China sees 2,500 more centenarians every year

According to Xinhua news agency, the life span of Chinese people is extending year on year; the number of centenarians has been increasing at a rate of 2,500 people per year in the last decade. As of now, the longest living Chinese person has already spent 122 years on this planet.

The latest statistics issued by Gerontological Society of China (GSC) reveals China (excluding Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) had 40,592 centenarians on Sept. 1, 2009. That number means 3.06 centenarians exist in per 100,000 Chinese people, and it accounts for 11.94% of global centenarians. The top three provinces in which the numbers of centenarians among the general population are higher than the average are Hainan, Guangxi provinces and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

In 2009, the average age of ten oldest people in China is 117.6. All the ten people lived during the Qing dynasty, Republic of China and the new People's Republic of China; three totally different time periods. They are all the witnesses of China's history, of change and development. The 10 centenarians, 6 male and 4 female, live in Xinjiang, Hainan, Henan, Hunan and Yunnan provinces. Among them 6 are Uygurs living in Xinjiang; rest of them, 2 Han, one Tujia and one Lisu, live in other provinces respectively.

So far, the person who ranks oldest on the list of China's centenarians is 122-year-old Sadike Sawuti, who is a Uygur living in Kashi City, Xinjiang.

By People's Daily Online