Grandmothers found/find many ways of making old age enjoyable. They grow scented, flowering plants, indoors and outdoors. They sew and knit. Shopping tests their wits – in the past dealing with street hawkers and market stalls, now online. Home entertainment included playing musical instruments and games of skill, chief amongst them mahjong. Entertainment has expended dramatically in the Reform Era, in the home (television, streaming) and outside; public parks have become places for the ederly to dance, sing and play games.

Gossip was once a mainstay of the life of old women, within the home and in the neighbourhood. In the Mao Era old women were enlisted to watch out for politically incorrect behaviour and to enforce new rules. The advent of modern communications has reduced in-person gossip, but it still has uses, not least in the search for suitable matches for grandchildren.

In the Reform Era the horizons of old people have expanded. They can travel, embark on new careers; those widowed can remarry. Their grandchildren remain the centre of their lives, even if some of the behaviour of modern youth is incomprehensible.

Grandmothers were household managers. They assigned household duties to their daughters, daughters-in-law and, in wealthier households, servants. They supervised food prepartion for daily meals, and for storerooms. They directed the handcraft work that made households self-sufficient in clothing, bedding and shoes, and taught the younger women handcraft skills. In many parts of China handcrafted goods were produced in the home for the market, including for export. The sales brought in income for the family.

Grandmothers marshalled the preparations for family festivals, notably marriages, and for the many festivals that punctuated the year, most importantly the New Year, which demanded the attendance of the whole family. Grandmothers supervised the preparation of food, clothing and ritual items, for an occasion that cemented the family together. Family celebrations went into abeyance from 1937, through twelve years of war and during the Mao Era. They are now back in full force. Hundreds of millions go home in the run-up to the New Year. For labour migrants the two-week holiday is the only time they spend at home with their children.