The story of the Chinese perennial Li Chengion was not scientifically confirmed. According to separate information, this man lived 256 years and died in 1933. Al -Muammar himself claimed that he was born in 1736. The sheikh launched the Qijianxian settlement in his birth. The neighbors said that the sheikh married 23 times and had more than 200 children.
A story was studied by many scientists and journalists. In 1930, a numbers of the New York Times published a material in which Professor Wu Chung Tzei from a Chengdu university was published by government records of the Chinese Empire since 1827. The record contains information about the official congratulations of the Chinese centenary on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of its founding. Today's champion is Lee Chengion. And the second entrance of 1877. It talks about congratulating the same old man, but on the second centenary. Lee Chengion died on May 6, 1933 at the age of 256.
Li initially claimed that he was born in 1736, but government records discovered later in his life reportedly placed his birth date in 1677, meaning he would have been 256 years old when he died in 1933.
With the oldest verified lifespan in history less than half of Li’s supposed age, did the Chinese herbalist lie? Or did a man from the 17th century truly break the record for the world’s longest lifespan?
The Early Years Of Li Ching-Yuen
In the 1920s, the strange story of Li Ching-Yuen made headlines around the world. According to Snopes, Li was allegedly born in China’s Sichuan province in either 1677 or 1736. He claimed that he had spent his first century of life as a traveling herbalist, collecting medicinal plants from the country’s forests and mountains.
After he turned 100, Li said, he couldn’t travel as easily and began selling herbs that others had gathered.
The New York Times once reported that Li Ching-Yuen was married 24 times — only his final wife survived him — and had at least 180 descendants spanning 11 generations.
Li Ching-Yuen’s Secret To A Long Life
Wu Peifu reportedly met with Li Ching-Yuen in the late 1920s to learn his advice for living a long life. At that time, Li explained, according to TIME, that for decades he’d lived mainly on herbs and rice wine.
Li then went on to say that his secret was about more than his diet, however. He said that his approach on “how to get the most out of each century” began with “inward calm.”
Skepticism About The True Age Of Li Ching-Yuen
Did Li Ching-Yuen really live to be 256 years old? According to the Australian Associated Press, an expert in genetics from Boston University named Dr. Thomas Perls said in 2020, “Just from a demographic point of view, a claim of 256 is impossible.”
Even in Li’s final years, some expressed doubts about his age. “To skeptical Western eyes he looked much like any Chinese 60-year-old,” reported TIME in 1933.
The New York Times also hinted that Li’s allegations may not have been accurate. “Many who have seen him recently declare that his facial appearance is no different from that of persons two centuries his junior,” the newspaper reported.
It’s possible that Li simply took on the identity of a departed ancestor or someone else of the same name in order to bolster his claims, which would explain the official government records — if they were indeed genuine.