Grandmothers spark memories with childhood ballads

Seven female residents from age 60 to 71 in Loudi, Hunan province, have gained fame by sharing their childhood ballads online. One of their videos was viewed more than 500,000 times and won over 8,000 likes.

Speaking in their dialect, the grandmothers from rural Jizhai village in Xinhua county, sang songs and told jokes and funny stories that had been handed down to them.

Many viewers could not understand their dialect but were moved as they recalled their childhoods.

"Thank you. It's like my grandmother at my side, shaking the fan, singing this song to coax me to sleep," a netizen wrote.

Zou Bo, the person who made the videos, is the son of one of the seven women. In late August, they registered on short video-sharing platforms as "the countryside grandmothers".

"Every episode of the video is planned by the grandmothers," Zou said. "Sometimes, we need to film it many times. But they really enjoy it," he said.