When the International Society of Natural Medicine held a conference in Japan, in November 1991, the Guangxi Zhuang region’s Bama Yao county was declared the world’s fifth site of longevity, after the Caucasus in Russia, Hunza in Pakistan, Willkapamp in Ecuador, and the Xinjiang region of China.

China’s fifth census, in 2000, showed 3,160 people in Bama Yao between the ages of 80 and 99, and 74 centenarians, the oldest one of whom was 116, giving it almost 31 centenarians for every 100,000 people, putting it in first place in the world.