"May 4th Youth Day, we 'old youths' have to get together to celebrate." "Although I am 89 years old, I write and draw with friends in the community, and my heart is also young." May 4, Guangzhou City In Shangjing Community, Tangxia Street, Tianhe District, a 70-meter scroll slowly unfolded. On the side, community elders who were good at painting and calligraphy swiped their brushes on the spot, attracting applause from passing residents; in the Senior Activity Center, the accordion , Hulusi and Erhu, a song "Song of Tangxia Shangjing" sings the enthusiasm of the elders in the community...

In this community of more than 10,000 people, 1/4 are elderly, many of whom are retired teachers from various colleges and universities. "Our community is a happy community." The 70-year-old Guan Zhixiang is the youngest in the painting and calligraphy team and the singing team, and he is the captain of the "running errands". "We write, draw, play, sing, and copy. Newspapers, painting cultural walls, and forming a volunteer team in the community, with a variety of cultural and recreational activities.” Together with the active literary backbones, he hopes to serve the community while also bringing beauty and vitality to the community.

Teacher Yang Sida wrote "Fenghua Zhengmao"

The atmosphere of cultural activities is strong, the old man said: "We are still old and young"

The afternoon sun was just right. Under the big tree at the entrance of Huajing Xincheng Senior Citizen Activity Center, 89-year-old old teacher Yang Sida and 74-year-old teacher Li Yuchi swiped and painted in one go. Aunt Fu Xiaomei created a Chinese landscape painting on the spot. Spring is on the branches. Mr. Yang's "Fenghua Zhengmao" was inspired by his feelings: "When we were young people, we were once flourishing, but now we are no longer young, but our hearts are still young." And Mr. Li's "labor" The hand ignites the light of art, and the ordinary road writes great dreams.” This is the passionate dream still cherished by his literary friends who call himself “old and young”.

"We cultivate beauty in Shangjing...Selfless dedication to social welfare, rich and colorful activities, and righteousness everywhere." There were bursts of singing from the elderly activity center on the second floor. This "Song of Tangxia Shangjing" was composed by the elders of the community, and it is the "drinking song" of the singing team, singing their happiness. Although Wu Jianhong, a 70-year-old retired teacher, has lived in the community for nearly 20 years, he has been busy with work and life before, and only participated in the community's recreational activities in the past year. Competent in playing the accordion and dancing, she accompanies the chorus and dances for the instrumental band. "Age is just a number, 70 can be very young," she said excitedly. "We are proud of the young people and learn from them."

According to Mr. Guan, there are more than 10,000 people in this community, and the elderly account for 1/4. The Shangjing Community has established an elderly association, which consists of a painting and calligraphy school, a singing team, an instrument band, a dance team, a table tennis team, a ballroom dance team, There are dozens of teams such as the Taijiquan team. There are two or three hundred active seniors, and there are 1-3 activities per week. "These teams have gathered in the past four years." He gave an example. The painting and calligraphy team has grown from five or six people to more than 30 people at present.

Although they call themselves "study sun", they don't seek fame and family, but only to be happy, but there are many versatile people in "study sun", who sing Peking opera and write poetry, everywhere. Like Zang Yangchun, who has been in the army and police for 50 years, loves poetry, and has written many beautiful poems praising the motherland and the community.

In addition to performing cultural activities together, the elders also formed a volunteer team to undertake some community activities. According to him, most volunteers spend more than 200 hours of volunteer service each year, and many more than 500 hours.

Teacher Li Yuchi swept away

"Cultural and recreational activities can enhance the sense of happiness, and also bring some vitality and positive energy to the community." Mr. Guan said that many community residents participated or visited each activity. It is possible to participate.” The cultural wall and hand-written newspapers were also made by the art elders to beautify the community. Because of the elders’ drive, the young art teachers and children of the community also participated in the co-painting of the cultural wall. "Don't look at how old we are. I'm 70 years old, and I'm still the youngest one. In fact, everyone's mentality is very young." He said with a smile, "We can still use the residual heat of the 'old and young'. "

Play with wall art, Friends add luster to the community

In the Tangxia community, painting, calligraphy and music have never been arty. For teachers, writing calligraphy and playing musical instruments on weekdays is not only to add a little fun to retirement life, but also to share the fragrance of books at home with neighbors. In their view, a happy community needs cultural accumulation, and as a member of the community, they can make a difference. Whether it's live swiping or singing performances, most elderly people hope that Tangxia community is a place where you can see paintings and calligraphy everywhere, hear music everywhere, and be full of cultural heritage, where everyone can fall in love with the influence of culture. this place.

Earlier, in order to rejuvenate this long-established community, they even picked up the pen in their hands and played with wall painting art. An elderly person told reporters, "There is a wall more than two meters high on the west side of Huajing New Town. Two years ago, it was still tattered and lifeless. Not to mention the people in the community, even passers-by feel disgusted." At that time, the elderly in the community had an idea and decided to paint the walls and took the lead. Wang Yongde, who was over 70 years old, began to plan a layout. The nearly 100-meter-long wall was divided into multiple panels.

On January 11, 2019, the community elderly painting and calligraphy association and community painting volunteers gathered in front of the wall, from civilized advocacy, to writing poetry and songs, from painting Chinese flowers and birds, and drawing Chinese festival illustrations. For the nearly 3-meter-high wall, it took Li Yuchi and Li Dezheng two days each to complete the "task" of writing a poem in cursive script. Community youth art teachers and children who witnessed their creative process also took the initiative to participate. "Those illustrations are their 'handwriting'." Wang Yongde said with a smile.

"It happened to be winter in Guangzhou at that time, it was cold and sometimes it rained, but everyone was enthusiastic." An elder who participated in the whole process said that after ten days of hard work and creation, the cultural director of Shangjing Community on Tangxia Street The corridor project was successfully completed and became a beautiful landscape for the community. At that time, Wang Yongde also wrote a "Completion Note" at the end of the cultural corridor: "I sincerely thank the volunteers and community residents who are enthusiastic about public welfare undertakings, and thank the skilled craftsmen and literati among them for staying in the community cultural corridor. Precious paintings and calligraphy. 'Happiness is still king, harmonious community'. Let us make this land - our homeland more beautiful."

That experience gave everyone a sense of "ownership". They found that everyone's passion and talents can also have a beautiful blend with their own community, which is not only the place where they live, but also the place where they build. Wang Yongde told reporters that later, "Everyone also took the initiative to undertake the work of beautifying the calligraphy and painting of the community bulletin boards and other corridors, like a newspaper, a tabloid belonging to the community, published on the bulletin board, and recorded everyone's story. The gallery has left calligraphy treasures." Today, it is their efforts that have made this community more "cultural".