China Showcases 35 Years of Intergenerational Education Activities

What changed

Beijing hosted a national showcase of education activities at Renmin University of China on October 20, marking 35 years since the Education Ministry Working Committee for the Care of the Next Generation was established. More than 10 schools and universities presented performances and stories involving retired officials, soldiers, experts, teachers, model workers and students, under five themes: struggle, practice, leadership, inheritance and illumination.

Why it matters

The event shows how China’s education system is using older generations as an organised part of student development, not simply as ceremonial guests. The programme put that approach on stage through stories of salt-tolerant rice research, deep-sea testing and teachers who spent their working lives in education.

The scale is notable: more than 1.9 million senior volunteers have taken part in these activities nationwide over 35 years. That gives the programme a durable institutional reach, while the event’s mix of university research, revolutionary history and children’s performances shows how broad the educational message has become.

My reading is that the showcase is less about announcing a new policy than reinforcing an existing model: values are taught through personal testimony, performance and contact between generations. Its longer-term effect will depend on what students take from those encounters; the event itself provides no measured outcomes or figures on student participation.