If you stand outside the famous Fragrant Hills Hotel at around 7 am, you will very likely see a group of old stepping carefully down from the bus that has brought them from downtown Beijing's Xuanwu District, as they do every day to climb in the hills. They are easy to spot with their identical red bags, even though the hills are the destination of many other old people out for their early morning exercise.

"We come from different walks of life. Most of us didn't known each other before we joined this daily climbing group,'' said 68-year-old Yao Liguo. Though grizzle-headed, this retired middle-school teacher still looks very strong. He revealed two rows of neat white teeth when he smiled.

So it was really hard to believe he had been diagnosed with bladder cancer three years ago.

"An ancient legend holds that a man can recover from any disease, if he climbs the Fragrant Hills a thousand days in a row. I do not believe such sayings, but what harm can it do me?'' said Yao.

Several of his old friends went with him when he joined the group. None of them expected his little venture would continue for three years, nor that the group would keep getting bigger and bigger.

"For most of us, the group is important not just because we want to climb Fragrant Hills together. We share many other things together, and support one another in our need,'' said 57-year-old Liang Yu, a retired civil servant. "I no longer feel lonely in my retirement.''

Liang has become one of the activity organizers in the group. For example, she has planned a special picnic for this year's Double Ninth Festival, a traditional Chinese festival falling on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month every year, which is held to honour the elderly. This year's Double Ninth fell on Friday.

On Thursday, Yuan Xinli, vice-president of the Chinese Association of Elderly People, bade festival greetings to the country's over 126 million people aged over 65, wishing them an even better life in the coming year.

"With the country marching steadily towards a comprehensively better-off "Xiaokang" society, the association will devote more strength to enhancing the spiritual life of the elderly,'' said Yuan.

"We encourage elderly people to participate more in upbeat and active group activities, which can help them fend off diseases and strengthen their mental well-being.''

Luckily not a few people have realized this. In addition to many self-started interest groups such as the one mentioned above, Yuan noted, the country's 1,700-odd elderly-people's universities, offer a wide variety of courses in such areas as painting, cooking and singing, and they have been attracting increasing numbers of participants.

It was also with the same end in mind that the association for the elderly organized the country's first State-level performing art group for elderly people earlier this year, whose premier showing was staged on September 28 in Beijing.

"The show attracted excellent elderly performers from dozens of spare-time elderly performing groups from across the country,'' said Yuan. "I think they convinced most of the audience that life can still be fulfilling in 'autumn' or even in 'winter'.''

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