Shanghai Grandpas and Aunties Take the Stage at an International Film Festival with AI Videos, as AI Trend Courses in Senior Education Gain Popularity

On the morning of November 2, beside the main stage at the Shanghai Exhibition Center, Fang Zigen, a Shanghai uncle in his seventies, and Chen Dongxia, a Shanghai auntie past fifty, ran into each other unexpectedly, both carrying the same style of eco-friendly tote bag, and together they began browsing the Shanghai Senior Learning Course Exhibition. Just a week earlier, the AI videos the two had created by traversing history were not only selected for the Hong Kong Bauhinia International Film Festival and the Hong Kong International Short Film Festival, but also unexpectedly picked up multiple best awards. Interestingly, when they went up on stage in Hong Kong to receive their awards, both were carrying this eco-friendly tote bag bearing the logo of Shanghai Open University. And the AI-related short video courses they studied are also being showcased at the Second Shanghai Senior Learning Course Exhibition, which opened today. This year's course exhibition, themed "Learning Without Boundaries, Age Without Limits," presents more than 500 outstanding courses in senior education, enabling more senior friends to pursue lifelong learning and fulfill new dreams in life. Among them, the first batch of 20 Shanghai Municipal Premium Courses in Senior Education was released in a concentrated manner, ranging from "Introduction to Silver-Haired Self-Media" to "Learn to Use AI to Write Life Stories," and from "AI Fretless Guitar Pop Singing" to "National Treasure Intangible Cultural Heritage · AI Creative Handcrafts," with AI trend courses accounting for as much as about 40 percent. In addition, the concurrently launched course "AI Literacy 100 Points" (Senior Edition) has been greatly welcomed by seniors. Fang Zigen and Chen Dongxia, carrying cloth bags, reunite as old friends. Photo by Xu Ruizhe [Learning to make videos with AI is actually not hard] "At the award ceremony, when I heard my name, my mouth turned like this, and my chin wouldn't go back." At the exhibition, Chen Dongxia reenacted for reporters the "meme face" she made when receiving her award. The two award winners are not professionally trained; like most people, they are AI beginners. Before retirement, Fang Zigen had an art foundation in graphic design and is also a photography enthusiast; Chen Dongxia worked in accounting for a long time and more than a decade ago tried using a compact camera to shoot MV videos. Fang Zigen, a current student in the Chinese Language and Literature program at Shanghai Open University, and Chen Dongxia, a junior college student in Visual Communication Design and Performing Arts and an AI painting student at Shanghai Senior University, were both students in the fourth cohort of the school's AI short drama creation class. The works they entered this year appeared simultaneously on the final list of the Hong Kong Bauhinia International Film Festival and the nomination list of the Hong Kong International Short Film Festival. As a result, Fang Zigen's "Zheng Chenggong Recovers Taiwan" won the Best AI Short Film Award at the Hong Kong International Short Film Festival, and Chen Dongxia's "Full Moon Night in Chang'an" won the Best Art Award; at the Hong Kong Bauhinia International Film Festival, Fang Zigen took the Outstanding Short Film Award, while Chen Dongxia received nominations for Best Art Film and AI Short Film. "At the time I wasn't wearing a school badge, so I thought about how to show off the results of my studies at school, and I happened to notice that the eco-friendly cloth bag beside me had the school's name printed on it," so Chen Dongxia and Fang Zigen hit it off immediately: both carried cloth bags onto the award stage. She revealed with a smile that her earlier work "Butterfly Lovers Rhapsody," created through a mix of live-action and AI, had also won a national award, and that her work in progress, "Pear Blossoms Bloom Again," was still being repeatedly polished under the guidance of several teachers from the school's School of Humanities and Public Administration in design, photography, vocal music, and other fields. The team checks in at the course exhibition. Photo by Xu Ruizhe "Making videos with AI is actually not hard. With a good script and a sense of aesthetics, it's really quite easy to get started," Fang Zigen, still carrying that cloth bag, admitted frankly to reporters. It is worth mentioning that these two "top students" both participated in the editing and production of parts of the short video course "AI Literacy 100 Points" released at this course exhibition, helping more middle-aged and older people master practical AI skills from zero foundation. This series of courses was jointly created by Shanghai Open University and Shanghai Education Television Station, targeting the senior group aged 55 to 75, and building a course system of 100 episodes across seven major sections including basic cognition, everyday tools, life scenarios, health and wellness, family emotions, anti-fraud safety, and intelligent connection of all things. Each episode is about 5 minutes long, focuses on only one problem in a real-life scenario, and innovatively uses AI video generation technology. Livestreaming the exhibition entrance. Photo by Xu Ruizhe [Accomplishing what they wanted to do when young but didn't] Data shows that in recent years the demand for AI learning among Shanghai citizens has continued to rise, with 69.6% of surveyed seniors willing to participate in AI learning and 93.07% of surveyed teachers willing to participate in AI training. Not only are the first batch of Shanghai Municipal Premium Courses in Senior Education popular, but the artificial intelligence special training launched for the first time by the Shanghai Craftsman College was packed on site, and AI courses at Shanghai Senior University and the Citizen Night School have also become popular choices among exhibition visitors. Online, nearly a thousand AI-related digital learning resources have covered the community education networks of 16 districts. In the East Hall of the Shanghai Exhibition Center, an intelligent band made up of senior friends took the stage, with sound and color in full display, surrounded by the phone cameras of those trying it out. One of the "most popular" features of the previous course exhibition, "AI Fretless Guitar Pop Singing," was selected among the first batch of 20 premium courses and continues to develop more AI-assisted learning instruments, such as an electronic wind instrument that can simulate the timbres of more than 100 Chinese and foreign instruments, from the flute and hulusi to the saxophone. Performance by the electronic wind instrument band. Photo by Xu Ruizhe A 10-member wind instrument band that came from afar from Jinshan District Senior University brought several ensemble pieces including "Iron-Blooded Loyal Heart." Auntie Ren, 62, known online as "Ren Kaixin," signed up for classes in photography and recitation upon retirement and also learned the electronic wind instrument from zero foundation. "I've only studied for more than a year, one class a week, and the key is practicing regularly," Auntie Ren told reporters, saying she can skillfully play about 10 pieces. Thanks to AI assistance, she can even use the electronic wind instrument to imitate Chinese instruments such as the erhu. It can be said that even without childhood training, AI can keep the rhythm. Cheng Hao, teaching supervisor of the Art Management Department at Zhiyin Culture, the course developer, told the Jiefang Daily·Shangguang News reporter that this type of intelligent instrument allows seniors to easily experience singing while playing, learn one piece per class, and hold a personal concert in one semester. In the shared classroom on site, the senior students of the stringless guitar and the electronic wind instrument quickly teamed up successfully and became an "intelligent band." With AI, these old friends have accomplished things they wanted to do when they were young but never did. Stringless guitar singing and playing. Photo by Xu Ruizhe. In other premium AI-focused course experiences, "Learn to Use AI to Write Life Stories" helps seniors preserve family memories and record urban changes; "AI Helps You Talk About Shanghai in English" relies on intelligent tools to teach seniors to tell the story of Shanghai-style culture in English; and "National Treasure Intangible Cultural Heritage · AI Creative Handmade" integrates traditional appreciation with AI creation, has obtained authorization from the Shanghai Museum, and will later go into museums and art galleries to carry out teaching. Relying on the "Silver-Haired Digital Smart Home" special action for improving digital literacy and skills, Shanghai Open University for the Elderly adopts a dual-track training model of "systematic learning in long courses and practical use in short courses," and has also launched the compilation of an AI general education "pocket book." As of October this year, a total of 163 related training sessions have been carried out, covering nearly 1.32 million person-times online and offline. Dressed up for the occasion. Photo by Xu Ruizhe. [Classic "handmade" courses are still popular] At the Shanghai Open University for the Elderly exhibition area located at the main entrance, Hu Hongrui, nearly 70 years old and deputy head of the university's "Silver-Haired Lecture Team," wore a vest and served as a guide volunteer this time. The school specially set up a course consultation desk here, as well as a pre-registration area for some courses in the spring of 2027. Elderly visitors crowded around, making on-site inquiries and reserving registrations. Stacks of promotional pages for premium courses needed to be "restocked" after a short while, directly turning interest in the exhibition into enrollment in classes. Before retiring, Hu Hongrui was engaged in informatization work at a Shanghai port department, but he prefers the more traditional courses of "qin, qi, shu, hua" (music, chess, calligraphy, and painting). He has persisted for many years in attending a classical poetry creation class, and his regulated verse and ci poems have been published many times. Recently, on the occasion of commemorating the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March, he wrote three ci poems in one go: "Li Ting Yan · Seeing Off the Red Army," "Man Jiang Hong · Praise of the Four Crossings of the Chishui River," and "Yu Jia Ao · Breaking Through Lazikou." He said confidently, "I have also tried using AI to write poetry. It is okay at writing jueju and lüshi, but when it comes to creating long and short lines according to ci patterns, its level is still not enough." In the vegetable garden and flower garden. Photo by Xu Ruizhe. Indeed, many classic "handmade" courses that AI cannot replace are still popular. On the central stage of the exhibition hall, Ma Kun, a member of the course development team from the Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, was giving a roadshow for one of the 20 premium courses, "When the Vegetable Garden Meets the Flower Garden: Planting and Magical Uses of Ornamental-Edible Plants." At the corresponding booth outside the stage, dozens of potted plants—potted peppers, nasturtium, mint, potted cherry tomatoes, lemon grass, chives, ice plant, arugula, stevia, and others—formed a "mini pocket park." These fruit and vegetable varieties that are both edible and ornamental are taught in the form of "one dish per lesson," full of different "colors, aromas, and tastes." The "one district, one specialty" characteristic courses are also being newly launched simultaneously. The Xuhui District Open University for the Elderly brought traditional handmade experiences such as knotting, flower arranging, and tea art; the Huangpu District Open University for the Elderly offered courses such as African drums, crochet knitting, and cloisonné enamel; the Jiading District Open University for the Elderly exhibited the intangible cultural heritage course "Creative Printmaking"; the Jing'an District Open University for the Elderly brought a new drum circle healing experience; and the Fengxian District Open University for the Elderly presented local intangible cultural heritage courses such as rolling lantern dance and Nanqiao paper tearing... Teaching ornamental-edible plants. Photo by Xu Ruizhe. The course exhibition lasts for three days, but online it "never ends." That day, the upgraded "One Net Learning 2.0" platform went online, and the online exhibition activity of the Shanghai Lifelong Learning Course Exhibition was launched simultaneously on the platform. With the theme "Shanghai Has Courses, Learning Without Boundaries," the concentrated exhibition period runs from November 2 to December 31. After a year of development, "One Net Learning" has gathered more than 10,000 high-quality learning resources in 10 major categories and 45 secondary categories, connected with the Shanghai Lifelong Education Credit Bank, and has more than 300,000 registered users. According to the "Three-Year Action Plan for the High-Quality Development of Shanghai's Elderly Education (2025-2027)," the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission has entrusted the Shanghai Open University for the Elderly to take the lead in advancing it, planning to develop 20 municipal-level premium elderly education courses each year, continuously expand the effective supply of high-quality elderly learning resources in Shanghai, and roll them out at both the municipal and district levels. "Good courses," "fun courses," "golden courses," and "new courses"—all courses adhere to public welfare, inclusiveness, and openness, using a "course gift package" that can be seen, learned, and experienced, so that older people can understand it, be willing to learn, and find it useful.