Older female students show that age is simply a number

Every Wednesday, Liu Jie puts on golden earrings and high-heeled shoes and heads to a college in Beijing where she is learning to be a model, even though she is 61 years old.

In the 90-minute class, Liu confidently keeps her back straight and proudly takes catwalk steps, accompanied by pop music and guidance from the teacher.

She does not mind mentioning her age or discussing her 12-year battle with breast cancer.

"Compared with the time before I retired and got sick, I think I'm more beautiful now," she said. "Aging or sick women also have the right to pursue beauty."

In the class, offered by the College for Seniors at the Open University of China, Liu－a retired scientific researcher at a State-owned chemical enterprise－has 29 classmates. All of them are women, and the average age is 59.

Zhang Xiangyu, who is responsible for course management at the college, said the number of senior female students is higher than their male peers in many courses, and women are more enthusiastic about learning, especially in beauty-related classes.

For example, a makeup course offered by the college received more than 6,300 views when it was put online in May last year in the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic.

"A female student gave us video feedback saying she had signed up for the course and had followed the teacher's instructions about practicing putting on makeup at home," Zhang said.

In March, a similar makeup course was offered by a university for seniors in Xi'an, capital of the northwestern province of Shaanxi. It attracted many female students, the oldest of whom was over 70, according to a report in The Paper, a Shanghai news outlet, last month.

"Women can be beautiful at any age, and growing old doesn't mean that beauty disappears," said Zhang Huifang, a 68-year-old who teaches the modeling course in Beijing.

She added that looking good and dressing up has never been the monopoly of the young.

Good mood

Dressed in a black turtleneck sweater, flared denims and red nail polish, Zhang Huifang shared her ideas about choosing and matching clothes with the students of her own generation while helping to correct their moves after class.

"Elegant and modest clothing is suitable at our age, with neither too much jewelry nor too many colors. Hair must be neat and light makeup is acceptable," she said.

"I cannot bear gray hair and flats, so I always dye my hair and wear high-heeled shoes," said the 1.7-meter tall teacher, who has a trim figure.

"Those are my dressing habits and appearance requirements. Getting older is beyond my control, but I can allow myself to grow old gracefully."

Liu Juan, a retired government official who also attends the modeling course, agreed. "A beautiful day often starts with a good look," she said.

The 65-year-old usually ties her hair in a bun and wears a fashionable white jacket with a colorful scarf when she picks up her grandson from kindergarten.

"I feel confident and energetic that way," said Liu Juan, who came to Beijing from Harbin, Heilongjiang province, to look after her son's first child about a decade ago.

In her opinion, a pretty and elegant image can easily put a person in a good mood. "A woman who feels joyful all the time will always look younger than her age," she said.

Better self-esteem

After Liu Jie was diagnosed with cancer in 2009, she became depressed for about six months, not just because she lost her hair and looked pale as a result of chemotherapy, but also because she found that there were many beautiful things she wanted to do but hadn't.

"Before I got sick, I didn't think about myself too much; I was just following the usual steps like most people and had no idea what I wanted when I was working. But the illness made me suddenly realize that life is too short, so I have to pursue what I really like," she said.

After that, she began caring more about herself than her job and other trivial things, learning to embrace and accept herself by reading, singing and taking the modeling course.

"It's a way for me to become pretty and be myself," she said. "There is nothing more beautiful than being myself."

Xu Li also became her "better self" after learning folk dancing this year at Live In Journey, a Beijing company that provides educational and travel services for seniors.

"When I looked at myself in the mirror in class, it was as if I had met the teenage me, who had a dream of dancing," the 65-year-old said.

"Although I'm happy being someone's daughter, someone's wife and someone's mom, I don't want to lose myself. I have a great desire to be my own person."

Although she still has much housework to do－including looking after her mother, who has Alzheimer's disease, and her bedridden father-in-law－she has never been late for or missed a dancing class.

"Some women, no matter how old they get, never lose their beauty because they simply move it from their faces into their minds, staying young at heart and being uniquely themselves," she said.

Opportunities, progress

Xu praised China's rapidly developing, more inclusive society because it is giving older women more opportunities to pursue beauty and better lives.

Ma Lan, an administrator at Live In Journey, said, "It's a sign of social progress that women can choose what they like and do what they want as they get older, in addition to looking after children and housework."

That progress has not only come through economic growth "but also from women's improved self-awareness", she added.

Wen Shuyu, from the Open University of China, said the seniors' college is planning to provide older women with more targeted courses, such as those related to healthy diets and handicrafts.

"As a man, I have often been cheered by watching these energetic women and have even forgotten their age while watching them dance or taking catwalk steps," he said.

"They deserve more care and attention from society, and they're eager to be valued on their own terms. In the pursuit of beauty, every woman deserves to be respected, no matter how old she is."