Acting Their Age

Zhang Yan

Elderly Chinese social media influencers have become widely popular by promoting scientific knowledge

What happens to a boiled egg and a raw egg when they drop deep into the sea?” asked Wu Yuren, a retired physics professor of Tongji University. “Will they be crushed or pulverized under the pressure?” Eggs in hand, she raised the question for those watching her videos promoting physics education.

Wu became a video blogger and gained 2 million followers after retiring from Tongji University, where she was a professor of physics. Her experience helps her explain abstract and difficult physics concepts through simple and interesting scientific experiments. Her fans admiringly call her “Grandma Wu.”

A group of elderly science vloggers like Wu are gaining popularity as social media influencers.

Coming of Age

In China, influencers with more years under their belt are referred to as “silver-hair internet influencers.” According to the seventh national census, the population of China aged 60 and above reached 260 million in 2020, accounting for 18.7 percent of the country’s total population. Older people eventually got on the internet, and many elderly influencers emerged. The 48th Statistical Reports on Internet Development in China shows that as of June 2021, internet users aged 60 and above reached 123 million, making up 12.2 percent of the total 1.01 billion Chinese internet users.

According to the 2021 Silver Hair Economic Insight Reportreleased by QuestMobile, as of October 2021, about 195.23 million silver-hair users had registered on platforms publishing short mobile videos, year-on-year growth of 25.3 percent, among whom 111.53 million watched and produced short videos on TikTok, yearon-year growth of 49.6 percent.

Not satisfied with just watching younger people’s work, silver-hair internet users began producing their own content on short video platforms. On December 9, 2021, Bilibili, a Chinese video sharing website, released the 2021 Report on Bilibili Producers, which revealed that 13 percent of the site’s video producers are aged 31 and above, up 80 percent year-on-year. Bilibili’s report also mentioned the trend of more and more elderly people becoming original video producers. The number of producers aged 40 and above increased 434 percent year-onyear.

The silver-hair social media influencers are categorized as either life-sharing, fashion conscious, or promoting science and technologies. With abundant experience and knowledge, many elderly internet influencers have found a second prime on the internet. Wu is a TikTok producer promoting scientific knowledge. She used a broomstick to demonstrate tracking cosmic rays, deployed balloons and plastic bottles to show how the Shenzhou-13 spaceship was launched, and explained the function of China’s Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope, dubbed “China Sky Eye,” by using a wok. Many internet users have made humorous comments on her videos to show their respect.

“For the first time in my life, I can easily understand what a physics teacher is talking about.”

“I would never get confused when studying mathematics, physics, or chemistry if I had a teacher like Grandma Wu.”

“It is amazing that I am taking physics classes on TikTok.”

Many elderly people like Wu are engaged in promoting scientific knowledge or techniques on the internet. Boasting good knowledge and experience, they are adept at using humorous and simple language to teach hard-tounderstand stuff. Explaining profound theories with simple language and vivid examples has enabled professors like Wu to become “top home teachers on video websites.”

Silver-hair social media influencers teaching vocational skills have also won many fans. “You must apply potato starch to make Guo Bao Rou [Fried Pork in Scoop, a signature dish from Northeast China],” explained Zheng Xiusheng, a 66-year-old chef. “Other kinds of starch cannot create the right crispy quality for the pork.” Zheng used to work in Beijing Hotel preparing state banquets. He was also a chief chef for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Now 65, Sun Lixin used to work in Beijing Huadu Hotel as a chef, and he is now a consultant for the dishes to be served in Zhangjiakou competition zone of Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games. Zheng and Sun opened an account called “Lao Fan Gu”, or “Seasoned Chefs,” and have published over 500 short videos to teach cooking skills. Whether home cooking or state banquet dishes, they outline every detail to their followers and answer almost every question raised in the comments. Their account now has more than 10 million followers.

The followers of such elderly social media influencers focus more on content than slick visual effects. If the content is practical and easy to understand, the producer gets followed. More and more internet users are attracted by knowledge and skills rather than pure entertainment.

Promotion of Scientific Knowledge

Wu Yuren began promoting science education 16 years ago. At first, very few students were interested in her classes. After continuous improvement, her classes are presented in Shanghai schools, communities, and exhibition halls. Wu noticed the rapid development and the great potential of short video platforms and decided to promote science education to the rest of China. In 2018, Wu recruited her student Guan Dayong and 10 other doctors and professors to establish a team to harness new media forms to promote science education.

In January 2019, the School of Journalism and Communication of Tsinghua University, China Science Daily Press and ByteDancejointly released the Inclusive Benefits of Knowledge:Report on Short Videos andKnowledge Dissemination. Thereport showed that in 2018,knowledge-sharing videosincreased rapidly and becamehighly popular on the internet. Knowledge-sharing vloggerswere becoming a new typeof internet influencer. Shortvideos allow more peopleto participate in knowledgeeducation and dissemination, promoting universal access to knowledge.

According to the report,works promoting scientificknowledge are the mostpopular type of knowledge-sharing video because they have the highest average numberof followers and receive themost views and likes. Bloggerspromoting content related toscience and examination havethe largest number of fanson average, and the numberof bloggers teaching skills isthe highest among all videoproducers.

When Wu’s team beganpublishing their short videos on platforms in 2018, the numberof views of each video rangedfrom hundreds to thousands.

Although the disseminationscope was already widerthan offline classes, theirworks were not very popularin relative terms. Wu keptexploring and improvingapproaches to teaching, which greatly facilitated her eventual popularity on the internet.

At the beginning of theCOVID-19 pandemic in 2020,a lot of information andnews was difficult to verify.People were in urgent need of professional, clear, traceable,and high-quality information, so China’s official rumor-refuting platform becamegreatly popular the momentit went live. Knowledge-basedcontent increased significantlyduring and after the pandemic,and people’s requirement forcontent gradually changed from“interesting” to “useful.”

At the same time, theinternet’s role as an educationaltool has been highlighted by somany school classes movingonline. Since the Chinesegovernment rolled out thedecision to ease the burden ofexcessive homework and off-campus tutoring for students,students have more time forindependent learning andthey began turning to onlineplatforms to study.

According to the recent 2021Report on Bilibili Producers,over 183 million people studyon the Bilibili site, evidencingthat the era of online learningis arriving. Among allProfessional User GeneratedVideos (PUGVs) on Bilibili,videos of the “pan-knowledge”content account for as high as49 percent. In 2021, the numberof producers in the KnowledgeZone increased by 92 percent,covering multiple fields such asbiology, medicine, history, andliterature.

In addition to scientific andliterature knowledge, videosteaching vocational skills alsobecame popular. On December7, the Qianlong Think Tank ofthe Beijing News Press releaseda 2021 Report on ContentCreators focusing on Baijiahao,a content production platformlaunched by Baidu. The reportshowed that the number ofblue-collar video producerssuch as craftsmen andmaintenance workers increased by 208 percent year-on-year.Their professional explanations have won them countlessfollowers and new business.It was inevitable that elderlyprofessionals, with abundantknowledge and experience,would become new socialmedia influencers by producing high-quality content.

AgeClub is a new mediacompany focusing on business innovation and venture capital incubation in the elderlyconsumption market. ZhouChao, content director ofAgeClub, said that comparedto young people, the biggestadvantage of the elderly istheir life experience. They tend to have deeper insights thanyoung people, so the elderlyhave advantages not only inpromoting knowledge butalso giving advice on familyand relationship issues.

“Older people may not post asfrequently as young people, butthey can still win a great number of followers with high-quality,rich content,” said Zhou Chao.

Zhou Qing’an, deputy deanof the School of Journalism and Communication of TsinghuaUniversity, opined that middle- aged and elderly social mediainfluencers became popularbecause they meet multipleneeds of both video producersand viewers. Their videosreflect the charisma of elderlypeople and provide emotionalsupport for many viewers. “The great popularity of middle-aged and elderly social mediainfluencers has both economic and social significance,” saidZhou. “The trend is beneficialfor promoting both care for the elderly and positive attitudesabout society.”