Recently, the Donation Ceremony for the “Huiling Seniors’ Culture Hub” project in Tianjin was held at the Beichen Experimental School of Tianjin Normal University, which was supported by the Open University of China (OUC) Education Foundation.
The event was attended by OUC Vice President ZHOU Tianming; WANG Qin, Deputy Director of the Department of Continuing Education at the Tianjin Municipal Education Commission; DU Changyou, President of Tianjin Open University; and WANG Jingjiang, Deputy Director of the Beichen District Education Bureau of Tianjin. More than 70 participants, including officials from the OUC Education Foundation and Publishing & Media Group, representatives from 20 planned Huiling Seniors’ Culture Hub sites, and media representatives, took part in the ceremony.
ZHOU Tianming and DU Changyou jointly unveiled the plaque for the Hub project’s Tianjin cooperative construction unit, Tianjin Open University. WANG Qin, ZHENG Jie (Secretary-General of the OUC Education Foundation), FENG Liguo (Chairman of the Board of the OUC Publishing & Media Group), and LIU Zhanrong (Chief Editor of the OUC Publishing & Media Group) presented plaques to the 20 Hub sites. This event marks the official launch of the “Huiling Seniors’ Culture Hub” project, a public welfare initiative combining “education + elderly care,” in Tianjin.
In his address, ZHOU Tianming highlighted that the “Huiling Seniors’ Culture Hub” project, using community spaces to help the elderly “find purpose and learning in retirement” through cultural engagement, intergenerational learning, and government-community collaboration. He expressed his hope that the 20 Huiling Hubs will become a model for Tianjin, creating a “spiritual home” for the home-based elderly population and injecting new momentum into high-quality livelihood development through education.
DU Changyou stated that, Tianjin Open University, as one of the cooperative construction units, will ensure the sustainable operation of the 20 Huiling Seniors’ Culture Hub sites through standardised construction, local curriculum development, and the establishment of a three-tier service network. The university aims to provide a “happy classroom at the doorstep” for Tianjin residents, empower the elderly, and promote children’s growth and family harmony, infusing new vitality into the lifelong education cause.
WANG Jingjiang said that the Beichen District Education Bureau of Tianjin will fully advance the construction of the “Huiling Seniors’ Culture Hub” project, integrate resources to create a smart elderly education platform, and contribute to building an all-age-friendly urban district. Through university-district collaboration, the gap in community educational resources will be filled through developing distinctive courses and innovative activities, with the goal of building a “neighbourhood learning paradise”. He also highlighted strengthening organisational support and collaborative education mechanisms among schools, families, and communities. This will promote the deep integration of elderly education, community education, and lifelong learning, contributing Beichen’s strength to the construction of a learning society.
Attendees experienced Huiling educational games at the event. A 68-year-old participant, after completing a challenge, remarked, “these educational and entertaining activities let us feel the joy of learning in our later life”.
The “Huiling Seniors’ Culture Hub” project, which constructs physical spaces integrating learning guidance, reading activities, and interactive games, organises diverse activities to meet the needs of the elderly population. It aims to promote lifelong learning, intergenerational exchange, and cultural heritage. The project will deepen the model of “public welfare as a platform, education empowerment, and technology support”. Through measures such as establishing an elderly think-tank, developing elder-friendly courses, and cultivating a silver-age volunteer service team, it will unleash the social value of “meaningful engagement in later years.”
Looking ahead, the project will combine Tianjin’s intangible cultural heritage resources with the characteristics of a smart city to create an innovative model of “elderly education + cultural heritage.” This will serve as a practical example for megacities to actively address ageing.
By Huiling Seniors’ Culture Hub Project Team