Over the past decade, Wang Shuhong has created more than 250 paintings to record simple romantic stories from her life. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"Our son bought an 80-square-meter apartment in Changchun for us, hoping we could better enjoy our later years," Wang said. "We joined in various community activities with some other older people and took some courses at Changchun University for Seniors."

Every time family members reunite at Wang's home, she tells stories about the past.

"When I show my grandchildren the picture of us collecting dry leaves to burn in the stove to save money spent on coal in 1970s, they could not relate to it," she said. "They didn't even know why we had to burn a stove in the room."