There are 110 centenarians living in Maoming, Guangdong Province, in south China, and the majority, or 99, are women.
According to statistics, the number of centenarians in the city has shown a steady increase in recent years.
The oldest person was once a woman aged 114, but she died in the first half of 2001. At present, the oldest person now is Gan Hezhen, a woman aged 107.
Maoming is located in a mountainous region in the west of the province. With improving living standards there, the average life span of local people is getting longer, and there is one centenarian for about every 50,000 persons, twice over the national average.
(Xinhua News Agency January 27, 2002)
