Residential community opens doors to lifelong learning for elderly in east China's Shandong

A senior learning center in the Futai Residential Community of Yantai City, in east China's Shandong Province, is bringing educational opportunities right to the doorsteps of elderly residents.

By offering convenient access to lifelong learning, the center is helping seniors embrace the digital age, gain new skills, enrich their lives, and contribute to the local "silver economy."

The community currently runs over 10 different courses, including pastry making, makeup, and sewing, with four classes offered each day. These courses were developed based on extensive surveys conducted by the community staff, who visited more than 1,600 elderly residents to better understand their interests and needs.

"We found out that many seniors have already met their material needs, and what they are looking for now is spiritual and cultural enrichment. They want to learn new skills and try many things," said Yang Fan, Communist Party secretary of the Futai Residential Community.

To meet this growing demand, the community converted a former meeting room into a multifunctional space known as the "Silver Age Education Garden." This welcoming hub integrates reading, teaching, and social interaction, and regularly hosts training sessions led by professional instructors.

One popular offering is the gong and drum class. For just 29.9 yuan (about 4 U.S. dollars), participants can attend three sessions and learn the basics of this traditional musical art. The course has drawn strong interest from seniors, including resident Yu Yongli.

For Yu, learning to play the gong and drum has brought not only joy but also unexpected income. In Yantai, gong and drum performances are a staple at weddings, business openings, and housewarming celebrations. During the May Day holiday season this year, Yu performed with her troupe and earned over 500 yuan (about 70 U.S. dollars) in extra income in just a few days.

"I originally joined just for fun, and it's great to get together with others. But being able to earn some money from it too -- it’s a great feeling," she said.

Through the "Silver Age Education Garden," seniors in the community are not only finding personal fulfillment but also discovering ways to supplement their income.

Residential community opens doors to lifelong learning for elderly in east China's Shandong

China's Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceship blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the country's northwest on Sunday, sending three astronauts to its orbiting space station.

The spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, lifted off from the launch site at 23:08 Beijing Time (15:08 GMT).

The crew members consist of mission commander Zhu Yangzhu, and fellow astronauts Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying, who is also the first astronaut from China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

In another notable first, one of the crew members is set to undertake a year-long stay aboard the space station, double the usual duration of previous Shenzhou missions.

After entering orbit, the Shenzhou-23 spaceship will perform a fast automated rendezvous and docking with the radial port of the space station core module Tianhe, forming a combination of three modules and three spacecraft.

Shenzhou-23 marks the 40th flight of China's manned spaceflight program and the seventh manned flight mission since the Tiangong space station entered its application and development phase in late 2022.

China launches Shenzhou-23 manned spaceship