China boasts nearly 50,000 centenarians

Edited and translated by Yao Chun, People's Daily Online

Beijing, Nov.8 (People's Daily Online) -- As of July 1, 2011 in China — excluding Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan — the number of living centenarians has reached nearly 48,000, increasing by more than 5,000 people compared with the year before and at a growth rate of more than 10 percent, according to Chinese Society of Gerontology.

On Nov. 7, China's oldest living person and China's oldest living couple were named in the fourth Ranking of China's Top 10 Longest-living Persons held in Rudong village in Jiangsu province, which is known as the Town of Longevity in China.

Luo Meizhen, an elderly person from Bama Yao Autonomous County of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, took the top spot among China's Top 10 Longest-living Persons with an age of 126 years old. Yang Shengzhong and his wife Yang Jinshi, a couple from Qiannan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Guizhou province, took the top spot of China's Top 10 Longest-living Couples with a combined age of 213 years.

The average life expectancy of Chinese people is 73.5 years and the country's 12th Five-Year Program endeavors to increase that figure by one year over the next five years.