A home where love and care are paramount

Other winning titles show elderly people's ageless love for beauty, differences in thoughts between the elderly and the young, the hobbies of aged people, the difficult moments in old people's home and so on.

Apart from the entries, the exhibition also presented some other works created by the residents at the elderly care center of Shangxi town.

A picture titled Sunflower and Hairy Crab was created by 86-year-old Gong Jincui, who has been living in the care center for three years due to hemiplegic paralysis and loves drawing. Another work called My Home was created by 88-year-old Chen Jinju, who has been living here for five years and taken the care center as her home.

"Typically, our center schedules several art classes each week led by dedicated social workers and organizes many interactive activities. Each month, the drawing class has a different theme to encourage the elderly to create their own art. For us, the focus is not on the beauty of the art, but on allowing the elderly to express their emotions. Each month, we select some of the artworks for a small exhibition," says Chen Zhiya, head of the care center.

Chen Zhiya, 35, graduated from Peking University with a doctor's degree in neuroscience in 2023. At the invitation of the government of her hometown Yiwu, she opened the old people's home in the city in early 2020 as the population in Yiwu was aging quickly in recent years with more than 21 percent of the residents aged 60 and above.