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Li Ching Yuen Lived To Be
197!
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New York Times May 6,
1933
LI CHING-YUN DEAD; GAVE HIS
AGE AS 197.
“Keep a Quiet Heart, Sit
Like a Tortoise, Sleep Like a Dog,” His Advice for a Long
Life.
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.
 Inquiry Put Age At 256.
Reported to have
buried 23 wives and had 180 descendents – sold herbs for first
100 years.
Peiping, May 5 – Li Ching-Yun, a resident of
Kaihsien, in the Province of Szechwan, who contended that he
was one of the world’s oldest men and said he was born in 1736
– which would make him 197 years old – died today.
A
Chinese dispatch from Chungking telling of Mr. Li’s death said
he attributed his longevity to peace of mind and that it was
his belief every one could live at least a century by
attaining inward calm.
Compared with estimates of Li
Ching-yun’s age in previous reports from
China
the above dispatch is conservative. In 1930 it was said
Professor Wu Chung-chien, dean of the department of Education
in Minkuo
University, had
found records showing Li was born in 1677 and that Imperial
Chinese Government congratulated him on his 150th and 200th
birthdays.
A correspondent of The New York Times wrote
in 1928 that many of the oldest men in Li’s neighborhood
asserted their grandfathers knew him as boys and that he was
then a grown man.
According to the generally accepted
tales told in his province. Li was able to read and write as a
child, and by his tenth birthday had traveled in
Kansu,
Shansi,
Tibet,
Annam,
Siam
and Manchuria gathering herbs. For the
first hundred years he continued at this occupation. Then he
switched to selling herbs gathered by others.
Wu
Pei-fu, the warlord, took Li into his house to learn the
secret of living to 250. Another pupil said Li told him to
“keep a quiet heart, sit like a tortoise, walk sprightly like
a pigeon and sleep like a dog.”
According to one
version of Li’s married life he had buried away twenty-three
wives and was living with his twenty-fourth, a woman of ’60.’
Another account, which in 1928 credited him with 180 living
descendents, comprising eleven generations, recorded only
fourteen marriages. This second authority said his eyesight
was good; also, that the finger nails of his right hand were
very long, and “long” for a Chinese might mean longer than any
finger nails ever dreamed of in the
United
States.
One statement
of The Times correspondent which probably caused skeptical
readers to believe Li was born more recently that 1677, was
that “many who have seen him recently declare that his facial
appearance is no different from that of persons two centuries
his junior.” |
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The column to the left is the New York
Times article exactly as it appeared. Newspapers all over the world
reported his death!
There
is always truth and some non-truth in these kind of things. I for one do
not believe he lived to be 256 as the Chinese government trys to say.
I do believe he was born when he said he was (1736) - Not 1677!
Why would he lie about that and pretend he was younger then he was?
This would not make sense.
According to all the data I could find, It seems
that Li Ching Yun consumed mostly a diet of wild plants and fruit. There
is evidence that he ate fish often and wild meat occasionally. (About two
times a year)
The herbs that he consumed regularly were He
Shou Wu, Ginseng, and Gou Qi Zi (Wolfberries) He ate the Wolfberries raw
and cooked the He Shou Wu with the Ginseng.
It is also known that
he consumed Gotu Kola regularly
both fresh as a salad and brewed as a tea.
There is also some evidence that he may have also put these four herbs (along
with Dang Gui and Gan Cao) in strong liquor as a tincture and drank a
swallow or two every day.
If I had to say which single herb from these had
the most "anti-aging" properties I would have to say
He Shou
Wu!
A concentrated powerful liquid extract of these
herbs above called, "Li Ching Shou Wu"
is available here.
We also have fresh sun dried 1 Lb packages of
True "1st Grade" Wolfberries
calledGou Qi Zi - "1st Grade” is a true Chinese
Classification entirely different then the regular grade. These are large,
bright red, soft, chewy, much like raisons and tast wonderful!
Read an article
by Li Ching Yuen himself!
In the fifties, the Domestic and Foreign Magazine reported the story of
a Li Qing yun in Sichuan province, who died at the age of 250 in 1930.
It’s more then possible this is the same Li Ching Yun mentioned above.
In his own account (from an interview in the 1920's) Li says,
“When I was 139 years old,
and before I met my Master, I could still walk and do the power walk, as
if I practiced Chinese martial arts. As a result some people thought I
might be a deity or an accomplished swordsman.
At the time I thought it was really
amusing. I think the reason that I have lived this long and am still
perpetually healthy is because nothing has irritated me since I was 40
years old. Because of that, my heart is very calm, peaceful and divinely
tranquil. That is why I am free from any illness, and always healthy and
happy.
At the age of fifty when I went to a
mountain to collect some herbs, I met an elderly man who lived on the
secluded mountain. He didn't appear to be a supernormal man, but he took
big strides when he walked, as if he was flying in the air. No matter how
hard I tried, I could not keep up with him. Later, I met him again. I
knelt before him and begged for his secret. He gave me some wild fruits
and said, “My only secret is that I only eat these fruits.” I took the
fruits, and found that they were Chinese Wolfberries. Since then I
consumed three qian of Chinese Wolfberries daily (a qian is the weight used to measure Chinese
medicine which is equal to five grams). From then on I became healthy
and agile. I can walk a hundred li (a li equals half a kilometer)
and not feel tired. I became better in strength and stamina than an
average person.” |
Formulators Of Natural
Medicine