A recent survey in China shows 80 percent of the centenarians in Taiyuan City, capital of north China's Shanxi Province, are women.
Taiyuan now has 21 centenarians, four of whom are men. In 2000, all the 13 centenarians in the city were women. Taiyuan's oldest resident is 109.
According to the survey, the 100-year-olds share similar characteristics. They keep regular eating and sleeping habits, and they continue to work.
Ma Shanxiang, for instance, was an avid seamstress at the age of 98.
(Xinhua News Agency 09/26/2001)
