Gen-Z Chinese care home president shoots elders' videos to raise awareness

China officially entered an aging society in 2001. In 2017, there were more than 240 million elders who were over 60 years old. By 2050, the number is expected to rise to 490 million, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics.

As a result, more up-to-date elderly care homes will be needed to cater to the country's aging population. Fan Linshao is one of the influential Gen-Z Chinese youth who are taking an active part to bridge this "generation" gap.

The National Social Science Fund of China estimates that the market value of the elderly care sector in China could hit 2.5 trillion yuan (US$373.4 billion) in the next few years. So, it's not surprising to see some graduates wishing to join the industry while also seeing it as a meaningful cause.

But Fan is definitely someone who has much more experience in the field. At age 25, he is not only the president of four care homes in Xuchang City, central Henan Province, but also runs a Douyin, or the Chinese version of short-video platform TikTok, account of his residents doing skits. He has more than 2.2 million of followers.

For anyone who has spent some time on Douyin, it's highly likely that they have come across Fan's videos. Normally his videos see two grandmas in a care home just throwing words only China's Gen-Z would use at each other. The videos are shot almost always in the same format, sometimes bickering, sometimes reading prepared scripts that are not particularly funny, but well delivered.

The actors and actresses are actually residents of one of Fan's care homes. Seeing that some of the elders in his city couldn't afford his care home's monthly rate, Fan decided to start a new care home that can house 50 residents free of charge.

Fan's account name is Lin Shao, Lin is forest, part of his name, while Shao means to burn. Doing charity work is to burn most of your energy, especially taking care of the old, to lighten other's lives, that's why I chose that name, he said.

How did he get started in the care home business?

With a clear goal in mind to open his own care home, Fan did internship at his father's care home while still at college, majoring in media and broadcasting.

He got his chance when a 5,000-square-meter care home affiliated to a local community solicited bids a few years ago. With financial support from his father, Fan jumped at the opportunity. Still, he had to learn everything from designing, decoration, and management while taking courses in gerontology and psychology to become a qualified care home president.

Dilemmas young people face when they wish to join the elderly care home industry.

The same tailored caring method has been applied to every home that Fan subsequently ran. Soon Fan found out that he was short-staffed. Eager to have more young people join his team, Fan faced a dilemma: today's youngsters were not so keen on joining the care home industry and the usual pay package was not high or attractive enough.

Around 90 percent of graduates from elderly service-related majors change their career when choosing jobs, despite a 95 percent employment rate among elderly care service majors across China, according to data released at a forum held by Shanghai University Of Engineering Science this year. The university was also the first in China to introduce an undergraduate major in elderly care service and management in 2020.

In 2020, vocational schools across 20 Chinese provinces only took in about 1,000 students in elderly care majors, so there was huge gap that needed to be filled. Fan saw social media as a good starting point to raise awareness.

What are old people's worries when they have to decide whether to go to a care home or not?

Many elders in China hold the belief that it is still their children's duty to care for them. And if their child was to send them to a home then they are not fulfilling their filial duty. In addition, many young people would stop their parents from living in a care home, even if the latter wished to, for fear that their neighbors, and society in general, would think badly of them.

Fan hopes that his videos can help people know about the real experience of living in an elderly care home. They can show the amicable environment at care homes and how nice the residents feel.

Maybe after seeing the videos, people won't be so afraid of going to care homes when they grow old, he reasoned.

Where do you see your care homes going?

Currently, Fan is planning to add more features to one of his care homes, like for instance E-sports. He intends to recruit a group of interested elders to play video games such as Teamfight Tactics, a variant game of League of Legends but not as competitive.

He has already lured three male elders who wish to give it a try. It's not impossible that after a period of training they will sign up for E-sports events as amateurs.

Also, Fan is planning to set up multiple social media accounts that will revolve around old couples' daily anecdotes and on elders who wish to share their life's passion such as cars.

How would you ideally like to be taken care of in your last remaining days?

Fan has always had this vision of spending his last remaining days on earth with his friends in a small house or at a facility, where there are cooks and caretakers. They can go anywhere they feel like. Fan finds the idea of spending his last days with people who are not blood relations but are still with each other as pretty beautiful. In doing so, they don't have to burden their children, allowing them to live their own lives.