Bodyshock: The Amazing Story behind the 256 Year-Old Man

Bodyshock: The Amazing Story behind the 256 Year-Old Man

www.environmentalgraffiti.com...

According to the 1933 obituaries in both Time Magazine and the New York Times, Li Ching-Yun was reported to have buried 23 wives and fostered 180 descendants by the time he died at the age of 256.

Was he really that old? Could he have forgotten his own birthday or exaggerated his claim? Environmental Graffiti investigates.

The Secrets to an Interminable Life

“Keep a quiet heart, sit like a tortoise, walk sprightly like a pigeon and sleep like a dog.” These were the words of advice Li gave to

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[edit on 4-5-2008 by ChadAndrewATS]

Is anyone else wondering why we weren't been told about Li Ching-Yun, sooner? He must have been in perfect shape or just blessed. He looks like a 90 year-old in this picture:

According to the 1933 obituaries in both Time Magazine and the New York Times, Li Ching-Yun was reported to have buried 23 wives and fostered 180 descendants by the time he died at the age of 256.

Was he really that old? Could he have forgotten his own birthday or exaggerated his claim? Environmental Graffiti investigates.

The Secrets to an Interminable Life

“Keep a quiet heart, sit like a tortoise, walk sprightly like a pigeon and sleep like a dog.” These were the words of advice Li gave to Wu Pei-fu, the warlord, who took Li into his house to learn the secret of extremely long life.

Li maintained that inward calm and peace of mind were the secrets to incredible longevity. His diet after all, was mainly based on rice and wine.

www.environmentalgraffiti.com...
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 5-5-2008 by ChadAndrewATS]

I've got a feeling that your leg is being pulled.

Old guys are not exactly past pulling the wool over youn'uns eyes.

Maybe, but as science progresses, expect to see a lot more over 200 year olds who will probably look younger, about 25.

reply to post by Now_Then

Yea, it might be a hoax, but I don't know if we're being fooled by the author of that story or not. I would like to keep an open-mind, even though you could be right about Li Ching-Yun. Aren't there ways to examine his remains & confirm his age?


If his body wasn't mummified & preserved, since his death, I doubt we can easily confirm his age without the records kept by the communist-government of China (or his descendants).

I really don't have trouble believing that someone lived to be more than two centuries old. Stranger things happen in nature. Then there is also the belief by some that the Bible was not exaggerating or that the numbers were mistranslated, when it told of people who lived for multiple centuries. And lastly, scientists actually have a hard time explaining why we degenerate so quickly in general.

Originally posted by _Phoenix_
Maybe, but as science progresses, expect to see a lot more over 200 year olds who will probably look younger, about 25.

Only after they have figured out an acceptable method of population control.

This just gave me a pretty great idea. I think when I'm old, I'll sever my contacts and go somewhere remote, to ensure that a death certificate is not issued for me when the time comes- then have my heir's auction off all of the documentation some younger old-timer would need to pass himself off as me (along with a clause that each "me" must pass the legacy forward and pay a small fee to my family).

How long do you think it would be till somebody figured out that I was full of it? 250? 500? 1000?

Been done before.

You might have to wear a funny spandex outfit, thought.


The Ghost Who Walks

reply to post by jackinthebox

I know what you mean. I've seen a lot of strange things, lately.

"World's Oldest Women"


"The World's Oldest Man in History"
(According to the makers of the 2007 Guinness Book of World Records):

Shigechiyo Izumi of Isen on Tokunoshima, an island 820 miles Southwest of Tokyo, JAPAN, lived to be 120 years 237 days old. He was born in Insen on June 29, 1865, and was recorded as a six-year-old in Japan's first Census of 1871. He died on February 21, 1986 of pneumonia. It is claimed that he worked until he was 105 years old, drank barley wine, and took up smoking cigarettes at the age of 70.

Mr. Louis Epstein of New York adds, "As a curious coincidence, Izumi died on Jeanne Calment's 111th birthday. Whether he really was born in 1865 is still open to question by experts, as the 6-year-old recorded in the 1871 Japanese Census might, in fact, have been a brother who died young and for whom he was named. However, for practical purposes, he remains the Guinness historical male recordholder

Oldest Living Man

Oldest living man at 115 discovered in Ukraine.

LONGEVITY/HOW ZARO AĞA(AGHA) LIVED 160 YEARS

 Reaching an old age has fascinated people for ages. There are many organizations dedicated to exploring the causes behind aging, ways to prevent aging, and ways to reverse aging.

 In Turkey there are many accounts of long-lived humans, the oldest being Zaro Ağa living to be 160 years old.Zaro Agha, who lived for 160 years, between the years of 1774- 1934, is the longest living human being ever known ( www.time.com... *Died. Zaro Agha. circa 160. a Turk believed to be the oldest man in the world; of uremia; in Istanbul. Doctors who examined Zaro Agha thought his abnormal pituitary gland responsible for his longevity, never wholly subscribed to his statement that he was born two years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. ). Zaro Agha moved to Istanbul during the last years of 18'th Century, and spent over more than 100 years of his life working as a porter.

 Zaro Agha lived for more than a century and a half, he witnessed the rule of 10 Ottoman Sultans, and during his life he fought in 6 major wars. Because of his long life, he became a topic of interest in the West, and in 1925 he visited Italy, the US in 1930, and Germany in 1931
(www.casperstartribune.townnews.c... om/articles/2005/12/30/news/casper/27681 b4fee72a91d872570430005c363.txt

 Him again -- Zaro Agha was in the news again, coming to America to get a set of false teeth. Agha was, with the backdrop of Prohibition, touted as proof that abstaining from alcohol had health benefits like an exceptionally long life, as long as 156 years. )

 Many media outlets in the west and in Turkey conducted interviews with him, and wrote about interesting details about his life(www.time.com... rticle/0,9171,738854-1,00.html *Turk
In Istanbul, Turkey, toothless Zaro Agha who claimed he was 156 years old, had buried n wives, had never taken a drink of liquor, received an invitation from the American Anti-Alcohol Society to visit the U.S. Onion -www.iht.com... news/OLD27.php *1930: Taxi Hits Oldest Man

 NEW YORK: Zaro Agha, the 156-year-old Turk who came out of the ancient East to show the modern world what the oldest living man looks like, fell victim to modernism today [Sept. 26], and is near death. An automobile knocked him down on busy 20th-century Broadway. Physicians say his condition is critical. Agha, who came to the United States several months ago to give scientists an opportunity to marvel at him, was standing on the curb with his great-grandson, who is acting as his manager. An automobile grazed him and knocked him down, his head striking the pavement. He was taken unconscious to a drugstore and then to a hospital. The taxi driver disappeared in traffic.- www.brow.on.ca... *Zaro Agha worked as a porter, and died in an Istanbul hospital on June 29, 1934 at the age of 164.
[url=http://www.nlag.net/Sermons/Tran.MJGREATETERNALGOD.htm[/url]

 In fact, Zaro Agha became a father for the last time at the age of 90 and lived on to see that child's 74th birthday!-bucklesw.blogspot.com... 006_07_01_bucklesw_archive.html *For the first time in London a Turkish gentleman, Zaro Agha by name, who has just celebrated his 156th birthday and is far and away the oldest man in existence.)

 So if we see what these people did in common we can have very good hints about longevity What Zaro Ağa did briefly is simply eating yogurt, bulgur with black cumin seeds,not eating late and working in jobs demanding physical activity like working in constructions.Another person who lived long was Vehbi Koç the richest person of Turkey.

 Vehbi Koç has always advised people to sleep half an hour in the afternoon.
I think it is not enough to eat natural foods. The only way of regenerating your body is sending the food ingredients with a good blood circulation.And what other long-lifed people do is to have cold showers to improve their blood circulation.Some ideas from me is combining cold showers with 1 clove garlic,7 hot peppers called cayenne,one table spoon garlic powder each day for better blood circulation,to eat natural foods and praying &helping others to place positive energy with negative energy and to be only afraid of God.

If you want to change ideas with me you can write to :
hitturkey24@/yahoo.com
Best Regards
Ibrahim Tutuncuoglu

[edit on 5-5-2008 by ChadAndrewATS]

Originally posted by ben91069

Originally posted by _Phoenix_
Maybe, but as science progresses, expect to see a lot more over 200 year olds who will probably look younger, about 25.

Only after they have figured out an acceptable method of population control.

Yes of course.

Originally posted by ChadAndrewATS
reply to post by Now_Then

 

Aren't there ways to examine his remains & confirm his age?

Well - yet another area that I am no expert in (one day I'll find one!)

Carbon dating is probably out of the question - carbon dating relies of the predictable decay of certain carbon atoms... Fine you might say, but it is the last carbon your body assimilates that gives a definitive date - almost the last meal, all other carbon would simply date from the year or so previous to death - as all cells are renewed.

Aside from cutting him in half and counting the rings, that really only leaves written records - so you have to put your faith in those, it stands to reason that no living person will recall a 256 year old person from day of birth to day of death, he could simply be the 4th 70 year old keeping up the joke

reply to post by Now_Then


I know what you mean. Many people have decided to give up hope of discovering (and confirming) how old Li Chin-Yun was, when he died.

The oldest article about him I've found is available at: plantcures.com...

The column to the left [meaning: left of that webpage] is the New York Times article exactly as it appeared. Newspapers all over the world reported his death.

º That article was written in 1933 by the New York Times:

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.

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.”

en.wikipedia.org...

Li Ching-Yuen was supposedly born in 1677 in Chyi Jiang Hsie, Szechuan province. He spent most of his life in the mountain ranges gathering herbs and knowledge of longevity methods.
In 1748, when he was 71 years old, he moved to Kai Hsien to join the Chinese army as a teacher of the martial arts and as a tactical advisor.
In 1927, Li Ching Yuen was invited by General Yang Sen to visit him in Wann Hsien, Szechuan. The general was fascinated by his youthfulness, strength and prowess in spite of his advanced age. His famous portrait was photographed there.
Returning home, he died a year later. Some say of natural causes, while others claim that he told friends that "I have done all I have to do in this world. I will now go home," before he died.
After Li's death, General Yang Sen investigated the truth about his claimed background and age. He wrote a report that was later published. In 1933, people interviewed from his home province remembered seeing him when they were children, and that he hadn't aged much during their lifetime. Others reported that he had been friends with their grandfathers.

[edit on 5-5-2008 by ChadAndrewATS]

-double post-

[edit on 5-5-2008 by ChadAndrewATS]

There's no way this man was 256.

This falls into the "spiritual practice" type of longevity myth.

"This myth asserts that certain philosophies or religious practices allow a person to live to extreme old age. These types of myths are most common in the Far East. For example, some Daoists have claimed to live to over 200 years. In China, Li-Ching-Yuen was noted to be 256 years old when he died in 1933 [67]. Not only was his age claim fantastical, and the number chosen as a multiple of eight (considered good luck in China), but the rationale was that he lived so long due to his following a certain practice or way of life. This type of myth is also found in Buddhism. For example, Nyala Rinpoche claimed to be 142 in 1978 and to have attained a state where he no longer consisted of flesh but was “pure light” [68].

Hindu yogis often also claim extreme age, such as the Swami Bua, variously said to be “118” (www.yogasutranyc.com...) or even “120,” or Swami Kalyan Dev, who was noted to be “130 years old” (www.mangalyoga.com...). In a case such as this, followers can hope to live as long as the “Master” if they follow his guidance and direction. In the case of the spiritual practice myth, extreme age is associated with the supernatural and is often achieved through some activity. This is different than the concept of “religious blessing” common to monotheistic religions, whereby longevity is attained by finding grace or favor from God or gods, for example, the Religious Authority myth. Claims of this nature continue today."

This man was probably over 100, perhaps over 110, given that the 80-year-olds recalled him as being an adult when they were children, but the idea he lived to 256 is scientifically impossible. 256 is of religious importance in Chinese religions, being a multiple of 8, and so this man was definitely not 256, or even 197.