Two decades ago, Zhong Juanjuan would visit internet cafes looking for her teenage son and sometimes drag him home because of his gaming habit. Today, the roles have completely reversed. The 60-year-old from China has become a gaming streamer herself, with more than 527,000 followers online.
Known as Auntie Juan, Zhong now hosts two gaming live streams every day, often drawing around 10,000 viewers to each session. What began as an attempt to understand her son's fascination with video games has turned into an unexpected online career.
Why did she start gaming?
According to South China Morning Post, Zhong lives in a suburban area of Meizhou in Guangdong province and only began playing computer games around six years ago. She had completed primary school and worked several part-time jobs, including sales and childcare, before retiring.
Her attitude towards gaming was very different when her younger son, known online as Suode, was a secondary school student. He became heavily involved in gaming, and Zhong blamed it for his falling grades. She would visit internet cafes to find him, leading to frequent arguments between the two.
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{{/usCountry}}Years later, Suode left his job and began spending long hours gaming at home. Instead of criticising him, Zhong became curious about what made the games so appealing and decided to try them herself. Suode was surprised by his mother’s new interest but began teaching her how to play.
The learning curve was steep. Zhong struggled to move around the virtual world, often hitting walls, turning around and finding it difficult to climb stairs. Her eyesight and slower reaction time also made gaming challenging, but she kept practising and gradually improved.
From gaming lessons to streaming fame
Zhong eventually became skilled at shooting games and has accumulated more than 8,000 hours of gameplay. She started live-streaming in 2022, and viewers were fascinated by the sight of an older woman playing competitively and using gaming slang associated with younger players.
According to South China Morning Post, her breakthrough came in December 2024 when she was invited to an online exhibition match for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Among her opponents was 17-year-old Russian gaming star donk, who had recently become a world champion. Zhong managed to eliminate him during the match.
Her popularity also brought scepticism. Some viewers wondered whether another person was secretly controlling her character. To prove otherwise, Suode set up multiple cameras to record his mother from different angles while she played.
‘Should I only be relegated to household chores?’
Zhong has faced criticism for spending so much time gaming at her age. Her response was straightforward: “As a mother, should I only be relegated to household chores?”
She also argues that gaming keeps the brain active and improves hand-eye coordination.
Her son is now her full-time agent, creating an amusing reversal of their relationship. Years after Zhong once pulled him away from gaming, Suode now makes sure his mother switches off the internet at midnight so she does not play too late.
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Zhong has also spoken about being recognised in public, recalling a middle-aged man at a wet market who told her, “Auntie Juan, I saw you playing games on social media.”
For Zhong, gaming is more than a hobby. “It is never too late to start learning something new,” she said.