86-year-old rep credits health to local goods

An 86-year-old female model in Beijing, Sheng Ruiling, said wolfberries have helped her gather strength when doing film and photo shoots.

After retiring from the infirmary of China University of Mining and Technology, Sheng made her debut at the age of 73 as the cover girl of Elderly Chinese in 2003.

Directors, advertisers and journalists came to her asking her to appear in photos for magazines, television public service announcements.

She said standing in front of the camera made her excited.

"Once we worked for about 27 hours to take photos for a fashion magazine. My partner was exhausted, but I felt maybe I could shoot more," she said.

She said her family has always prioritized their health.

"Every morning, I drank a mixture of sesame, raisins and wolfberries," she said. "I carry small bags of wolfberries with me in business trips."

Her son Li Congshi said wolfberries helped him recover from drunkenness.

"Wolfberries can help men gather strength after staying up, getting drunk or working long hours," he said. "That's why we usually eat it."

Sheng was invited to attend the 2013 Wolfberry Cultural Festival in the county of Zhongning, Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region, and was noticed by wolfberry exhibitors there.

"I don't know why they all wanted me to stand near their booth," she said. "I didn't go intending to do advertising, but for the promotion of people's healthcare." After that, she was made image ambassador of Zhongning Wolfberry.

"We once stored several bags of wolfberries at home for many years. We found all the other wolfberries stuck together except for those from Zhongning. Since then, I've remembered this brand," she said. "Now I have been eating Zhongning Wolfberries for more than 10 years."

Wolfberries are a kind of small, red fruit that can be used into medicines or eaten directly. The most common form in the market is dried wolfberry, which can be soaked in wines, soup or tea.

Written record of the wolfberry can be found in Compendium of Materia Medica written by Li Shizhen, a medical scientist during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). He wrote: "Wolfberry can nourish liver and kidney, and benefits hair and eyes, helping man to live a longer life."

Huang Enci, local administrator of Zhongwei, the city Zhongning is subordinate to, wrote in The Story of Zhongwei in 1760: "Every family here plants wolfberries, which are used in the production of Chinese medicine around the nation" .

Hu Zhongqing, an expert on agricultural promotion authorized by the Ministry of Agriculture, said Zhongning's natural environment is exceptionally suitable for the growing of wolfberries.

"Zhongning is located in northwestern China with little rainfall, abundant daylight and sharp differences in temperature between day and night, which is suitable for the preservation of nutrients in the wolfberry," Hu said.

He said Zhongning wolfberries are rich in carbohydrates, carotene and trace elements with health benefits. "Carbohydrates can improve immunity and carotene is good for our eyes," he said.

Chen Meiling contributed to the story.

(China Daily 11/04/2016 page10)