Gen Zers Run China’s Most Fashionable Nursing Home

Aging can look very different in different parts of the world. In China, for instance, many older citizens are known for their athleticism. They can often be seen exercising in public parks and swimming outdoors, even during Beijing’s frigid winter.


However, not all older people in China are sporty and self-sufficient. The country is home to one of the fastest-aging populations in the world. According to government data, there were more than 264 million Chinese citizens above the age of 60 in 2021, and that number is estimated to grow to a staggering 402 million by 2040.


To adapt to this massive demographic shift, universities around China have introduced gerontology majors, also known as ‘aging studies.’


Furthermore, it’s heartening to see many Chinese youths becoming more involved in caring for the country’s retirees than ever before.


china ageing population


An especially heartwarming example of this trend occurs in a nursing home in Ya’an, Sichuan province. Founded by Janet and June, two friends in their 20s, in 2018, the establishment is now home to 128 older people and has earned the nickname ‘Happy Nursing Home.’


In an interview with Chinese digital media outlet Yi Tiao, the founders said that their unusual career choice was driven by very personal reasons.


“Because of our own family members, we visited many nursing homes and felt that getting old was really scary,” they said. “Elders were crammed into dark rooms, and the nurses would treat them like objects.”


To avoid older adults experiencing feelings of being abandoned and marginalized, Janet and June built a place where they would feel safe and happy.


china ageing population senior fashion


Most of the staff at the nursing home are either Gen Zers or Millennials. Besides caring for the older residents’ health needs, they nurture their minds and souls by organizing fun daily activities that transcend generational boundaries.


In addition to playing Chinese chess, singing, and watching TV with the residents, the staff often throw playful — and arguably Vogue-worthy — fashion shoots.


china ageing population


After the video interview with Yi Tiao was published on Bilibili, China’s version of YouTube, it racked up almost 500,000 views and a storm of positive comments.


Wholesome content related to older people has long been popular on Chinese social media platforms. Take, for instance, the viral Douyin trend of reproducing luxury brand campaigns featuring rural seniors as models.


All images via Bilibili

Post-Punk Band Berlin Psycho Nurses Drop New EP ‘Software Hellhole’

On November 9, Chinese post-punk band Berlin Psycho Nurses released a new EP, Software Hellhole, via Ruby Eyes Records.


Adhering to the cold tone of post-punk, Software Hellhole presents a crafty fusion of noise rock, new wave, and indie rock and sees the addition of instruments such as saxophone, keyboard, flute, and viola.



Formed in 2017 in Central China’s Changsha city, the five-member band started their musical journey by imitating Western predecessors such as Joy Division, Echo & The Bunnymen, and Nick Cave. Their debut EP, Hardcore Horse, in 2018, followed the regular paradigm of post-punk music. However, Berlin Psycho Nurses sees this new EP as a ‘rebellion’ against their previous musical offerings.



Abandoning the gangster personas the group adopted in their earlier works, Berlin Psycho Nurses calmly unravels dramatized stories based on real-life experiences in this new EP. The release’s overall theme touches on the meaningless, mentally strained existence of many young people in society today.


The two songs ‘Oceanscapes’ and ‘Psychotic Whispery’ explore the mental health issues facing modern youth and their growing attraction to nihilism and hedonism.


The other two tracks, ‘Elizabeth Town’ and ‘Cloudy Bay,’ are about love. The former tells the story of a young preacher who abandoned his religion for love and was expelled from his community; the latter is a heartbreaking monologue of a young man dumped by his partner.

For those looking to further explore Berlin Psycho Nurses’ catalog of work, check out the band’s first full-length self-titled album, released in 2020. This 11-track LP demonstrates the band’s commitment to integrating genres and found a welcome audience among those looking to “rampage like a gangster,” according to the group’s label.


Cover image via Weibo

Government Official Goes Viral on Chinese TikTok for Tacky Videos

If you thought hanfu (traditional Chinese clothing), wigs, and swords only belonged to period dramas, you should spend more time on Chinese TikTok (Douyin).


Xie Wei, the bureau chief of the Tourism and Culture Bureau of Suizhou, a city in Hubei province, recently went viral thanks to a creative video promoting the local natural landscape and traditional culture.


Xie, who is not afraid of getting his hands dirty, starred in two short videos where he is seen dressed in a wuxia-inspired outfit. (Wuxia (武俠), literally meaning ‘martial arts heroes,’ is a wildly popular genre of books, film, and television.) In the videos, he and two beautiful women engage in swordplay, traditional chess, and drinking rice wine from old jars.


chinese tiktok viral video tourism china

Screengrabs of Xie wearing hanfu on Douyin


The videos garnered more than 70,000 views on Douyin and a storm of comments from netizens, with a related hashtag gaining over 140 million views on Weibo.


While some social media users initially criticized Xie for lacking the charisma and skills required to act as a traditional wuxia hero, many sympathized with him and praised his commitment.


On his Douyin, Xie addressed netizens’ criticism with humbleness, explaining the limited time and budget allocated for the videos’ production.


In an interview with the domestic media outlet The Paper, the bureau chief stated, “I might be ugly, but if everybody saw how beautiful Suizhou is, then it’s fine.” He added that he didn’t feel attacked but, in fact, appreciated netizens’ attention and support.


chinese tiktok viral video chian tourism

Screengrabs from the promotional videos on Douyin


Impressed by Xie’s positive attitude, users on Weibo commented, “I support him; it shows that he’s putting in the hard work at his job,” and even praised his media strategy, stating that “He really gets how viral content works.”


Xie is not the only official who starred in short videos to promote local tourism. In recent months, the tourism bureau chief of Ganzi, Sichuan, a Tibetan autonomous prefecture in southwestern China, Liu Hong, also became a viral sensation thanks to his videos showcasing Ganzi’s rich culture and history.


Liu, who boasts more than 17 million fans on his Douyin account, shares videos where he stars in different roles, from a People’s Liberation Army soldier to a Tibetan opera performer and even a traditional swordsman.


china tiktok viral video douyin

Screengrabs of Liu Hong playing different characters on Douyin


The videos are masterfully shot and edited, often featuring viral soundtracks, which shows his team’s deep understanding of Douyin’s algorithm and users’ preferences on the platform.


As the consumption of short videos continues to rise among Chinese people, Douyin-savvy tourism bureau chiefs like Xie and Liu have become part of a broader trend of utilizing the platform’s unique format and aesthetics to market products, whether they’re luxury brands or tourist destinations.


All images via Douyin

Netizens Scorn Hungarian Speed Skaters Who May Compete for China

On November 8, the Hungarian National Skating Association announced that Shaolin Sándor Liu and Shaoang Liu, brothers and short-track speed skaters who medaled at the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics, have requested permission to renounce their Hungarian nationalities.


Though they did not name the country they are changing nationalities for, many believe the Liu brothers are heading to China.


shaolin and shaoang

The Liu brothers at the 2022 Winter Olympics. Image via Weibo


Chinese netizens and some media outlets believe that the duo will be applying for Chinese citizenship due to their father’s Chinese ethnicity and the fact that their longtime coach, Zhang Jing, is also based in China.


The ethnically Chinese Zhang has been the head coach of Hungary’s men’s short-track speed skating team since 2012, but she recently left to become the head coach for China’s national team.


zhang jing and the liu brothers

The Liu brothers and their longtime coach, Zhang Jing. Image via Instagram


Though the Hungarian Skating Association arranged for the Lius to continue training under her in Beijing while still competing for Hungary, the arrangement “did not prove suitable.”


The Liu bros’ changing of allegiances will be a significant loss for Hungary: The brothers are responsible for Hungary’s first Winter Olympics gold in history. In 2018, the two led their team to victory in the 5,000-meter short-track speed skating relay.


Shaoang — the younger of the pair — also won the country’s first-ever individual gold medal in the 2022 500-meter speed skating event.

The Lius, who are ethnically half Chinese and half Hungarian, were born in Budapest. When they were children, they trained in China’s northeastern Jilin province; they are also reportedly “good friends” with members of the Chinese skating team.


Many Chinese netizens, however, are not happy with the switch of allegiances.


Some see the Liu brothers’ decision as ‘two-faced,’ and others are still angry over what they believe was a dirty move by Shaoang that resulted in the injury of Chinese speed skater Han Tianyu at the 2018 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships.


One person wrote, “I don’t think it’s necessary to recruit such two-faced people to obtain more medals. [The Lius] are not sincere in their desire to compete for China at all… It’s unnecessary to ruin our reputation just for a few gold medals.”


Another said, “We can’t stop them from coming, we can’t stop Zhang Jing from protecting them, but we can boycott their endorsements and make them lose their commercial value.”


The overwhelmingly negative response is a turnaround from the internet commentary prior to the 2018 Winter Olympics, when netizens fell in love with the duo’s dreamy appearances.

Upon renouncing their Hungarian citizenship, the Liu brothers will lose their lifetime annuities as Olympic medalists, which they would have been paid from age 35 onwards. The Hungarian government was supposed to pay Shaolin, who is turning 27 this month, about 2,000 USD a month, and 24-year-old Shaoang around 3,740 USD, if they were to retain their Hungarian citizenship.


Moreover, the Hungarian National Skating Association also indicated that the duo would not be able to participate in International Skating Union events for 12 months after an official change in nationality.


Cover image via Instagram

I’m a Delivery Driver in China. I Earn Less Than $1,700 a Month

The Chinese internet is empathizing with a food delivery driver who recently made a viral video breaking down his monthly income. Many people are concerned over his “unreasonable” and “exploitative” working conditions — an indication of changing attitudes towards labor in China.


A screenshot from the food delivery driver’s video show his salary breakdown

A screenshot from the food delivery driver’s video shows his salary breakdown


At the end of last month, the takeaway driver in the video took home 12,147 RMB (about 1,687 USD) after completing 1,862 orders. That amounts to a daily average of about 60 orders, which some commenters surmise took nearly 17 hours per day.


However, this delivery driver’s salary falls at the high end of the spectrum. According to a labor survey, the average monthly salary for a delivery driver who works more than 11 hours a day is only 8,789 RMB (1,220 USD).


To put those numbers in context: China’s average monthly salary was 1,393 USD as of December 2021.


The long working hours endured by delivery drivers and other workers have prompted netizens to question China’s labor law. Last August, the country’s Supreme Court capped the legal workweek at 44 hours in response to China’s pervasive ‘996’ work culture, which means working 12 hours a day, six days a week.


a meituan delivery driver with their kid

A food delivery driver in China working with his child in tow


Two other elements from the video stood out to netizens: the driver’s lack of social security benefits and a 10 RMB (about 1.4 USD) salary deduction for every bad review.


As delivery drivers are usually hired as contractors, food delivery companies only provided them with commercial medical insurance until the government stepped in last year and required the enterprises to pay social security as well. However, this policy has only been in place for a little over a year and — judging from the video — it seems that nothing has changed.


eleme driver drops food off

A delivery driver drops off a food order


People also debated over the 10 RMB that was deducted due to a “bad review.”


One commenter wrote, “I don’t think the platform should arbitrarily deduct money from the delivery staff based on the number of bad reviews, because some bad reviews are malicious or due to customers’ [moods].”


Meanwhile, others called it a “normal punishment.”

Food delivery is incredibly efficient and affordable in China, but that arguably comes at the cost of delivery drivers’ safety. In 2020, People published an exposé of the high-risk nature of the job due to the intense time constraints required by the delivery system. Many drivers have to fight against traffic to deliver an order on time so they won’t face salary deductions.


Pushback against delivery workers’ long hours also represents a general societal shift in attitudes towards labor, as evidenced by the ‘lying flat’ movement, which encourages a more relaxed attitude towards work.


All images via Weibo

Handcrafted Cardboard ‘Dogs’ A Common Fixture in China’s College Dorms

Many universities across China are still imposing restrictive Covid-19 policies. Some students have expressed their anger through protest, while others are finding new ways to maintain sanity, for example, by creating ‘pets’ out of cardboard boxes.


On most campuses in China, pets are not allowed in dorms. However, by using old boxes and a little imagination, young animal lovers have found a creative way to bring their pet-ownership dreams to life.


Guan Xiaotong, a sophomore film major, made a cardboard canine with her dormmates a week ago. She told RADII they even crafted paper ‘food’ for the handcrafted pooch.


“Doesn’t it sound childish?” Guan jokes. “Although we’re college students, we still have fun with this.”


college pet cardboard

Image courtesy of Guan Xiaotong


Over the past few weeks, multiple hashtags related to the cardboard pet craze have been popular on Chinese social media, with netizens sharing photos of their handmade cardboard creations. On China’s famous lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu, posts featuring cardboard dogs are a common fixture under the hashtag ‘college students in lockdown,’ which has received 390 million views.


college pet

Tutorials for making cardboard dogs. Screengrab via Xiaohongshu


Yang Zenan, who studies automation at a Guangzhou-based college, also recently created a homemade dog. Yang’s campus has been subjected to regular lockdowns for nearly three years.


“I’m not sure who started it, but one day we saw it was trending on Xiaohongshu and decided to give it a shot,” says Yang.


college pet

Screengrab via Xiaohongshu


In addition to dogs, some students are transforming boxes into cats, sheep, dinosaurs, and even cockroaches. As seen below, cartoon characters are also being recreated in cardboard, including Pochita from the hit anime Chainsaw Man and Dio from the Japanese manga series JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.


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Screengrab via Xiaohongshu


“There’s a saying in China: ‘It might be too childish for kids, but it’s perfect for adults,’” Guan laughs. “And that’s what we like about handcrafting cardboard dogs. We simply need [this distraction] during this tedious lockdown.”


Cover image designed by Haedi Yue