One of the most famous tales in all of Chinese medicine is that of a master herbalist, healer and mountain man known as Li Ching-Yuen. His death in 1933 was reported in newspapers across the world, including obituaries that ran in both Time magazine and the New York Times. He was said to have buried 23 wives and had been living with his 24th, a woman of 60, and had 180 descendants stretching back eleven generations. The fingernails of his venerable right hand were six inches long, yet he appeared to be man somewhere in his 60’s. A posthumous account written three years after his death by Chinese General Yang Sen entitled “A Factual Account of the 250 Year-Old Good-Luck Man.”, described him as having stood seven feet tall with good eyesight, a brisk stride and a ruddy complexion. Li Ching-Yuen was 256 years old.
Imperial records indicate Li Chung Yun was born in 1677 in Chyi Jiang Hsie, Szechuan province. He spent most of his life in the mountain ranges gathering herbs and knowledge of longevity methods. In 1748, when he was 71 years old, he moved to Kai Hsien to join the Chinese army as teacher of the martial arts and as a tactical advisor. Records state that the Imperial Chinese government congratulated him both on his 150thth birthdays. Correspondents from the New York Times in 1928 reported that the oldest residents in Szechuan claimed that their grandfathers had known him when they were children, and looked much the same as he had upon his death.
