Li Ching-Yuen
Chinese martial artist and herbalist who claimed extreme longevity · Doctors · Died 1933
A Chinese herbalist and martial artist who died in 1933 claiming to have been born in 1677 - a span of 256 years that gerontologists dismiss as myth, but which keeps his name in circulation as longevity's most audacious fable.
Li Ching-Yuen is read about 704 times a day, in 40 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 1 November 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 106 days, one point a day.
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About this person
Li Ching-Yuen worked as an herbalist, martial artist, and tactical advisor in China, occupations that carried him through a life whose true length remains unknown. He alleged his birth year was 1677, a claim that would place his death on 6 May 1933 at an age of 256. Gerontologists regard the figure as myth - no evidence supports the span, and his actual age was never determined. What persists is the story itself: a man who either lived impossibly long or told the century's most enduring lie about time.