Uyghur Woman Turns 134 as World’s Oldest Person, China Claims
By Carl Samson
An Uyghur woman from China’s Xinjiang region reportedly celebrated her 134th birthday last week.
Alimihan Seyiti, according to Chinese government officials, is the oldest person in China, and if her documents contain accurate data, she could be the oldest person in the world.
The centenarian was surrounded by loved ones who organized a grand banquet, which featured three layers of cake.
Seyiti married her husband in 1903 at the age of 17. The couple adopted a boy and a girl, according to kknews.cc.
She has been living with her daughter after her husband died in 1976. Her son, on the other hand, reportedly died at the age of 36.
Seyiti is now unable to walk, but she still enjoys singing love songs, according to China News.
On Thursday, she played a traditional instrument in front of guests at her party.
If Seyiti is indeed 134, she is 17 years older than Japanese Kane Tanaka, who is currently regarded as the world’s oldest person by the Guinness World Records.
However, western media have expressed doubts over the authenticity of her birthday for years.
“Birth records in the outlying regions of the 19th Century Chinese empire were sparse and unreliable, especially for the ethnic minorities, and China has reported Uighurs living into their 120s before without any solid evidence,” the BBC wrote in 2014.
The Chinese branch of Guinness World Records has not received any application from Seyiti to claim the title for herself, too.
Still, she was recognized as the oldest woman in the world by the Shanghai China Records Headquarters.
Feature Images via Shule Integrate Media Center
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