Xuwen named as longevity town

Xuwen, a Cantonese county in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province, was named a "Chinese town of longevity" in February as the percentage of its residents aged 100 or older is five times the central government's standard for the honor.

With a population of 730,000, including 112 residents who have celebrated their 100th birthday, Xuwen became the 20th such town in the country. The standard states that a location with more than three centenarians per 100,000 residents can be considered a place of extraordinary longevity.

The Journal of Natural Medicine, a Japanese international health journal, once recognized six locations around the world as longevity towns, three of which are in China. They are Rugao, in Jiangsu province; Bama Yao autonomous county, in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region; and Hotan County, in the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region.

In one village of Xuwen, being 80 or 90 years old is not a phenomenon. Jintu Village, or Golden Earth Village, in Xilian township, Xuwen County, has 11 of the 2,100 villagers who are older than 100 years. Its oldest resident, Chen Lipo, was 121 when she died in 2006.

Xuwen is known as China's largest pineapple and off-season banana base, and is in the narrow tropical zone of mainland China, where the sunshine hours are the longest. Experts said the secrets to long life in the villages included some of the best air quality in the country, fresh spring water and nurturing red soil and beautiful scenery that contributes to the peaceful minds of the villagers.

Villagers in the county have been farmers and fishermen their whole lives. Four thousand square kilometers of sea area borders the small county, and older people consider fresh seafood from the area the best nutrition for life, said Wang Bingzhong, the mayor of Zhanjiang city.

All the centenarians live with their families following a tradition of two thousand years where four or five generations live together under the same roof. Due to the agreeable weather - close to 24 C throughout the year - many even wear slippers while working in the fields in winter.

Chen Jinchao, director of the Longevity Institute in Bama Yao autonomous county, said long life is only 15 percent genetic and 85 percent environmental impact. Liang Quancai, the director of Xuwen county, said the natural way of living is among the secrets of its residents' longevity.

The local government gives each centenarian 600 yuan ($97) per month as a pension. The latest census said the life expectancy of the residents in the county is about 77.75, nearly one year longer than the national average.

Xuwen is one of the less developed areas in the province, although it has well-protected coral in the sea and 200 kinds of seafood. Liang said recognition as a longevity county would be a start for Xuwen to embark on leisure and green tourism development.

Zhang Yifeng, who specializes in tourism planning for the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, at the China Academy of Sciences, suggested the county could make good use of the longevity town brand. When Bama Yao autonomous county was recognized as one of three famous longevity locations, tourists and people wanting to live long lives flooded into the small county. Media reports said the residents of the county got wealthy quickly and subsequently their diets changed. Soon the number of the county's centenarians declined.

Zhao Baochang, the deputy director of Gerontological Society of China, said the success of Xuwen being named a longevity county is due to its good environmental protection. Zhao, who led the recognition process for Bama longevity county, said Xuwen should stay on its path of protecting the environment as well as maintaining its low carbon development.

zhangyuchen@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 03/28/2015 page20)