‘Hello Granny!’ Elderly video stars shake up social media in China

Senior citizens are breaking stereotypes and winning millions of likes on Chinese Internet platforms. Their humour and energy is delighting the online generation which has largely dismissed older people as dull until now. — SCMP

In the first half of last year, Tan Zhouhai was a frustrated villager in the central Chinese province of Hunan, shooting short videos of his rural life and uploading them to the Internet to attract potential customers for local agricultural products.

Tan was used to his videos receiving dozens, sometimes a few hundred, likes from his audience on Chinese social media. That changed when he uploaded a video of his 83-year-old grandfather dancing along to a popular song called Little Apple gained 10,000 likes.