Bridging the Digital Divide: How 'Qing Jiankang 5060' Empowers China's Aging Population with Internet Innovation

On December 22, 2015, we participated in the Amazon AWS startup competition in Chongqing, where our project, “Light Health 5060,” secured third place in the early-stage category. I was not satisfied with this outcome. Perhaps my on-site pitch lacked impact, but it also felt that the audience was not particularly interested in the very idea of leveraging the internet to serve middle-aged and elderly individuals. Therefore, I wrote this article to share our observations, reflections, and practical experiences. I hope more capable individuals will step up to do something for this demographic—even if it means becoming our competitors.

1. Having a sense of mission is certainly the right thing to do.

China has the largest elderly population in the world, and the pace of population aging is still accelerating. The number of people aged 60 and above in China has exceeded 200 million. By 2020, the population aged 50–75 will surpass 400 million.

http://populationpyramid.net/

Mobile internet has permeated every aspect of our lives; why can’t we leverage it to create value for the elderly population?

Some have questioned us: “Do you really think middle-aged and elderly people will use smartphones? Will they use the mobile internet?”

The premise of this question is fundamentally flawed. When you were too young to even use a spoon, your parents did not disdain you for it. The fact that middle-aged and elderly individuals cannot enjoy the richness and convenience of the internet as young people do is not their fault; rather, it is because we have failed to develop user-friendly products for them, or indeed, to design products with them in mind at all.

The app stores are brimming with social networking apps designed for college students, yet there are few mobile internet products tailored to middle-aged and elderly users. The handful of scattered websites and outdated forums for this demographic instantly evoke the feeling of returning to the Web 1.0 era.

In the United States, Facebook’s user base is also aging. More than half of individuals aged 50 and older are loyal Facebook users. As younger generations increasingly shift to other social media platforms, the number of users aged 65 and older who prefer Facebook continues to grow.

http://www.pewresearch.org/

We firmly believe that leveraging mobile internet to serve the middle-aged and elderly can help address some of the challenges posed by China’s aging population. This is both a matter of conviction and the right thing to do.

2. It is also correct to base business on demand

Entrepreneurship must not be clouded by passion and idealism; it is, at its core, always a business. And business begins with meeting needs.

2.1. Psychological Needs: Loneliness Among the Middle-Aged and Elderly Population

Do you still remember the song “Visit Home Often”? In the “4-2-1” family structure, our parents are mostly lonely. Their children may be striving for success in other cities, returning home only occasionally during holidays and festivals. Even if they live in the same city, they may meet only a few times a month, or even speak on the phone just a handful of times. As the old saying goes, “One generation repays the previous one.” When children form new families and have their own kids, they tend to pay even less attention to their parents.

In the film *Mr. Six*, there is a line that goes, “Once you’re over 50, you are unceremoniously categorized by society as middle-aged or elderly.” After the age of 50, time seems to pass more quickly. This is especially true after retirement, when individuals no longer fulfill their functional roles in society, intensifying the sense of loneliness associated with being left behind by the times. It is not only former leaders and high-ranking officials who experience a sense of loss from no longer being surrounded by entourage and adulation; even ordinary citizens receiving pensions will, while enjoying a drink and playing cards, remark, “Back in the day…”

2.2. Transactional Demand: The Post-1950s and 1960s Cohorts Are the Strongest Drivers of the Silver Economy

The transactional needs of middle-aged and elderly individuals can also be broadly categorized into five types:
a. Ordinary consumer goods (electronic products, daily necessities such as vegetables, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea)
b. Companion Products (Health Supplements, Organic Products)
c. Systemic Products (Elderly Care, Healthcare)
d. Financial Wealth Management (Stocks, Funds, Insurance)
e. Asset Management (Real Estate, Investment Immigration)

The hallmark of China’s full entry into a new era of an aging society is not merely a shift in demographic structure. A more significant indicator is that the cohorts born in the 1950s and 1960s are entering middle and old age, which will profoundly reshape China’s consumption patterns.

As the main force behind China’s 30 years of reform and opening-up, the post-1950s and post-1960s generations possess both the capacity to create wealth and the power to distribute it. They will enter an aging society with entirely new consumption concepts, understanding that treating themselves well is the most important aspect of life. The post-1950s and post-1960s cohorts will become the primary consumer group, following successful professionals and the middle class.

But today, from iPhones to soy sauce, very few of these products—from market research to advertising copy—are designed with middle-aged and elderly consumers in mind.

Chinese manufacturers will soon adjust their production to create products tailored to middle-aged and elderly consumers. When young people are too preoccupied to even buy soy sauce for their households, it is the middle-aged and elderly who decide which brand to purchase. Therefore, it is rather misguided for businesses to target their advertising at younger demographics.

Even if you still do not consider this a new wave of demographic dividend, we should still do something for our parents and the middle-aged and elderly population through the internet.

3. The TIMING for Middle-Aged and Elderly Internet Use Has Arrived

In 2011, I had not yet graduated from college and was not using a smartphone. At that time, someone launched an internet product for middle-aged and elderly users called “Parents’ Home.” The platform has since closed new registrations, and its founder described it as “a complete failure.” Readers can search for the article “A Tech Entrepreneur’s Painful Lessons” on WeChat to review the founder’s own analysis of the reasons for its failure.

I believe the first reason for the failure of “Mom and Dad’s Home” was TIMING.

But now, TIMING has arrived. Large companies have completed 70% of market education, and the threshold for middle-aged and elderly people to use the Internet is becoming lower and lower.

In August 2011, the Xiaomi Phone 1 was released at a price of 1,999 yuan.
In March 2012, the number of registered WeChat users surpassed the 100 million mark.
March 2014, Redmi Note launched, 799
In June 2015, WeChat had 549 million monthly active users, including 12.6 million monthly active users aged 50 and above.
November 2015: Redmi Note 3 went on sale for ¥899, featuring an all-metal body, fingerprint recognition, a large display, and a 13-megapixel camera.

3.1. Hardware Timing, Thanks to Xiaomi Phones

To engage middle-aged and elderly users with mobile internet, the first step is to provide them with user-friendly mobile devices. Inspired by MIUI, I developed a tablet computer tailored for seniors in 2014.

We developed our own desktop launcher and contracted an OEM to manufacture the hardware. The project ultimately failed, giving me a taste of the anxiety Luo Yonghao must have felt with his repeated delays. Our sales were exceptionally successful, but closing the deal was only the beginning; for middle-aged and elderly users, product quality and after-sales service are paramount.

The MediaTek (MTK) chipsets used in the tablets barely supported calling functionality, but the call quality was extremely poor. The hardware supply chain is fraught with hidden pitfalls; although we compared multiple suppliers, we still ended up partnering with an unreliable contract manufacturer, Chuwi. Some units experienced battery swelling. My intuition told me this was not an isolated incident, so I immediately recalled all sold units. As expected, a large number of devices subsequently exhibited battery issues, including failure to charge, standby times of less than one hour, and battery swelling that damaged the screens.

We can absorb financial losses, but we must never break the trust of our users, let alone cause them harm. Treat others’ elders as you would your own. If our parents’ smartphones experienced battery swelling or even explosion, we ourselves would find it utterly unacceptable and would be furious enough to take action.

The meteoric rise of Xiaomi has driven down the prices of domestically produced smartphones while significantly improving their usability. However, MIUI’s increasing adoption of Apple-style flat design is not particularly user-friendly for middle-aged and elderly users. I understand that this was not Lao Luo’s intention, but Smartisan’s design and user experience are genuinely well-suited for this demographic.

Given that domestically produced budget smartphones priced around 1,000 yuan are already so user-friendly, it no longer makes sense for us to continue developing smartphones or tablets. At this point, I have completely abandoned plans to create a desktop interface tailored for middle-aged and elderly users and to engage contract manufacturers for hardware production.

For a long time, the marketing positioning of domestically produced smartphones has focused on young people. Smartisan’s remote assistance demonstration appears to be the first time that middle-aged and elderly users have been put in the spotlight. The mobile internet industry has paid scant attention to this demographic. It is hoped that more smartphone manufacturers will cater to their needs, rather than simply offering a “minimalist mode.”

MIUI 7 took three years to design and optimize its large-font UI. However, the lack of enthusiastic applause at the launch event indicated that the audience failed to grasp just how impressive this achievement was. Only those who have done such work understand that creating an exceptional product experience often relies not on flashes of inspiration or creativity, but on the painstaking, unglamorous effort of reinventing the wheel.

3.2. Software TIMING, thanks WeChat

Do you still remember Minesweeper and Solitaire?

These two mini-games taught me the basic mouse operations and familiarized me with the interaction logic of Windows when I was in the third grade of elementary school.

WeChat, the ubiquitous national app, serves the same role that Minesweeper and Solitaire once did: familiarizing middle-aged and elderly users with smartphone interaction logic and helping them understand what the mobile internet is.

Do your parents and elders share motivational quotes and traditional Chinese medicine wellness tips on WeChat Moments in the early hours of the morning?
Are your parents and elders scrambling for red packets in WeChat groups every day?
Do your parents and elders like these quirky expressions?

If your answer is no or you are unsure, I believe you should pay more attention to your parents and help them experience the excitement and convenience of the mobile internet.

I took the National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao) in 2007. From 2005 to 2009, there were a total of 98.14 million Gaokao candidates over those five years. Therefore, we made a reasonable inference: at least 100 million parents of college students have the means to use smartphones.

Potential for at least 10x Growth in the Next 1–3 Years

Our parents and elders often struggle to distinguish between true and false information; yet, whenever they believe something is beneficial to us, they promptly forward it with earnest exhortations that we must read it.

We humans call this behavior “love.”

4. What Kind of Internet Products Do Middle-Aged and Elderly People Need?

Middle-aged and elderly individuals will not limit themselves to using only WeChat throughout their lives, just as it is inconceivable for us to spend our entire lives playing Minesweeper and Solitaire exclusively on Windows. Compared to smart hardware, there is a severe shortage of software tailored to the needs of middle-aged and older adults. Both in terms of functionality and content, as well as in UI and UX design principles, appropriate standards are largely absent.

I understand the hard work behind MIUI's Large Font project, as I have also designed dozens of UI versions for Qing Jiankang 5060.

“Parents’ Home” failed for a second reason: its strategic direction, which was positioned around sharing photos with family members. Through our long-term engagement with the middle-aged and elderly population, we have identified the top three most popular applications and categories:
a. WeChat
b. Information (stock watching, news reading, inspirational content, wellness tips)
c. Video platforms (LeTV, Youku, and 56.com are highly popular among dance enthusiasts)

Those born in the 1950s and 1960s share distinct generational memories and homogeneous sociocultural needs, such as the Down to the Countryside Movement for educated youth, and the waves of entrepreneurial ventures and layoffs during the Reform and Opening-up era.

Among their spiritual needs, there is a strong sense of organizational belonging. This emotion itself is a basic necessity; they enjoy collective activities. Hence, various offline interest-based communities have emerged, such as the widely known square dancing.

Compared to fast-paced social platforms like WeChat and QQ, middle-aged and elderly users are better served by slow-social platforms such as Bilibili, Tieba, or Douban Groups. These platforms connect peers with shared interests and facilitate the accumulation of both personal and collective content.

However, WeChat and QQ will not adapt to middle-aged and elderly users, as these products were never designed for this demographic from the outset. Nor is it feasible to encourage middle-aged and elderly individuals to use Baidu Tieba, since its content moderators frequently promote sensationalist posts such as “My Family Was Poor When I Was Young; My Sister Became a Sex Worker to Fund My Education.”

Bilibili is a vertical social network for ACG (Anime, Comic, and Games) enthusiasts, breaking down the walls between dimensions. When Li Yuchun performed “Ordinary Disco” at the New Year’s Eve gala, it was undoubtedly a victory of the 2D world over the 3D world; hearing Jin Kela on the Spring Festival Gala is just around the corner.

Middle-aged and elderly populations also need their own vertical social networks, which will bring enormous economic and social value to China and the world.

5. The “Nation’s Son-in-Law” Spirit and Light Health for the 50–60 Age Group

We cannot become our parents’ children again, but we can serve our users and build products for them with the same devotion one might show to win over a mother-in-law. This is our internet-era interpretation of the Confucian ideal of “honoring one’s own elders and extending that respect to the elders of others,” and it embodies our spirit of being the “nation’s ideal son-in-law.”

We are not selling products to our users; rather, we are selecting the products they need on behalf of our own parents. Our simplest wish for our parents is that they enjoy good health and a youthful spirit. Hence, we have named our product “Qing Jiankang 5060” (Light Health 5060).

5.1. A Healthy Body



Leveraging my research experience at PICB, I developed an intelligent meal-planning algorithm that simulates a dietitian’s approach to designing dietary regimens for chronic disease management based on individual health needs. Those with backgrounds in biology and medicine are well acquainted with DXY (Dingxiang Yuan). Therefore, our external links for health education targeting middle-aged and older adults are sourced from DXY Doctor. Embracing the spirit of the sharing economy, we have established a counterfeit-product database to help drive out inferior offerings and promote high-quality alternatives.

I believe that in the era of the internet-based general health industry, where diabetes management apps are mass-produced, the most critical task is to help users make informed decisions and select the products and services best suited to their needs from a vast array of options. In the future, we will leverage the power of systems and data, collaborate with high-quality third-party service providers and content creators, and employ computational intelligence to design personalized health management plans. Meanwhile, we will integrate community pharmacies and hospitals to deliver community-level health management services.

5.2. A Young and Joyful Heart

This is currently our core business segment. Since designing the genetic testing-based chronic disease management system in 2013, I have been working extensively with the middle-aged and elderly population. I have found that, compared to health, happiness is their primary need. For instance, some may take an extra antihypertensive pill before going out so they can enjoy a few more drinks with old friends in the evening.

Over the past six months, we have been closely engaged with amateur art troupes composed of middle-aged and elderly enthusiasts who are passionate about singing and dancing, participating in their events and meetings. Their desire to perform on stage is particularly intense. In addition to their regular rehearsals, they conduct one final run-through shortly before going on stage, demonstrating exceptional dedication. Their on-stage performances are outstanding, comparable to, or even surpassing, the quality of variety galas typically seen on television. After the performances, they burn the footage onto DVDs as keepsakes for themselves and as gifts for others.

The physical stage is always constrained by time and space, and CDs cannot receive likes or be shared on social media feeds. The Internet, however, is a stage that never closes.

On Qingjiankang 5060, teams and individuals can build their own online stages. By uploading performance videos, calligraphy and painting works, as well as articles and poems via mobile phones, they can share them with friends and family at any time, receiving accolades and gaining followers. It is a joyful experience.

On the Qingjiankang 5060 platform, users can discover local interest-based groups aligned with their hobbies and connect with peers to engage in shared activities, which is a truly enjoyable experience.

Happiness means finding joy and purpose in old age.

We have effectively bridged the gap between middle-aged and older adults and the internet; helped them connect with peers who share similar interests, thereby alleviating their sense of loneliness; and provided platforms and organized activities to help them discover and realize new personal value.

We make them happy and health.

“I used to think the internet was far removed from our lives, but now I realize it’s within easy reach. Thank you, Qing Jiankang 5060 platform.”
——Chongqing · Teacher Yu Shiyi

6. I have a great idea, and a programmer

Fearless Before 30, No Regrets After 30. I Have Been an Entrepreneur Full-Time for a Year, Exploring the Possibilities of Myself and This World.

I believe in the potential of mobile internet to address China’s aging population challenge, and I am confident that technological innovation combined with humanistic values can build a new model of an aging society that is healthy, joyful, and intelligent.

So, in the absence of programmers, I wrote code myself, despite being a biology major. And when funds were tight, I still turned down an offer to head a business unit at a publicly listed company.

Unfortunately, I was born in 1988, so I can’t slap on the “post-90s” label and brag about it everywhere. Unfortunately, I’m not a product of the BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) ecosystem either, so I don’t have that many connections or resources.

Then, we forge ahead with perseverance on a steady path, continuously reflecting and practicing. Only in this way can we become more reliable and earn the support of more people.

We aim to collaborate with leading internet-branded smartphone manufacturers to launch a campaign that provides smartphones to parents.

We aim to attract more talented young individuals to join the Qingjiankang National Son-in-Law Team.

We aim to engage with more investment institutions and investors to secure capital support.

We hope that one day, on Qingjiankang 5060, foreign elderly women can watch Chinese elderly women performing square dancing, and Chinese elderly men can watch their foreign counterparts working out.

We hope that one day, young people will be able to help unfamiliar middle-aged and elderly individuals resolve life’s challenges on the Light Health 5060 platform, just as other young people assist their own parents.

This article is published on VCBeat with authorization from the author, t.t. The views expressed are solely those of the author and do not represent the position of VCBeat.

t.t, CEO of Nezha Technology and founder of Light Health 5060, WeChat ID: TinWeixin.