October 1 is both China's National Day and the International Day of Older Persons. CGTN's Health Talk takes you to Rugao, a renowned "World Longevity City" in east China's Jiangsu Province. There, about 31 in every 100,000 people live to 100, and the average life expectancy hits 83.12 years.

At 105, Gao Tingkuan rises at 5 a.m., rides his tricycle to buy groceries, and cooks for himself. In his daily routine, 96-year-old Zhang Mingde still washes dishes, waters the flowers, and tidies up. Cleaning, audiobooks, tea, ball games with friends – these simple daily routines are how locals live well and paint a perfect picture of "proactive health."

Michael Levitt, a 2013 Nobel laureate in chemistry and a tenured professor in Stanford University's Department of Structural Biology, said healthspan is a complex issue – shaped by social and behavioral factors and by the lifestyle changes people should make.

"Some determinants of healthspan are not medical," he said. "They are lifestyle-related: eating well, not drinking too much, not smoking, spending time in nature, exercising and having friends." Professor Levitt made the statement during an exclusive interview with CGTN at the 2026 Collaborative Innovation Conference on Disease Prevention Research and Translational Achievements.

A team at Xiamen University has spent more than a decade studying anti-aging. Its latest findings show that a gut microbe product called lithocholic acid may activate a pathway linked to a longer, healthier life.

The team is led by Lin Shengcai, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Lin's team explored why hunger switches on longevity-related genes. In mice fed 70% of their normal intake, blood levels of lithocholic acid rose more than tenfold after a period of hunger. The substance helped repair muscle damage and improved stamina in older mice. According to Lin's team, in longevity tests, lithocholic acid extended the animals' lives by about 5%.

Ren Yuan, a professor at the Population Research Institute of Fudan University, said longer lifespans should be viewed as a positive development. People are not only creators of wealth but also guardians of social order and participants in a well-functioning society, he said.

He noted that gains in human longevity reflect broader social progress, driven largely by advances in science and technology and aimed at higher economic development, stronger healthcare systems and better social welfare. These, he said, are the foundations of human lifespan and health.

Who's the older relative in your life that comes to mind – and what memory or story do you hold dear? Share yours with us in the comments.

Supervisor: Zhang Jingwen

Producer: Yang Sha

Directors: Lu Wei, Chai Shouyu, Jin Dina

Editor: Ruan Lingbo 

Narrator: John Goodrich

Copy Editors: Shanaaz Prince, Merna Al Nasser, Zhang Yuying, Xu Wen

Videographers: Bai Nan, Xu Chunming 

Visual Designers: Liu Shaozhen, Du Chenxin, Yin Yating