Officially, the oldest person who ever lived on earth was Frenchwoman Jeanne Louise Calment, who died at the age of 122. However, unofficially, the Chinese Li Qingyun is considered the longest-living person. His age at the time of death is determined from various sources, either 190 or 256 years.
Sichuan Province, where Li Qingyun was born
Li Ching-Yuen claimed that he was born in 1736, but a professor from the University of Mingquo found data according to which Li Qingyun was born much earlier - in 1677. In addition to these data, there are also records of the presentation of congratulations to Li by the Chinese Emperor's government in honor of the 150th and 200th anniversary of Li Qingyun. If even one of these documents is true, then the Chinese grandfather was definitely a super-long-lived person who lived longer than anyone else in human history.
Li Ching-Yuen. Photo taken at General Yang Sen's National Army residence, Sichuan 1927
Li was born in Sichuan Province and spent his entire life there. From an early age he became interested in the problem of longevity, but his life can in no way be compared with the seclusion of a nun. Li lived a busy life with 23 wives and over 200 descendants. If Lee really lived for 265 years, then he could see with his own eyes not only his children and grandchildren, but also his great-great-great-grandchildren, and even later descendants.
Li Qingyun used the gifts of nature in China to ensure his longevity
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Li was interested in nature as well as martial arts. From an early age, Lee collected herbs, sometimes even going to Thailand for the plants he needed. He collected many of the herbs for himself, making numerous infusions, others he sold. Even when, due to health, he could no longer independently collect the necessary plants, he continued to make infusions from the material that other people brought him.
Of course, if you talk about Lee's lifestyle, you will not hear anything new there: the Chinese never smoked, did not drink alcohol, ate regularly, went to bed early and got up early too. Rumor has it that the secret of Lee's longevity is in his magic elixirs, the recipe for which he did not reveal. Others say that it's just the genetics - in the settlement where Lee was born, there were quite a few people who lived to an impressive age. One way or another, people who knew Li personally remember him as a very generous and kind person with an ideal memory. He could easily remember an event that happened 150 years ago. The locals claimed that they had remembered Li all their lives, and even when they were little themselves, he was already old then. Some have argued that even their grandparents could not remember Lee young.
Keep your heart quiet, sit like a turtle, walk cheerful like a dove and sleep like a dog
Li once said that the secret of his longevity is simple: "Keep your heart quiet, sit like a turtle, walk as vigorous as a dove, and sleep like a dog." Lee could definitely sit like a turtle and hold his heart - the people around him remember how he could sit for hours in the same position with his eyes closed, palms on his knees and meditate all this time. Lee argued that a calm mind can provide a minimum of 100 years of healthy life.
Many believe that the secret of Li Qingyun's longevity is in special herbal elixirs.
When Li was 71, in 1748, he moved briefly to Kaixian to join the Chinese army and teach martial arts there. The most famous photograph of Li Qingyun was taken 179 years later - in 1927, when Li was visiting the governor of Sichuan, General of the National Revolutionary Army Yang Sen. Then the general threw a whole banquet in honor of such an unusual guest.
Herbalist Li Qingyun is considered unofficially to have lived the longest life.
Li Qingyun died six years later. Rumor has it that this was a conscious choice of a long-liver. There is a legend that Lee said just before his death: “I did everything I had to do in this world. I'm going home"
Secrets of Chinese Traditional Medicine