This Man Claimed to Be 197 Years Old; Records Show He Was 256

The pursuit of extreme longevity has been ingrained in our human story through all of history. Herodotus wrote of the fabled Fountain of Youth in the 5th century BC, and this tale has continued to fascinate the imagination ever since. In 1513, the Spanish explorer Ponce De Leon set off on a storied quest to locate the Fountain of Youth, which he believed was located in Florida. To this day, Hindus believe extreme longevity is possible through the dedication to a purely spiritual life, with many documented cases of Yogis living well beyond the typical human lifespan.

Today, futurists like Aubrey DeGrey believe technological medical advances could lead to lifespans of up to 1000 years; others, like Ray Kurzweil, imagine a world where the replacement of failing body parts could essentially make us immortal. But for one man, the fountain of youth was found in a simple philosophy towards life and a collection of herbs found high in the mountains of China.

Li Ching-Yuen died in May of 1933. Li claimed to have been born in 1736, which would have made him a staggering 197 years old. And while evidence shows that Li would often lie about his age, it appears his lies were intended to actually make him seem younger than he was. In 1930, the New York Times published an article which referenced Imperial Chinese government records from 1827- confirming Li was 150 years old at that time. Another notice from the same source congratulated Li on his 200th birthday in 1877, making him 256 years old when he passed away of natural causes. Numerous Chinese publications confirmed these reports of his age, as well as stateside articles in Time and The Pittsburg Press.

Li spent the early part of his life studying herbalism and qigong in the mountains. At the tender age of 72, he began a new career as a military advisor in the martial arts. He was reported to have had 24 wives and 200 descendants, spanning 11 generations at the time of his death. Other sources claimed a mere 14 wives.

One surviving photograph of Li was taken in 1927 by Army General Yang Sen. He would later publish a report called “The Factual Account of The 250-Year-Old Good Luck Man” in which Yang Sen wrote: “He has good eyesight and a brisk stride; Li stands seven feet tall, has very long fingernails, and a ruddy complexion.” While Li’s story has been told many times, his unusually tall height is often underrepresented. At 7 feet tall, Li was exceptional even by today’s standards, and especially large for 17th century China: the average height today for a Chinese man is 5’6”, and it is believed that the average in the 17th century would have been closer to 5’2”.

Many studies examining the link between height and longevity have overwhelmingly found that taller men tend to live shorter lives, which makes Li’s story even more exceptional.

When asked the secret to his longevity, Li said “retain a calm heart, sit like a turtle, walk swiftly like a pigeon, and sleep like a dog.” Embracing a low-stress lifestyle has obvious and wide-ranging effects on health and longevity, but could that be enough to live over 250 years?

Of course, a healthy diet would play a part as well. Early in his life, Li began a diet consisting almost entirely of goji berries, linghzi, ginseng, and other herbs, including an unnamed herb he discovered in the Yunnan mountains which would “prevent the ravages of old age.”

Living in a remote, mountainous area may have been an important factor as well. Again this would contribute to a peaceful, low stress lifestyle; and high altitude living has been directly linked to a decreased risk of heart disease.

This combination of fortuitous circumstances might be enough to provide a life over 100 years, and possibly a decade or two more. Jeanne Louise Calment, who claims the longest verified lifespan on record, lived to be 122. The secret to her longevity? Regular bicycle rides and eating over 2 lbs of chocolate a week. But is it physically possible for a human body to last 250 years? The vast majority of biologists and gerontologists would say no. And yet throughout the East, similar tales of extremely long lives are commonplace; although few are as well documented as the case of Li Ching-Yuen.

One of Li’s disciples recounted a tale of an even more ancient individual: on one of his frequent expeditions into the remote mountains, Li, 135 years old at the time, stumbled upon a hermit who claimed to be over 500 years old. The elder man, when pressed to reveal his secrets, instructed Li in a series of Qigong techniques, including breathing exercises, coordinated movements, and dietary suggestions. Li began performing these exercises with sincerity and faith every day.

Indian history is full of extreme longevity tales: Devraha Baba was an Indian Yogi who lived beside the Yamuna river. While he never made claims of his own age, reliable sources including Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first President of Independent India, claimed Baba lived to be 250 years old.

Tales of Yogis regularly living past their 150th year are common, as in the case of Trailanga Swami, who was reported to live to 280, and Mahavatar Babaji, who, according to the guru Yogananda, was over 500 years old in 1920.

In 2017, an Indonesian man, known as Mbah Gotho, died at the age of 142. While official Indonesian birth records verified his age, skeptical critics have debated the accuracy of these national records. Hundreds of other stories from the Far East contain similar claims of extreme longevity.  Li’s case is especially compelling due to the government documentation and multiple reports in credible publications.

While some scientists are quick to point out the human body can not accomplish such longevity, our physiology has been known to produce miraculous results under the power of the mind and spirit, as with the Tibetan monks who can regulate their own body temperature during meditation- or Qigong practitioners who have made large tumors disappear with the mere waving of their hands. Other scientists, like Aubrey DeGrey, Chief Science Officer at the SENS Research Foundation, believe that the technology to produce extreme longevity already exists, and it is primarily our cognitive bias towards the inevitability of aging that keeps us from achieving longer lifespans.

DeGrey’s research foundation has published numerous papers showing exciting theoretical possibilities for repairing many of the fundamental cellular breakdowns that cause aging. Human trials are set to begin in 2021, which DeGrey hopes will motivate a change of thinking about how we age. He cites the expectation that aging is necessary as the biggest hurdle in his work. As he has said, “the cultural attitudes toward all of this are going to have to be completely turned upside down.”

Is it possible that our thoughts and beliefs play the most critical role in the aging process? Perhaps the true secret to Li-Ching Yuen’s longevity was not merely his diet, lifestyle, or Qiqong exercises, but his belief that they would work.