Li Ching-Yuen

Li Ching-Yuen (or Li Ching-Yun) [Simplified Chinese: 李清云; Traditional Chinese: 李清雲; pinyin: Lǐ Qīngyún] (may 3 1677 - may 6 1933) Was a Chinese herbalist and longevity claimant also known as possibly the oldest man in history. He Was Reported to have Died At the age of 256 years and 3 days on may 6 1933

## Early Life

Li Ching-Yuen was born at an uncertain date in Qijiang Xian, Sichuan (now Chongqing), Qing dynasty (China). He spent most of his life in the mountains and was skilled in Qigong. He worked as a herbalist and selling herbs and lived off a diet with rice wine. He was reported to be proponent of the use of Gotu Kola and others Chinese herbs to conquer longevity. It was after this he relocated to Kai Xian (now Kaizhou District) and there Li supposedly, at 72 years of age, in 1749, joined the army of provincial Commander-in-Chief Yeuh Jong Chyi, as a teacher of martial arts and as a tactical advisor.

## Later Life

In 1927, the National Revolutionary Army General Yang Sen [Chinese: 揚森] invited him to his residence in Wan Xian, Sichuan (now Wanzhou District, Chongqing).

The Chinese warlord Wu Peifu [Chinese: 吳佩孚] took him into his home in an attempt to discover the secret of living 250 years.

He died from natural causes on 6 May 1933 in Kai Xian, Sichuan, Republic of China (now Kaizhou District, Chongqing, China). He was survived by his 24th wife, a woman of 60 years. Li supposedly produced over 200 descendants during his life span, surviving 23 wives. Other sources credit him with 180 descendants, over 11 generations, living at the time of his death and 14 marriages.

After his death, the aforementioned Yang Sen wrote a report about him, *A Factual Account of the 250 Year-Old Good-Luck Man* [Chinese: 一个250岁长寿老人的真实记载], in which he described Li's appearance: "He has good eyesight and a brisk stride; Li stands seven feet tall, has very long fingernails, and a ruddy complexion."

## Biography (according to Yang Sen)

### Early Life

Accordigt to Yang Sen, Li Ching-Yuen was born in Qijiang County, Sichuan, Qing dynasty (now Qijiang District, Chongqing, China) in 1677. At age 13, he had embarked upon a life of gathering herbs in the mountains with three elders. At age 51, he served as a tactical and topography advisor in the army of General Yu Zhongqi.

At age 78, he retired from his military career after fighting in a battle at Golden River, and returned to a life of gathering herbs on Snow Mountain in Sichuan Province. Due to his military service in the army of General Yu Zhongqi, the imperial government sent a document congratulating Li on his one hundredth year of life, as was subsequently done on his 150th and 200th birthdays.

In 1928, Dean Wu Chung-chien of the Department of Education at Min Kuo University, discovered the imperial documents showing these birthday wishes to Li Qingyun. His discovery was first reported in the two leading Chinese newspapers of that period, *North China Daily News* and *Shanghai Declaration News,* and then maybe one year later, potentially in 1929 by *The New York Times* and *Time* magazine. Both of these theoretical Western publications also might have reported the death of Li Qingyun in May 1933.

### Later Life

In 1908, Li Qingyun and his disciple Yang Hexuan published a book, *The Secrets of Li Qingyun’s Immortality*.

In 1920, General Xiong Yanghe interviewed Li, as both men were from the village of Chenjiachang of Wan County, Sichuan (now Wanzhou District, Chongqing). He published an article about it in the Nanjing University paper that same year.

In 1926, Wu Peifu invited Li to Beijing. This visit coincides with Li teaching at the Beijing University Meditation Society at the invitation of the famous meditation master and author Yin Shi Zi.

Then in 1927, General Yang Sen invited Li to Wanxian, where the first known photographs of Li were taken. Word spread throughout China of Li Qingyun, and Yang Sen's commander, General Chiang Kai-shek, requested Li to visit Nanjing. However, when Yang Sen's envoys arrived at Li’s hometown of Chenjiachang, they were told by Li’s wife and disciples that he had died in nature, offering no more information. So, his actual date of death and location has never been verified. Li Ching-Yuen died in Kai Xian, Sichuan (now Kaizhou District, Chongqing), China in 1933.

## Age Issues

Li's claim could likely never be firmly established. The census documentation of rural 17th-century China is so sparse by comparison to modern records as to make any sort of successful investigation improbable. Li's history follows the course of other Chinese longevity myths, such as that of Chen Jun's 443 years and extreme fecundity. Given the hyperbolic claim, and its similarity to well-discounted longevity myths, experts universally discount his mythical age. The possibility that he was a true supercentenarian of some sort can be neither established nor definitively disconfirmed. However, no documentary evidence exists in support of the claim. Even Zaro Aga did not believe the claim when he heard of him in 1927.

By contrast, the longest confirmed, documentable lifespan is of a French woman, Jeanne Louise Calment, who died in 1997 at the age of 122 years, less than half the lifespan of Yuen. He also claims to have been 110 in 1787, over 110 years before the next time that happened.

The Taiji Quan Master Wong Kiew Kit wrote about Li Qing-Yun in his homepage, answering to his readers' questions: "I am not sure whether the Good Luck Man, Li Qing Yun, was a real person or just a myth, but he is certainly an inspiration to us."

Luo Meizhen, was a Chinese longevity claimant, falsely considered "Li-Ching Yuen" Along with the giant, Chang Woo-Gow who has also been falsely consider as Li ching yuen because of the 7ft (213.4cm) height they both have. But Chang Woo-Gow is an entire 8.75 in (22.2cm) taller at 7 ft 8.75 in (235.5cm).