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Liang Xinye emigrated from China at age 88, became a Canadian citizen at 100 and was feted Saturday as one of Ottawa’s oldest residents as she heads into the small — but growing — club of the world’s super-centenarians.
Family members admit they are shaky on the month and day that the tiny woman they call “Granny” was born, but are confident that she is 109 years old. That earned Xinye billing as the “star attraction” at the annual luncheon held in honour of the city’s Chinese seniors at the Bronson Centre by the Eastern Ontario Hoy Sun Association Canada.
There are said to be up 450 living super-centenarians — those who hit 110 and over — in the world, but only a fraction have had their age verified. The oldest person on record died at age 122 and the oldest living person today is an American woman who is 116.
Tributes for Xinye poured in — including those sent from Queen Elizabeth, Governor General David Johnson and Prime Minister Stephen Harper — but none were more glowing than from her far-flung family. They chalk up her longevity to a life of “generosity and kindness” rather than anything to do with diet and exercise.
“She doesn’t like to talk about her age … but she has always been so generous and kind and that’s why her children say she has lived for such a long time,” said granddaughter Betty Shang, who acted as interpreter.
She’s the grand matriarch of a sprawling clan of blended Chinese, French and Irish descendants with a mob of 39 grandchildren and great grandchildren across the country from Ottawa to Gander Newfoundland. Shang said some of the family ended up in Newfoundland because it had the cheapest Chinese head tax, which attracted their grandparents’ generation to settle here.
“We are the quintessential integrated family — Chinese, French and Irish,” said Shang. “Some emigrated, sponsored others, married, had kids. And all of them have been very successful here.”
Xinye was born in a small rural village in Guangdong, today the most populous province in China, one of eight children. She married in her early teens and had six children — the oldest, now deceased, would have been well into his 90s, and the youngest is 60.
Her grandchildren recall Xinye’s stories about hiding neighbours and friends during the Japanese invasion and living through the Chinese Revolution, which culminated in 1949 when Communist leader Mao Zedong declared the creation of the People’s Republic of China.
She spent her life as a housewife who continued to live on the modest family farm she had worked with her husband long after he died. Finally, after all but one of her children emigrated to Canada in search of what Shang called the “Golden Mountain,” she decided to pull up stakes and join them.
Arriving at age 88, she never mastered English, but she cheerfully gestured a thumbs-up to anyone who offered best wishes in English at Saturday’s luncheon.
She has lost her vision in one eye but until six months ago walked everywhere. She loves food, is meticulous about her dress and appearance and takes no medication other than a daily multivitamin. She lives at Westwood Retirement Residence where she still plays — and wins- at cards or the Chinese majong game.
Ask her about the secret to longevity, she replies: stay active, work hard, eat healthy, try to enjoy everything in life and always smile.
查看原文...
Family members admit they are shaky on the month and day that the tiny woman they call “Granny” was born, but are confident that she is 109 years old. That earned Xinye billing as the “star attraction” at the annual luncheon held in honour of the city’s Chinese seniors at the Bronson Centre by the Eastern Ontario Hoy Sun Association Canada.
There are said to be up 450 living super-centenarians — those who hit 110 and over — in the world, but only a fraction have had their age verified. The oldest person on record died at age 122 and the oldest living person today is an American woman who is 116.
Tributes for Xinye poured in — including those sent from Queen Elizabeth, Governor General David Johnson and Prime Minister Stephen Harper — but none were more glowing than from her far-flung family. They chalk up her longevity to a life of “generosity and kindness” rather than anything to do with diet and exercise.
“She doesn’t like to talk about her age … but she has always been so generous and kind and that’s why her children say she has lived for such a long time,” said granddaughter Betty Shang, who acted as interpreter.
She’s the grand matriarch of a sprawling clan of blended Chinese, French and Irish descendants with a mob of 39 grandchildren and great grandchildren across the country from Ottawa to Gander Newfoundland. Shang said some of the family ended up in Newfoundland because it had the cheapest Chinese head tax, which attracted their grandparents’ generation to settle here.
“We are the quintessential integrated family — Chinese, French and Irish,” said Shang. “Some emigrated, sponsored others, married, had kids. And all of them have been very successful here.”
Xinye was born in a small rural village in Guangdong, today the most populous province in China, one of eight children. She married in her early teens and had six children — the oldest, now deceased, would have been well into his 90s, and the youngest is 60.
Her grandchildren recall Xinye’s stories about hiding neighbours and friends during the Japanese invasion and living through the Chinese Revolution, which culminated in 1949 when Communist leader Mao Zedong declared the creation of the People’s Republic of China.
She spent her life as a housewife who continued to live on the modest family farm she had worked with her husband long after he died. Finally, after all but one of her children emigrated to Canada in search of what Shang called the “Golden Mountain,” she decided to pull up stakes and join them.
Arriving at age 88, she never mastered English, but she cheerfully gestured a thumbs-up to anyone who offered best wishes in English at Saturday’s luncheon.
She has lost her vision in one eye but until six months ago walked everywhere. She loves food, is meticulous about her dress and appearance and takes no medication other than a daily multivitamin. She lives at Westwood Retirement Residence where she still plays — and wins- at cards or the Chinese majong game.
Ask her about the secret to longevity, she replies: stay active, work hard, eat healthy, try to enjoy everything in life and always smile.
查看原文...
