Chongqing - Eight seniors in a remote mountain village in Chongqing’s Fengdu County are modeling handmade crafts, bringing new life to a community where most residents are older people living alone.

Members of Nanmu Village's senior modeling team pose for a group photo. (Photo/Zhan Dongyan)

Music filled the cultural square of Nanmu Village in Fengdu County, Chongqing, on Oct. 14. Eight elderly villagers walked in a line, counting out their steps: one, two, one, stop, turn. Their moves were slow and not quite in sync, but every step was careful. They were rehearsing a fashion show for the village's upcoming Chongyang Festival celebration, a traditional day for honoring older people.

Neighbors gathered to watch. "Hey, Ran, you're doing great!" one called out, and laughter rippled through the crowd.

The members of Nanmu's senior modeling team are one man and seven women with an average age of 78. The oldest is 92. Never in their lives had they imagined becoming models. Now they are local celebrities, earn small modeling fees, and are changing how the whole village spends its time.

Isolated in the mountains

Nanmu Village covers 9.35 square kilometers of mostly mountainous land and has only about 500 to 600 permanent residents. More than half are over 60, and 80 percent of those are older people whose children have moved away for work. Their homes are scattered across the hills.

Ran Longzhen is one of them. Her children live in other cities and come home only for Spring Festival. "I'm too old for farm work and I don't have any hobbies," she said. Her children bought her a phone, but she rarely uses it. Most days, she watches TV or stares out at the mountains.

"There used to be very few cultural activities here," said Tao Xuemei, who was assigned to the village as its first Party secretary in 2022. "People only got together for weddings and funerals." For some, the walk to the village committee office takes more than an hour. "It was like they were trapped in the mountains," she said.

Team member Ran Guangsu, 86, has never left the mountains. "My children want me to live with them, but life in the city is so different," she said. "I've lived here my whole life. I'm used to it."

From the mountains to the runway

An elderly villager strikes a pose on the runway. (Photo/Zhan Dongyan)

When Tao visited older villagers, she found they would hold her for hours, chatting and asking for help. "They just didn't have anyone to talk to," she said.

She set out to find villagers with talents and organize cultural events. A local dance group joined in, and villager Luo Guozhi offered to donate money and play the erhu. "We're all in the same boat," he said. "More activities make life richer."

The village held its first Chongyang Festival event in 2022, with children reciting poems and the dance group performing. No older villagers took the stage, but they came to watch. "It was a first step," Tao said.

Each year after that, more older residents came out for village events, but none performed. They had no particular skills, and there were no suitable acts for them.

That changed in 2025, when a team of art and design graduate students from China University of Geosciences visited the village. Since many villagers were skilled with a needle, the group decided to make handicrafts to sell online. The students designed the bags, and villagers wove them.

To promote the products, Tao came up with an idea: let the older villagers be the models. Some were in poor health, and some families worried about accidents, so only three women agreed: Ran Guangsu, Ran Longzhen and Qin Shubi.

None had ever walked a runway. Tao broke down every move: start with the right foot, one, two, one, stop, turn. They kept forgetting when to pause and when to turn, and every mistake ended in laughter.

Last August, the village staged its first fashion show in the rice paddies. The three women, village officials and children walked along the village path carrying their handmade crafts, smiling and a little shy. Videos shared on WeChat drew warm reactions, and the crafts sold for more than 1,000 yuan (about 150 USD). The models earned a few dozen yuan each, a small sum but a good start.

Modeling for their village

An elderly villager strikes a pose on the runway. (Photo/Zhan Dongyan)

Still, word didn't spread far. More than a dozen women in the village whose husbands work elsewhere wanted to earn money close to home, and selling crafts was their only option. Tao opened a WeChat online shop, but sales were slow.

This year, Tao decided to form a senior modeling team, both to get more older people out of their homes and to promote the village and its products. Eight seniors signed up, including Qin Datian, who at 92 is the oldest member and the only man. "I never thought I could still be useful at my age," he said. "As long as I can walk, I'll keep going."

The team was formally set up in June. Tao plans to film more short videos of their shows to raise the village's profile and help sell its crafts and farm produce. Young volunteers from the local subdistrict government will help with event planning, makeup, filming and social media promotion.

Tao has also made the team a promise: once they've saved enough from their modeling fees, she will take them out of the mountains to see Chongqing's most famous sights.