The International Institute on Ageing (INIA), an official United Nations agency, recently awarded the city of Beiliu, Guangxi, the honorary title of "World Longevity Area".

The designation was assessed based on INIA's standards for measuring active ageing and longevity, including the proportion of elderly people among the general population, vegetation, air quality, water quality, and more.

According to the statistics, Beiliu has a population of 178,300 people aged 60 or older, 128,000 people aged 65 or older, 27,500 people aged 80 or older, 3,900 people aged 90 or older, and 181 centenarians, accounting for 0.15 permillage of the city's total population, far exceeding the minimum one in ten thousand required for the designation.

Beiliu has a subtropical monsoon climate with abundant sunshine, plentiful rainfall, a forest coverage rate of 42.84 percent, and an excellent air quality rate of 98.9 percent. The natural climate is very pleasant, and the city has been designated a national garden city and selected as a national-level pilot city for comprehensive forest health care.

Beiliu has a long history of red culture, filial piety culture, and a culture of honoring local talent, where respect and love for the elderly have become a prevailing trend, leading to its recognition as a national civilized city.

Furthermore, Beiliu plans to build organic longevity food industrial chains around lychee, passion fruit, and selenium-rich rice, and characteristic industrial chains of longevity traditional Chinese medicine centered on agarwood and star anise.

A view of Yuanchang village, Beiliu. [Photo/Yulin Evening News]