The artist Huang Yongyu [Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

Huang Yongyu says he doesn't purposely live a healthy lifestyle.

Huang stays up late at night. He doesn't exercise and he doesn't like fruit. He also smokes.

A native of Hunan province, he jokes that his favorite dish is "red peppers fried with green peppers".

Even so, he is in good health. He walks fast and doesn't use crutches. He speaks clearly and reads newspapers without glasses. His only physical weakness is a deaf left ear.

He raises around 10 dogs and several cats at the Garden of Ten Thousand Lotuses. He remembers each of their names, and he calls two dogs Min Zhu (meaning democracy in Chinese) and Ke Xue (science).

He watches Fei Cheng Wu Rao, or If You're The One, a popular dating game show, on the weekends. "Elderly people need to understand more about the way young people think and talk," he says.

Meanwhile he says he is old-fashioned. "I don't know how to use computer or cellphone. I once told people that I'm much better with the electric flashlight."

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