University in Harbin innovates with courses for the elderly

Recently, a new course teaching senior citizens Karaoke singing is proving to be a hit at the Songshan Campus of Harbin University for the Aged in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province.

"In recent years, we can often see many elderly people going to KTV to sing together with their family members and friends, so we came up with the idea of starting the course," said Qi Xin, the director of the campus. "Before its beginning, we carried out a survey among our students and received a warm response."

"The first class opened on Oct 30 and then the second on Nov 4, each at full capacity with 42 students, each of which costs 90 yuan ($12.4) for 16 classes." he said. "There is still a high demand exceeding our supply."

"I give the students a one-and-a-half-hour lesson twice every week," said the university's vocal teacher Huang Nannan. "Different from other vocal courses covering different singing styles, the course mainly focuses on popular songs."