“If skiing is like opium in white, then paragliding is like opium in blue. You get addicted once you try it.”

Seventy-year-old Li Jiaxin is known for her remarks and her decades of paragliding experience, which won her the title of “fly granny.” She jokes that she has never rested since her retirement at 55. She liked winter swimming, mountain climbing, and all the common sports of Chinese retirees, until one day she saw someone paragliding.

With a modest retirement payment of 2,400 yuan per month, Li has spent nearly all her savings on her new hobby. It was no easy task for someone her age. She spent 10 months learning to fly solo and does regular core power training.

Li is not the only grey-haired player in this niche sport. Inspired by Li, many more seniors are taking the jump to fly by paraglider, even some who need a pacemaker.

Huang Ruixiang, 69, is the oldest licensed paragliding player in Wenzhou, eastern China’s Zhejiang province, which is home to one of the two professional paragliding bases in the province. He first started paragliding at 56 and has since soared in the skies of multiple regions in China.

However, Huang began to wear a pacemaker last April due to heart disease. Yet the device connected to his heart did not stop him from flying in the skies. He started paragliding again only three months after his surgery.

Paragliding is gradually coming to more people’s attention in China, with both the young and elderly generations trying their hands at the adventurous sport. However, observers noted that elderly people tend to aim higher in this sport than younger people.

By the end of 2018, the number of licensed paragliders in China topped 10,000. Some 20% are aged 50-60 and more than half are between 30-50 years old, Qianjiang Evening News reported, citing data from multiple paragliding bases.

“It takes about 50,000 yuan to buy the equipment and undergo the training before one can fly solo. Senior citizens, with more money and time to spare, find it easier to stick it out,” Li Chennan, head of a paragliding base at Fuyang Yongan Mountain Paragliding Base told the newspaper.

“People always say it’s never too old to learn. It’s learning new things that makes you live longer. It gives your life purpose and freshens your life,” said Li Jiaxin, the flying granny.