In this edition of PhD Stories from the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication (ESHCC), we speak with Dr Yongjian Groenendijk-Li about his research on Chinese retirees who migrate like 鈥渕igratory birds鈥 between cities and seasons. His work reveals how these older adults use digital platforms to stay connected, share knowledge, and reshape what it means to age in the twenty-first century.
When grandparents become influencers
What if your grandfather wasn鈥檛 struggling with his smartphone, but instead teaching online classes to thousands of followers? On 25 September 2025, Yongjian Groenendijk-Li defended his dissertation at the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication (ESHCC), offering a radically new perspective on ageing in the digital era. His research followed a group of Chinese retirees who call themselves Houniao 鈥 鈥渕igratory birds鈥 鈥 because they spend winters in the warm south and summers back in the colder north. Yet their migration is not just physical. By embracing platforms like WeChat and Douyin (Chinese TikTok), these older adults are reshaping what retirement can look like: building digital neighbourhoods, exchanging knowledge, and creating communities that flow seamlessly between online and offline worlds.
From a simple question to digital wings
At the heart of Yongjian鈥檚 research was a deceptively simple question: how do older adults use digital technologies to stay connected across distances? But as the project unfolded, the puzzle grew deeper. 鈥淚 realised it wasn鈥檛 just about adaptation,鈥 he explains. 鈥淭he retirees weren鈥檛 following the rules of younger generations 鈥 they were writing their own. Smartphones became their digital wings, enabling them to be present in multiple places at once.鈥 Instead of treating technology as something to be learned from their children, these retirees were teaching each other, forming peer-to-peer networks that turned knowledge-sharing from something vertical into something profoundly horizontal.
Playing detective in three worlds
To uncover these dynamics, Yongjian combined perspectives in an unusual way. He examined twenty years of newspaper coverage to see how society talked about these older migrants, spent three months in Sanya 鈥 sometimes called the 鈥淐hinese Florida鈥 鈥 joining retirees at their morning exercises and inside their WeChat groups, and immersed himself in hundreds of Douyin videos. 鈥淚t was like detective work across three worlds,鈥 he recalls. 鈥淓thnography met digital anthropology, layered with media analysis.鈥
Hacking the rules of ageing
What emerged from this work were two striking insights. First, these older adults are not passive users reluctantly learning from younger relatives; they are active innovators, teaching one another how to thrive in digital environments. Second, their way of inhabiting multiple places simultaneously 鈥 what Yongjian calls 鈥渕ediated nearby鈥 鈥 challenges our assumptions about home, distance, and presence. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 choose between staying put or moving away,鈥 he explains. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e hacked ageing by using digital technologies to create new forms of mobility and belonging.鈥
What the future of ageing could look like
The implications of this research reach far beyond China. By 2050, one in four people worldwide will be over 60. If cities and technologies continue to be designed under the assumption that ageing means decline and immobility, entire generations will be left behind. Yongjian argues that the Houniao point to alternative futures: ones in which older adults explore instead of withdraw, and where technology fosters community instead of isolation. 鈥淎nyone who plans to age 鈥 which is all of us 鈥 should be paying attention to what they鈥檙e doing,鈥 he stresses.
The moment everything flipped
The PhD journey also reshaped Yongjian鈥檚 own worldview. He began his project assuming he would be studying a vulnerable population in need of technological support. Instead, he discovered a community of innovators who often outpaced their younger counterparts. One unforgettable moment came when an 80-year-old participant showed him how to make a WeChat video call 鈥 a wake-up call to his own unconscious biases. 鈥淭hat was the turning point,鈥 he admits. 鈥淚 realised I wasn鈥檛 studying subjects; I was learning from teachers. The hardest part of the PhD was unlearning my own assumptions about ageing.鈥
Fuelled by books, music and humour
Alongside his fieldwork, Yongjian found inspiration in unexpected places. Virginia Woolf鈥檚 The Waves 鈥 with its line 鈥淚 am rooted, but I flow鈥 鈥 resonated deeply with the Houniao experience, while Margaret Atwood鈥檚 time-bending fiction shaped how he thought about digital presence across distance. Music also gave him strength: from Pia Douwes鈥 Mijn leven is van mij and Paul de Leeuw鈥檚 鈥檏 Heb je lief to Robbie Williams鈥 Angels and even the light-hearted BBC sitcom Miranda. 鈥淭hese works connected to my themes of meaning, love, compassion and courage in everyday life,鈥 he says with a smile.
Choosing care over campus
Looking ahead, Yongjian has decided not to remain in academia but to channel his insights into practice. He will begin training as a mental health nurse with Parnassia Groep, inspired by the ways his research highlighted the importance of peer support and lived experience in navigating life transitions. 鈥淪tudying how people build resilience through connection made me want to contribute directly to that process,鈥 he explains. 鈥淣ow I want to bring those lessons into clinical practice.鈥
鈥淏e the narrator of your own life鈥
Asked for the one message he hopes readers will remember, Yongjian doesn鈥檛 hesitate:
鈥淏e the narrator of your own life stories, and live your life to the fullest.鈥
- Researcher
- More information
Name of the PhD candidate: Yongjian Groenendijk-Li
Title of the dissertation: Migratory Birds in the Digital Age: Digital Place-making, Narrative, and Identity of Chinese Ageing Houniao Migrants
Date of defence: September 25, 2025
Department/research cluster: Media and Communication
