China's Longevity Cities

[Thomas Promise]

Bama county in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region has come to occupy a special place in the minds of Chinese people, because people there are known to lead a healthy and long life.

I love my wife's saying on aging. " The one who prays for a long life and then fears old age is his own fool."

 

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/life/2014-09/27/content_18671752.htm

[amberjack1234]

Good article Thomas I liked it.

 

Larry

[Randy W]

A couple of other articles on it. My wife likes to buy the 'Bama Water' from our local bottled water shop at ¥25 delivered per 5 gallon jug, vs. ¥15 for the regular stuff. She says it tastes better.

 

China and 'Table E'

 

There ARE no entries from China in Table E of the Gerontology Research Group, "record keepers for the world’s supercentenarians, or persons older than 110."

 

Keeping Track of the Oldest People in the World

The Gerontology Research Group catalogues on all of the world's confirmed supercentenarians, or persons over 110 years old

 

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Similarly, China certainly has many supercentenarians, but none are confirmed because the Chinese government did not track births prior to the early 1900s.

Bama "Longevity village" in Guangxi

It is supposed to be an honor for a village to be dubbed as a land of longevity where folks regularly live past 100. Such is the case with the beautiful Bama county in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region which became famous for its large number of centenarians in the 1990s.

The county, set against the backdrop of the mountains and a then clean river, aroused the interest of not only scientists but also the media. Regular media reports encouraged people who want to seek the secret of a long and healthy life to flock to this land.

However, even Dr Keiichi Morishita, who helped boost Bama's reputation two decades ago, recently claimed that he would never want to go back to Bama and that Bama was a failed case, as the area's peaceful state has been challenged by continuous crowds.

 

. . .

 

Wise people know how to seek a calm mood in this debilitating society to ease themselves into their golden years. Meanwhile, they know they should leave the last pieces of pure land to those who own them rather than enter as destroyers.

The significance of Bama and Fenghuang perhaps lies in reminding people of a farsighted lifestyle. Not ruining it is certainly a mark of the kind of cultured approach that helps with longevity.

 

[Randy W]

I'm Glad They Clarified for Me

These articles are both dated June 12, 2013

 

Oldest Living Person Dies in Japan at 116

 

World's oldest woman dies in China aged 127

 

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Though official documents said that Luo was born in 1885, international authorities, including Guinness World Records, never recognised her claim to be the oldest person ever to have lived. China did not have a reliable birth certification system at the end of the nineteenth century, and though Luo's birth date was listed on her hukou and identity card, both where issued in recent decades.

 

. . .

 

Jiroemon Kimura, the oldest man to have ever lived, also died this month. Kimura passed away in his home in Kyotango, Japan. He was 116.

 

. . .

 

Luo's county in Guangxi is famous for its residents' longevity. Bama Yao Autonomous County had 81 centenarians in 2011, a rate of 31.7 per 100,000 people, far higher than the global average, which is 7.5 centenarians per 100,000 people.