Toy store for seniors in Beijing aims to enrich lives of elderly

（chinanews.com）

Thanks to the opening of a new toy store in October, senior citizens in Beijing have a new place to entertain themselves, China News Service reported on Dec. 9.

Covering an area of about 180 square meters, the toy store, located in Tongzhou district of Beijing, is specially designed for seniors. There are more than 400 kinds of toys in the store, most of which are traditional Chinese toys that elderly people are familiar with.

Zhao Zhigang, a senior citizen who lives near the store, has become a regular of the toy shop. He enjoys reading picture books, playing with the “Jiulianhuan,” a Chinese ring puzzle, and the Touhu (Pitch-Pot), an ancient Chinese dart game, finding new ways to have fun every time he comes to the shop.

（chinanews.com）

“If you come here to walk an ox when other people are walking dogs, you can at least draw more attention, and even make a lot of new friends,” joked Song Delong, owner of the toy store, while playing a toy named “Muniu Liuma” (wooden ox and running horse), which was in fact a transportation device invented by Zhuge Liang, a famous Chinese military strategist and inventor in the Three Kingdoms period (220-280 AD).

Having a career in advertising in shows for the elderly, Song knows that most of the senior citizens spend their lives after retirement taking care of their grandchildren, watching TV, and chatting with friends, and few of them have the opportunity to enjoy activities that are beneficial to their health and mood. To counter this he opened the toy store for seniors to enrich their lives, hoping to draw more attention to their spiritual needs, according to Song.