Alimihan Seyiti

Alimihan Seyiti (Uyghur: ئالمىخان سېيىت; June 25, 1886 (claimed) – December 16, 2021) was a Chinese supercentenarian, who was considered one of the last survivors of the past millennium.^[1] She was believed to have been born in 19th century but due to a lack of a reliable birth registration system, her exact age could not be internationally verified by Guinness World Records.

She was born in 1886, when the Komuserik Township was still under the Qing Dynasty. She was a farmer and, above all, an expert in herbology.^[2] She lived in Kashgar near the China–Kyrgyzstan border.^[3] She married at 17 and had two adopted children.^[4] Widowed in 1976, she later had 43 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.^[5]

Since 2013, she topped the list of China's oldest people compiled by the China Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics, formerly known as the Gerontological Society of China.^[6] The China Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics declared her in 2013 to be the country's oldest living citizen.^[7] This was after the death of Luo Meizhen in 2013.^[6] Prior to that, she had been ranked second among the top ten oldest people in China for three years in a row. However, since China did not have a reliable birth registration system when she was born, her age was questioned by media outlets, and she was not officially recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records.^[8][9] Due to this the record of oldest person stayed with Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment.^[10]

She credited her age to her habit of drinking cold water and her relatively youthful appearance was due to “washing her face”.^[11]

She died on December 16, 2021, at the age reported age of 135, without confirmation whether she died from COVID-19 or other causes.^[12] She died at her home in a village in Shule County.^[13]