Documentary series casts glow on growing old

Released on Dragon TV on June 11 and online video platforms like Tencent Video, airing every Tuesday, the series is produced by Shanghai Media Group's documentary center. Each episode lasts for about 50 minutes.

Nearly 30 million people were born in China in 1963, the most since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Last year, many of them retired, which was what first encouraged Fan's team to turn to them for clues as to how their generation will influence society.

Consisting of 30 members, most of whom were born after 1990, the team began the project in November 2022, recording nearly 20 stories of seniors in Shanghai over the following two years. As the oldest member of the team, 39-year-old Fan wanted to authentically convey the real lives of the elderly, a group rarely explored on-screen.

His hope is that seniors will now be seen and their experiences of getting old will encourage younger generations to rethink their lives, prompting intergenerational communication.

"Growing old is a natural process that cannot be described as good or bad. We cannot define aging, which may lead to prejudice and discrimination against older people who navigate this stage of life with wisdom and resilience," Fan says, adding that the older generation is like a mirror reflecting everyone else's tomorrow.