In 1978 when I first went to SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London), I came across a mainland Chinese publication called China Pictorial (中国画报 Zhōngguó Huàbào), a magazine that has more pictures than words (photojournalism as we’d call it).
In one of the issues, there was a piece by a Chinese journalist who went to a mountain village.
It had one road in and out, therefore little contact with the outside world. Surrounded on all three sides by mountains.
Main diet was millet, vegetables, and the occasional meat.
The journalist went there because a high percentage of the population there were over 65. Of those over 65, there were quite a few over 80. Of the over 80s, there were some over 100.
The journalist interviewed two members of the older ones.
One was a woman aged 103 or something who stayed at home to look after the youngest generation while the three generations in between (children, grandchildren, great grandchildren) went out to work in the fields. She also cooked lunch for them (maybe even dinner, as they would be tired after working out in the fields all day).
The other person interviewed was an old man aged 105 or something. He was photographed out in his field, leaning against his hoe, with a Chinese pipe (long and thin, very small bowl), filled with homegrown tobacco.
The journalist asked him, “How long have you been a smoker?”
The old man said, “85 years.”
So, it was not the smoking but the lack of stress, the journalist said. And the healthy diet.
(China, 1978)
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