According to the statistics of Rugao Civil Affairs Bureau, there are 2,097 elderly people over 95, 5,800 elderly people over 90 and 49,000 elderly people over 80 in Rugao. The oldest centenarian is Zhang Tianshi, 20 14 years 109 years old. There are many birthday girls in Rugao, which is an important reason why Rugao has become one of the six longevity counties and cities in China. There are also many birthday girls in Rugao history. Not long ago, the author inadvertently read Rugao County Records and learned that Rugao County Records recorded the longevity people over the years, among which Rugao County Records Jiaqing Records also recorded that two longevity stars participated in the "Millennium" during the Qianlong period.
"Thousand Banquets" is a grand celebration held by the Qing emperor to celebrate his birthday. At that time, provincial officials, gentry and old people all went to Beijing to celebrate his birthday. This activity was called "Thousand Banquets" at that time. As for the "Thousand Banquets", according to historical records, Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Qianlong held six banquets in the Qing Dynasty. On the one hand, the purpose is to publicize the policy of respecting and treating the elderly, on the other hand, it also reflects that "the country attaches great importance to the city and the scenery is unique here." In these six "Thousand Banquets", Emperor Kangxi presided over four times. On the fourth day of the first month of Jiaqing's first year, the "Thousand Banquets" hosted by Emperor Qianlong for 8000 elderly people were the most prosperous and unprecedented. On October 26th, 60/KLOC-0, Emperor Qianlong decided to hold his son Yan's enthronement ceremony in the Spring Festival of the first month of the following year, and held a "Thousand Banquets" during this period. Since then, three orders have been issued on1October 28th,1October 22nd,1February16th, explaining the reasons for holding the "Thousand Banquets" and the age requirements for banquets. According to the imperial edict, "people over 60 need a pre-banquet ... people over 70 are allowed to attend the banquet." After the promulgation of the decree, provincial officials quickly forwarded the notice in full. As a result, elderly people over 60 years old, who have physical and economic conditions and are willing to support the elderly to go to Beijing for a pre-banquet, have all arrived in Beijing under the organization of local officials. As a result, Rugao birthday star Wu Jichang (8 1 year old) and Shi Jingyu became one of the 8,000 old people who went to Beijing. "Rugao County Records Jiaqing Record" records: "Wu Jichang, whose real name is Wei Ting, is 81 years old. In the Millennium of the Qing emperor, I worshipped Pin Guan eight times and got a dove's staff and a silver medal, which won me a thousand years ... ". Shi Jingyu is also "respectful and generous, and is proud of pigeon sticks, silver medals, silks, true and strange numbers …". The two old people not only went to Beijing to attend the meeting, but also were allowed to sit down and be received by the emperor. What an honor it was then!
On the fourth day of the first month, a "Thousand Banquets" was held in Ningshou Palace. Attending the banquet were the royal princes, princes, Mongols, four princes, sons-in-law, royal ministers and officials, and 3,000 soldiers and civilians over 70 years old. Judging from the contents of the imperial edict and the records in Rugao County Records, the two old people who went to Beijing in Rugao were members of 3,000 people. In addition, 5000 elderly people aged 60-70 could not attend the banquet because Ningshou Palace could not accommodate them, but they were all given food one by one, and like the 3000 people who attended the banquet, they were given poems, wishful longevity sticks, silver medals and other things to commemorate them. The 8,000-person "Thousand Banquet" hosted by Emperor Qianlong was an unprecedented event. The reason why "Thousand Banquets" was decided to be held after the first month of the first year of Jiaqing was that it was 10 years since the last "Thousand Banquets", and Emperor Qianlong had been emperor for 60 years, especially "unprecedented". The holding of the "Thousand Banquets" showed that "the country was tired of attaching importance to Xi and the scenery was prosperous". The second reason was that Emperor Qianlong held the "Thousand Banquets" at the conferring ceremony.
Emperor Kanggan held a thousand banquets to respect the elderly, which objectively played a great positive role in improving and consolidating the prestige of the Qing Dynasty among the masses. Although it was not the best policy to respect the elderly under the poor traffic and material conditions at that time, it is still of practical significance to convene the elderly from all over the country to hold a "thousand banquets". Therefore, we should vigorously advocate and promote the social atmosphere of respecting and treating the elderly, especially when China is gradually entering an aging society. In 20 12, Li Jing, a professor of genetic anthropology at Fudan University, led the research group to launch the "Follow-up Survey on the Health of Longevity People in Rugao", and conducted DNA testing on 705 long-lived elderly people over 95 years old. It is found that the mitochondrial DNA of three human genes is significantly related to longevity. Professor Li Jing believes that genetic factors contribute about 25% to longevity, and comprehensive factors such as mental health, lifestyle, diet, water quality and air environment are the "longevity secrets" of Rugao people besides genes. It is understood that the world-famous longevity towns, such as Vilka Wang Ba in Peru and Lihua in Japan, are mostly "Xanadu" located in cold regions or far away from hubbub and pollution.
The results of previous censuses in China also show that most of the longevity people live in high-altitude valleys and sparsely populated frontiers, and the other five of China's "Six Longevity Homes"-Bama in Guangxi, Zhongxiang in Hubei, Leshan in Sichuan, Xinglong in Liaoning and Karamay in Xinjiang are better. Rugao, located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River plain and near the developed industrial areas, is an exception. However, it is precisely because they do not have too many "innate advantages", such as Rugao people's eating habits, life rules, health care experience and so on. It can become a "longevity template" that most urbanites can learn from.
Eat porridge in the morning and evening, and the food is fresh and diverse.
According to the sampling questionnaire survey of 120 elderly people in Rugao Longevity Research Institute in 2002, 60% of the elderly people eat coarse grains as well as flour and rice. Most elderly people eat vegetarian dishes, but only 1 person is vegetarian. Among them, 58% of the elderly mainly eat fish and eggs. According to the survey, 93% of Rugao centenarians eat rice, white flour and other coarse grains such as corn, barley and yuanmai. In addition to staple food, there are vegetables, fruits and dried fruits. There are also supplies, including meals, snacks and snacks, which are quite diverse. In the survey, the research group led by Professor Li Jing also found that the long-lived elderly people consume more eggs and milk, of which the milk intake is more than 2.5 kilograms per person per month, and the meat protein intake is very low; More than 30% people like to drink honey, and more than 40% people often eat red dates and usually eat more fruits and vegetables. Rugao people's diet has a very obvious feature, that is, they drink porridge in the morning and evening and eat at noon. According to the survey, 74% of the long-lived elderly have porridge and rice for lunch in the morning and evening. People in Bama, the hometown of longevity, also have this habit. The advantage of drinking porridge in the morning is to regulate the spleen and stomach. After a night of peristalsis, the stomach was basically empty. At this time, the empty stomach needs to replenish water and absorb nutrients. There is a saying in Chinese medicine that "the age is over 500, and Yin Qi is 500", which shows that the elderly have the problem of insufficient kidney essence to varying degrees. Drinking porridge regularly can play a role in tonifying kidney and essence and prolonging life. In Rugao, the average family takes a pot of hot rice porridge or corn porridge as the main food in the morning and evening, plus steamed bread and other staple foods. Those young people who eat soybean milk fried dough sticks in dim sum shops because they catch up with the morning shift should also drink a bowl of corn porridge after eating a bowl of rice at night.
Professor Li Jing's investigation found that the long-lived elderly have low blood routine index, thin body shape and good liver function. They have never suffered from tumors, diabetes, stroke and other diseases. In modern cities, the pace of life is accelerating, and many young people like to buy 1 time a week. They buy all the vegetables, fruits, meat and eggs they need for a week and stuff them in the refrigerator. According to the author of Rugao Longevity Plan, Rugao people pay special attention to freshness when eating, and are called "fresh water" by local people. Rugao people rarely store vegetables in the refrigerator, and basically buy them in the morning market. The data show that the extracts of fresh and common vegetables such as radish, green vegetables, bean sprouts and loofah have obvious antiviral effect, because they contain an interferon inducer that can inhibit tumors, but after two days, these vegetables will contain almost no antiviral and anticancer substances.
Sun your back to prevent diseases, take less baths and soak your feet more.
In addition to diet, Rugao people also maintain many special living habits and health care methods, which are passed down from generation to generation, just like the "longevity secret" of local people. Rugao people like to prevent diseases by sunbathing, among which "sunbathing" is the most popular. Rugao people believe that the normal viscera function is supported by yang, and the body can resist the invasion of diseases only if the yang is sufficient. Therefore, Rugao elderly people generally love to bask in the sun. What is different is that the focus of sunbathing is "sunbathing on the back", so that enough Yang Can can drive away Yin Qi, who is entrenched in his back, and his body feels warm all year round. Locals often ridicule that they are using the sun as a "free tonic" to improve the constitution of yang deficiency and enhance the body's immunity. Such "free" health care methods include rubbing hands, rubbing faces and rubbing feet. Rugao elderly people usually rub their hands first, and then rub their faces with hot hands, rubbing their jaws, mouth, nose, eyes, forehead, ears, temples and cheeks again. Rugao old people also pay attention to rubbing their feet, usually sooner or later. Rub their hands first, then rub their soles. There are two common methods: one is to put two feet face to face on the bed, rub your right foot with your left hand and rub your left foot with your right hand; The other is to massage from the center of the foot to the toes with the fingertips of the middle finger or index finger, every time 100-200 times, and then press it again every few days, and finally it can reach 500- 1000 times. Take fewer baths and soak your feet more in winter. Rugao people think that the yang is dormant in winter, and the elderly are deficient in both qi and blood. If the elderly take a bath too frequently in winter, their skin will relax, body fluid will flow out, their spiritual vitality will leak out and their blood will be consumed. Therefore, Rugao elderly people do not take a bath in winter, and do not advocate back massage, because the back hides yang, and massage will disturb the yang, leading to the leakage of yang. Instead, Rugao people prefer to soak their feet in hot water to regulate their whole body. This is because the foot has reflex zones and numerous acupoints. Soaking feet with hot water can stimulate reflex zones and acupoints, promote blood circulation of feet and the whole body, and thus accelerate the metabolism of the body.
Optimistic mood, generations live in harmony.
Professor Li Jing and his research team found that 90% of the long-lived elderly people are optimistic and have very harmonious family relationships. Most of them have lived under the same roof for many generations. In 2004, Rugao municipal government organized an activity of taking family photos of five generations under one roof, which attracted 158 families to participate. It is understood that Rugao has always had a tradition of respecting, loving and supporting the elderly. Many Rugao people believe that the traditional filial piety culture is deeply rooted in people's hearts, and those who can't be filial are condemned by their conscience. Over time, anxiety fills the heart, and diseases follow. Filial piety to the children of the elderly, peace of mind, harmony of viscera, is conducive to health and longevity. Studies have shown that for humans who are used to living in groups, long-term solitude will cause great social and psychological pressure, and may even cause endocrine system disorder and immune function decline. Old people who have lived under the same roof for generations and are respected by their children have been well taken care of in daily life, food, clothing, housing and transportation. More importantly, the elderly who have lived under the same roof for generations can enjoy the family happiness of their children and grandchildren around their knees, avoid the pain of loneliness, maintain a happy mood and inner satisfaction, which is conducive to prolonging life.