Even 150 years is an unthinkable age for a human being, but the oldest person in the world is said to have lived to a proud 256. In 1933, the New York Times published a report on the then recently deceased person at the age of 256.

The man's name was Li Ching-Yun and he lived in the province of Szechwan in China. In the course of his long life, he buried 23 wives and fathered 180 descendants. According to tradition, he died in the town of his birth. He often travelled to Shansi, Tibet, Kanu and Manchuria to collect herbs which he sold for a living. His fingernails were said to have been 20 centimetres long.
According to his own account, the secret of his long life lay in the fact that he spent much of his time sitting like a tortoise, sleeping like a dog, walking like a dove and maintaining a calm heart. Inner peace and a diet of mainly wine, rice and herbs are said to have kept his organism healthy. Yet he is said to have looked only like a 60-year-old man.

Whether the story is true is difficult to prove. Before his death, Li himself claimed to have been born in 1736, which would make him "only" 197 years old. A professor at Minuko University proved that Li Ching-Yun was born in 1677 by presenting Chinese government documents that honoured his 200th birthday. So the question is whether Li, in his old age, had forgotten his own year of birth, or whether the person who died in 1933 was actually the same Li Ching-Yun.