Meet China’s elderly influencers cashing in on the Internet

Ruan recording a short video for her channel on video-sharing apps Kuaishou and Douyin – China’s version of TikTok – in a park in Beijing. China is getting old fast and Beijing is faced with the monumental challenge of how to provide for tens of millions of retirees, but it has also opened opportunities for those who are financially comfortable in their dotage and able to harness the commercial possibilities of technology. — AFP

BEIJING: Exquisitely garbed in a traditional cheongsam dress, 76-year-old Sang Xiuzhu is one of an unlikely vanguard of elderly influencers storming Chinese social media with videos of glamour in the golden years.

Two years ago she joined the “Fashion Grandmas”, whose one-minute clips and livestreams of them turning Beijing’s streets into a catwalk are devoured by millions of fans.