted in June, the video has received 55 million views and 2.7 million likes on TikTok, a short-video sharing app known as Douyin in China.
鈥淭he 15-second video has won us more fans than our entire modeling career. It鈥檚 so powerful,鈥 said Lin, adding that they had been recognized several times in the street by their fans.
Their team, which now goes under the name 鈥淕lam-mas鈥 (glamorous grandmas) has gathered over 37,000 followers and replying to fans comments and questions has become a daily routine for Lin.
While short-video platforms such as TikTok and Kuaishou have long been considered a bastion of China鈥檚 youth sub-culture, Lin represents a growing legion of seniors who are entering this fashion territory with great zest.
There are 320 million daily active users on TikTok, among whom 40 million are estimated to be above 50.
Their videos, from mocking youngsters鈥 rap to imparting cooking knacks accrued from decades of practice, have won applause from users of both their own age group and their grandchildren鈥檚 generation.
China has a vast online population 鈥 829 million at the end of last year, of whom 12.5 percent are above 50, up 2 percentage points from the previous year.
The increasing online presence of the gray-haired comes as place China鈥檚 population quickly ages. By the end of 2018, China had about 249 million people aged 60 and above, accounting for 17.9 percent of the population, and the number is expected to exceed 300 million in 2025.
鈥淲e cannot ignore the fact that the seniors are now an active part of the cyberspace as China ages,鈥 said Gao Jie, vice president of the University for the Aged in Jilin Province.
Many pensioners go online to enrich their retirement life as 鈥淐hinese elders today boast better education and they accept and learn new things faster,鈥 Gao said.
Short-video platforms, in particular, offer a stage for the elderly to display themselves, to get closer to the young and promote mutual understanding, said the expert, who also warned of online addiction among the elderly.
TikTok fever is even reaching elders in rural, mountainous areas thanks to the fast-growing telecom infrastructure and the spread of smartphones.
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