The Images Of Chinese Elderly People

China's population is aging rapidly.One aging problem worth noticing is that the change in age structure of the Chinese society also leads to a rapid change in social patterns,and the increasing aging population affects both the elderly and the young generations.Therefore,it is of great significance to have an accurate understanding of the elderly people as reflected on the public social media platform so as to better apply the strategy of active aging,a concept deriving from the phrase "engaged in life." That is,individuals can participate in life as fully as possible,regardless of socioeconomic status or health conditions within the wellness dimensions.Under the context of new media,this study aims to analyze the elderly Chinese people's media images portrayed on the social platform of Pear Video.Pear Video is one of the most influential short-video information platform of Weibo.This study analyzed the contents of 568 short videos related to the Chinese elderly from November 2,2016 to December 3 1 st,2018.A follow-up survey was conducted to examine the non-elderly netizens' feedbacks on the videos and 10 structured interviews was also used to acquire comments from the elderly.Research results suggested that basically the general Chinese elderly's images in @Pearvideo are explicitly positive but implicitly negative.In different social relations,the main characteristics of the portrayed elderly are different.Upon the elderly's self-perceptions,the elderly showed a positive attitude toward life and enjoy their life.For the relationships between the elderly and his/her family,the older adults had double roles-active parent or lovely spouse,and the other is a loner undergoing the "empty nest".As for the relationship between the elderly and the society,the elderly were often passive and negative.Survey results indicated that the use of Weibo aggravated audience's attitude towards the elderly.In the era of new media,the aging stereotype became more common than that in the traditional media.Many reasons,such as the nature of the media,the need and the psychological factors of users,and the social environment jointly portrayed the media image of the elderly Chinese in @Pearvideo.To improve the media images of the elderly people,it is necessary to require joint efforts of the public,the media and the government.