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100 and counting -- Pudong centenarians take it a day at a time
By Tan Weiyun |
February 21, 2009, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
SIXTEEN people in Pudong New Area are more than 100 years old and have represented living history. Tan Weiyun talks to the "youngest" centenarian and the eldest, who's a happy 110
One hundred years is nothing special. You have to live it day by day," says Pudong resident Wei Xiaocui, who just celebrated her 100th birthday last month.
"All of my children in Shanghai came to kowtow (a traditional bow of respect to an elder) to me," Wei says happily. She's fiddling with her fingers, trying to figure out the correct number of her children and grandchildren.
Born in Hongze County in Jiangsu Province, Wei bore four boys and five girls. Five of them are living in Shanghai and have more than 30 children. She has lost track of the others.
Her oldest daughter is 83 years old and the youngest son is 66. "My fifth generation, my great-grandson is almost three years old. He is in Wuhan (Hubei Province)." Wei is proud.
"There's no secret to living a long life," she says. "Every day is the same, yet different. Just take your time and live it day by day. No hurry."
The Lujiazui area in Pudong is known as a busy financial and commercial hub. It's also home to truly old buddies - all of them over 100 years old.
Sixteen people over 100 are living fairly happy and healthy lives in the area. More than 680 people are aged 90 to 99, on the "100-year-old to be" list.
Before Wei's birthday, the city's oldest person Li Suqingcelebrated her 110th birthday in Laoshan Neighborhood.
Li sits happily on a bed with plush toys, in a room decorated with colorful cartoon posters. The childlike 110-year-old is smiling.
Born in 1899 in Liaoning Province, Li bore two boys and a girl. The boys died of disease. About 35 years ago, Li moved to Shanghai with her daughter and settled down.
Li still cares about her appearance. She loves bright red colors, flower-patterned shirts, Chinese knots, silver hair clips and embroidered satin shoes.
"She likes to dress herself up and make herself look beautiful," says her 60-year-old daughter Tian Yulan.
Born into a farmer's family, Li never went to school, but she can read a bit. "She reads the newspaper every day just to read the words she knows," Tian says. "She gets as excited as a child if she can figure out meaning through the words she knows."
In an astonishing development, the old lady's white hair is turning dark and the neighbors remarked on it.
"Yes, I've noticed that, too. What a miracle," her daughter says excitedly. "What's more, my mom still has four working teeth."
Li takes good care of her teeth. Last year she lost one, which made her cry for several days. "We found that tooth and wrapped it in a silk bag for her," Tian says.
In addition to reading, the old lady likes needlework. "She likes to stitch our worn-out socks, trousers and clothes; she hates wasting things," the daughter says. In Li's room, there's a big framed sample of her impressive embroidery.
The 110-year-old prefers Children's Day each June 1 to her own birthday. Each Children's Day, Li sends red envelopes to her kids, her neighbors and her own, and she also loves to play with toy trains and teddy bears.
Li can get around quite well. "My mom doesn't need any help or a wheelchair," says daughter Tian. "She always volunteers to help with some housework, such as washing dishes."
If we could turn the clock back to the years when Li and Wei were born, we would see this picture:
A year before Li's birth in 1898 when she was still sleeping in her mother's womb, the country witnessed the Hundred Day's Reform (Wuxu Reform), a failed national, cultural, political and educational reform movement from June 11 to September 21. It was undertaken by the young Guangxu Emperor of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
When Li was one year old in August 1900, the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China, and the Empress Dowager Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor escaped in haste from the Forbidden City.
The year Wei was born in 1909 is the beginning of ancient China's last emperor's reign.
The two centenarians experienced the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-1945), the Chinese Civil War (1945-1949), the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the 10-year "cultural revolution" (1966-1976), and China's 30 years of reform and opening up to the outside world.
If a person has lived through the changes of the past 100 years, he or she becomes a living history. Maybe, as Wei says, there is no secret to long life, just "take your time and live it day by day. No hurry."
One hundred years is nothing special. You have to live it day by day," says Pudong resident Wei Xiaocui, who just celebrated her 100th birthday last month.
"All of my children in Shanghai came to kowtow (a traditional bow of respect to an elder) to me," Wei says happily. She's fiddling with her fingers, trying to figure out the correct number of her children and grandchildren.
Born in Hongze County in Jiangsu Province, Wei bore four boys and five girls. Five of them are living in Shanghai and have more than 30 children. She has lost track of the others.
Her oldest daughter is 83 years old and the youngest son is 66. "My fifth generation, my great-grandson is almost three years old. He is in Wuhan (Hubei Province)." Wei is proud.
"There's no secret to living a long life," she says. "Every day is the same, yet different. Just take your time and live it day by day. No hurry."
The Lujiazui area in Pudong is known as a busy financial and commercial hub. It's also home to truly old buddies - all of them over 100 years old.
Sixteen people over 100 are living fairly happy and healthy lives in the area. More than 680 people are aged 90 to 99, on the "100-year-old to be" list.
Before Wei's birthday, the city's oldest person Li Suqingcelebrated her 110th birthday in Laoshan Neighborhood.
Li sits happily on a bed with plush toys, in a room decorated with colorful cartoon posters. The childlike 110-year-old is smiling.
Born in 1899 in Liaoning Province, Li bore two boys and a girl. The boys died of disease. About 35 years ago, Li moved to Shanghai with her daughter and settled down.
Li still cares about her appearance. She loves bright red colors, flower-patterned shirts, Chinese knots, silver hair clips and embroidered satin shoes.
"She likes to dress herself up and make herself look beautiful," says her 60-year-old daughter Tian Yulan.
Born into a farmer's family, Li never went to school, but she can read a bit. "She reads the newspaper every day just to read the words she knows," Tian says. "She gets as excited as a child if she can figure out meaning through the words she knows."
In an astonishing development, the old lady's white hair is turning dark and the neighbors remarked on it.
"Yes, I've noticed that, too. What a miracle," her daughter says excitedly. "What's more, my mom still has four working teeth."
Li takes good care of her teeth. Last year she lost one, which made her cry for several days. "We found that tooth and wrapped it in a silk bag for her," Tian says.
In addition to reading, the old lady likes needlework. "She likes to stitch our worn-out socks, trousers and clothes; she hates wasting things," the daughter says. In Li's room, there's a big framed sample of her impressive embroidery.
The 110-year-old prefers Children's Day each June 1 to her own birthday. Each Children's Day, Li sends red envelopes to her kids, her neighbors and her own, and she also loves to play with toy trains and teddy bears.
Li can get around quite well. "My mom doesn't need any help or a wheelchair," says daughter Tian. "She always volunteers to help with some housework, such as washing dishes."
If we could turn the clock back to the years when Li and Wei were born, we would see this picture:
A year before Li's birth in 1898 when she was still sleeping in her mother's womb, the country witnessed the Hundred Day's Reform (Wuxu Reform), a failed national, cultural, political and educational reform movement from June 11 to September 21. It was undertaken by the young Guangxu Emperor of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
When Li was one year old in August 1900, the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China, and the Empress Dowager Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor escaped in haste from the Forbidden City.
The year Wei was born in 1909 is the beginning of ancient China's last emperor's reign.
The two centenarians experienced the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-1945), the Chinese Civil War (1945-1949), the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the 10-year "cultural revolution" (1966-1976), and China's 30 years of reform and opening up to the outside world.
If a person has lived through the changes of the past 100 years, he or she becomes a living history. Maybe, as Wei says, there is no secret to long life, just "take your time and live it day by day. No hurry."
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