Wisdom of the aged

Insights on what matters most in life from 11 people, all of them more than 100 years old

If experience is the best teacher, China's elderly people have gathered plenty of valuable insights about life to hand down to later generations. They've seen a lot of history and passed through both good and bad times. So it's only natural to ask: What mattered most?

China Daily reporter Zhang Li, along with local dialect translator Li Ziyu and photographer Huang Xiaotao, visited 11 people-all of them over age 100-in Hezhou, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, to discover some of the most important lessons they learned during their long lives. Their report is one of a series about the Chinese Spirit, illustrating some of the best aspects of the nation's character.

The Chinese mainland has around 60,000 people over the age of 100. The oldest is Alimiha Seiti, a 133-year-old woman in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

In Guangxi, many factors may contribute to longevity, including genetics. The air is clean and the water is pure. Researchers explored such connections during a recent conference in Hezhou.

But elderly residents have some ideas of their own about what makes a difference in life. Here are some of their stories.