The spiritual essential needs of the new generation of middle - aged and elderly people have opened up a blue ocean market worth 400 billion yuan.
At six in the morning, before the hustle and bustle of the morning rush hour begins, retired Ms. Zhou has started her daily vocal training "morning class" as usual. Different from the stereotypical impression people have of the learning methods of middle - aged and elderly people, there is an AI training companion system running in front of Ms. Zhou. It can instantly detect the slightest deviations in her pronunciation and gently remind her.
Ms. Zhou's daily learning routine is also a slice of life for countless "new middle - aged and elderly people". They are not satisfied with just "being provided for in old age"; they long for "finding joy in old age" and even "making contributions in old age".
In 2018, Lihua Education, a subsidiary of Shifang Ronghai, noticed the spiritual needs of the middle - aged and elderly group in self - growth and hobby cultivation, discovered the blue ocean of silver - haired education, and started with voice training. Subsequently, it developed various courses in categories such as vocal music, calligraphy, and study tours. Now, it has over 100 SKUs, serving more than 18 million users. In 2024 alone, over 4.25 million users participated in online learning.
As AI reshapes all aspects of modern society with unprecedented momentum, the emerging market of middle - aged and elderly interest education is brewing a new picture of the silver - haired economy.
As a pioneer and leading enterprise in the field of middle - aged and elderly interest education, Lihua Education is changing the traditional teaching and learning methods of silver - haired education through the research and development of AI tools. A revolution in online interest education for the middle - aged and elderly is on the verge of breaking out.
Full - link empowerment of AI to create a personalized learning experience
According to Ms. Zhou's recollection, when she first retired from the bank, she wanted to enrich her life with recitation. However, at a community recitation event, she mispronounced "stamp" as "you piao" and "tomb" as "fen wu", which made her neighbors joke that "she would bring Yu Guangzhong back from the dead in anger".
After that, she began to focus on basic pronunciation. For a simple "r" sound in Mandarin, she practiced it more than 200 times in the same AI course. The instant feedback from the AI, which never gets tired, made her sigh that it is "more sensitive than a banknote detector" and also "more human - like".
"The characteristics of AI are very suitable for educational products," Lihua Education believes. Students need timely feedback on their practice, personalized practice suggestions, and customized learning plans, which are exactly what large - model products are good at.
In September 2024, the R & D center and the teaching center of Lihua Education jointly developed a voice teaching product covering three stages: "teaching - practice - companion feedback". The AI tutor helps students arrange learning plans, teach knowledge points, answer students' questions, provide practice suggestions, and evaluate students' voice results through companionship and dialogue, achieving full - link empowerment of AI.
With the support of AI, knowledge and skills are internalized more quickly in the closed - loop of teaching, learning, practicing, testing, and evaluating, significantly improving learning efficiency. A student advanced from having zero experience in dubbing to becoming a junior dubbing artist after only two months of intensive AI - assisted training and even created an independent work. Such "outstanding" students are not rare among Lihua Education's student group.
Yang Nan, the general manager of Lihua Education, once revealed that the "AI voice training companion" launched by the company has attracted over 500,000 people to practice this year, and the product's positive review rate exceeds 98%.
The advantage of AI lies not only in its tireless training companionship but also in its detailed algorithm analysis and personalized feedback.
"The powerful semantic understanding ability of LLM can capture subtle emotional changes and contextual information," a relevant person from Lihua Education said. Based on this, the R & D team developed 19 evaluation items related to emotional expression, role - playing, situational performance, and narration performance, which can more accurately capture and distinguish the tiny differences that are difficult to detect in traditional online and offline classes.
The more comprehensive evaluation data of students' voices then feeds back into the teaching scenario. Information that was previously difficult to detect, such as students' emotional changes and whether their emotional performances are in place, can now be accurately analyzed, and feedback can be given within seconds. This not only improves learning efficiency but also stimulates students' enthusiasm for continuous creation.
The design of Lihua Education's AI products also takes into account the psychological characteristics and emotional responses of the middle - aged and elderly group. For example, the AI evaluation and AI human - machine interaction tools incorporate the idea of learning through fun. By setting up different difficulty levels, students can continuously receive positive feedback in the "level - by - level learning" process from easy to difficult, gradually overcome learning difficulties, and painlessly achieve their learning goals. Even in more detailed aspects, such as the AI's comments, elements of empathy and guidance are added to encourage students to practice actively.
The use of AI tools has also changed the role of real - life teachers from "feedback providers of learning content" to "regulators of learning rhythm". Teachers adjust the teaching rhythm and focus according to the students' practice evaluation results, analysis of weak points, and data statistics provided by AI, and design personalized teaching plans.
"I want to be the coolest retired aunt." After transferring her professional habit of pursuing zero errors to voice learning, Ms. Zhou has followed the AI to practice more than 400 classes, posted more than 100 voice - practice posts in the community, and gained hundreds of "loyal fans".
Technology creates "equity" and redefines the silver - haired economy
The new generation of middle - aged and elderly people has long left the camp of "digital refugees". They have money and leisure time and maintain a curiosity about new things. Their consumption focus has gradually shifted from material needs to spiritual satisfaction.
Data shows that Lihua Education's users are mainly concentrated in first - and second - tier cities, in the stage of approaching retirement or already retired, with the age concentrated around 55. Users aged 40 - 60 account for more than 70%, and most users can use smart devices proficiently.
The full - link empowerment of AI not only brings about a revolution in learning methods but also provides a brand - new value experience for them.
Five to ten years ago, helping the elderly cross the digital divide mainly referred to the aging - friendly transformation of apps, including adjusting font sizes and optimizing pages. With the popularization of digital products and functions and the generational change of the population, the demand for "aging - friendliness" has shifted from basic function adaptation to in - depth scenario - based and life - oriented adaptation.
Now, with the rapid development of AI technology and the explosive growth of AI products, the power of AI is injected into the middle - aged and elderly online education industry. It not only helps this group smoothly integrate into the AI era but also further bridges the individual differences in educational foundation, learning ability, and physical condition, enabling more middle - aged and elderly people to benefit from online learning.
For example, Lihua Education's AI tutor can customize learning content, adapt to students with different occupations, ages, and ability bases through differentiated course settings and rhythm arrangements, and achieve the best learning results. This breaks through the bottleneck of high - quality teaching resources, expands the educational coverage with high - level and low - cost methods, and realizes the popularization of middle - aged and elderly interest education.
"Our original intention is to enable more people to enjoy high - quality educational resources more fairly through technological empowerment," Lihua Education said.
The results of the "Fifth Sampling Survey on the Living Conditions of Urban and Rural Elderly People in China" show that 72.2% of the respondents believe that "the elderly should give full play to their remaining energy and participate in social development". The comprehensive course system established by Lihua Education, including basic courses for beginners, advanced learning, and professional skill improvement, has opened up a path of "learning for application", allowing willing middle - aged and elderly people to re - participate in social division of labor, achieve career transformation, and create value.
"Blue Sky" is a 48 - year - old sales supervisor from Baoding, Hebei. After more than 20 years in the sales industry, out of love for voice, he participated in Lihua Education's voice courses and successfully developed voice as a side job. Now, he has participated in the narration of more than a dozen novels and audio dramas.
Now, with the support of AI in online education, this path has become smoother. From "learning in old age" to "making contributions in old age", as middle - aged and elderly people seek new social values and self - identity, the connotation of the "silver - haired economy" is being quietly rewritten.
The spiritual needs of the new middle - aged and elderly people deserve to be seen
The "Research Report on Market Investigation, Analysis, and Future Development Trend Prediction of China's Elderly Education Industry from 2025 - 2030" shows that the market scale of China's elderly education industry reached 256.1 billion yuan in 2023 and is expected to exceed 400 billion yuan in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 25.3%.
Behind the rapid growth, there is still a serious imbalance between supply and demand.
By the end of 2024, the population aged 60 and above in China reached 310 million, accounting for 22% of the total population. It is predicted that by around 2035, the population aged 60 and above will exceed 400 million, accounting for more than 30% of the total population. Statistics show that there are 76,000 elderly universities in the country, with less than 15 million students, accounting for less than 6% of the elderly population, and there is a shortage of more than 2 million class - hours of high - quality courses.
The absolute shortage of supply is compounded by a structural imbalance. Firstly, the regional distribution of educational resources is uneven. The existing educational resources are mainly concentrated in first - and second - tier cities, with insufficient coverage in third - and fourth - tier cities and remote areas, and a lack of educational facilities. Secondly, there is still room for optimization in the course structure and teaching methods. Most of the current middle - aged and elderly interest education courses in the market are traditional topics, such as singing, dancing, and Baduanjin, with a high degree of homogeneity. The teaching methods are mainly face - to - face offline classes and pre - recorded online classes, lacking the support of new technologies.
On the other hand, the demand of the new middle - aged and elderly group for educational resources is upgrading. They are no longer satisfied with the "singing, dancing, and calligraphy classes" in traditional elderly universities. Instead, they long for a systematic, challenging, and rewarding learning process. More people start from interests rather than just skill - acquisition, pay attention to the process experience and social attributes, and pursue "finding joy in old age" rather than simply "learning in old age".
Based on this change in demand, Lihua Education has extended from voice education to vocal music courses. Currently, Lihua Education has more than 100 SKUs for courses and e - commerce products, including more than 50 in the voice category. It has also developed peripheral products such as learning materials and recording studios around the courses.
Every year, Lihua Education invests tens of millions of yuan in market research, teacher recruitment, new course R & D and testing, market verification, and new technology empowerment to create new courses that meet market demand and are suitable for students.
According to a relevant person from Lihua Education, in terms of product strategy, Lihua Education plans to continue to focus on the voice field while expanding related interest categories. For example, it will expand into musical instrument training in the voice field and restart potential old - demand projects such as photography and handicrafts.
In addition to offering online courses, Lihua Education also launched its own study tour product, "Li Study Tour", in 2023. Using voice as a link, it connects middle - aged and elderly enthusiasts from all over the country, creating an offline social field and a stage for communication and display. So far, Li Study Tour has held more than 20 sessions, with more than a thousand students participating in total, and has received rave reviews.
Continuing to launch offline sharing meetings, salons, study tours, and other activities or products in addition to online courses, and realizing the linkage between online and offline, are also in Lihua Education's future plans.
"Never too old to learn." An interesting old age also deserves to be taken seriously. The deep - seated value of silver - haired education lies not only in skill - teaching but also in reconstructing the relationships between people and technology, people and society, and people and themselves. This is also the significance of AI empowering silver - haired education.
For Lihua Education, a closed - loop of "content innovation + technology - driven + product implementation" has been formed. Against the background of humanistic care, with its forward - looking layout of the silver - haired economy, this company is becoming a leader in China's online education industry.