Yueyang, 28–29 August 2025 – The semi-finals of vocal and instrumental music categories in the 2025 “Golden Age Cup” National Senior Arts Performance took place at the Yueyang Baling Opera Heritage Institute, Yueyang, Hunan Province. Jointly organised by the Seniors University of China (SUC) and China Education Television (CETV), hosted by Yueyang Open University and supported by Yueyang Aiwan Senior School, the two-day event drew an exuberant audience and dazzling performances.
FAN Xianrui, Vice President of SUC and the Open University of China (OUC); LYU Xuewu, Deputy Director General of CETV; ZHANG Shiyu, Deputy Mayor of Yueyang Municipal Government; ZHONG Bin, Vice President of Hunan Open University; and YUE Yanhua, Secretary of CPC Committee of Yueyang Open University attended the event.
FAN Xianrui highlighted that the National Senior Education Achievements Performance has been successfully held for five consecutive years, attracting tens of thousands of works from thousands of institutions and over 100,000 participants. It has become a shining example of SUC's educational practice. She emphasised that this marks the first time a prefecture-level open university has hosted the event, reflecting deepened collaboration and shared innovation across the SUC branch system. The university will continue to strengthen system-wide coordination, join hands with all branches to widen the circle of high-quality senior education and inject greater momentum into building a ubiquitous and accessible lifelong learning system and serving the construction of a leading country in education.
LYU Xuewu underscored that senior education is an essential component of the lifelong-learning system and that the “Golden Age Cup” National Senior Arts Performance offers a practical example of how to make education universal and accessible. CETV will fully leverage its media resources to broaden awareness of the event, draw wider attention to senior education, and looks forward to further collaboration that will give older learners still more opportunities to showcase their talents and help build a brighter future for the field.
ZHANG Shiyu regarded the staging of the “Golden Age Cup” National Senior Arts Performance in Yueyang as both an affirmation of and an aspiration for the city’s senior education work. He pledged that Yueyang will seize this opportunity to continue expanding support for senior education institutions at all levels and to deliver richer, higher-quality services to every silver-haired resident.
ZHONG Bin noted that senior education is not only a key pillar of the lifelong learning system but also a concrete, people-centred measure for actively addressing population ageing. Hunan Open University will join forces with all partners to build a stage on which older learners can realise their artistic dreams, display their talents and savour life, infusing silver years with youthful radiance.
As the flagship annual gathering in China’s senior education sector, the competition drew 30 vocal ensembles and 24 instrumental ensembles - more than 1,100 senior learners from 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities to Yueyang. On stage, contestants won thunderous applause with their consummate artistry and infectious energy, embodying the proactive spirit of productive ageing and the joyful vitality of later life.
The 2025 “Golden Age Cup” National Senior Arts Performance, funded by the Beijing OUC Education Foundation, covers eight categories - vocal music, dance, instrumental music, traditional opera, recitation, fashion design & modelling, soft-brush calligraphy and Chinese painting. Nearly 9,000 works were submitted by around 40,000 participants; 1,291 works have progressed to the semi-final stage across all categories. All semi-final activities are expected to conclude in early September.
Source: OUC WeChat Official Account