One for the ages as 114-year-old dies

Stacy Shi

A 114-year-old supercentenarian who survived two world wars passed away after collapsing at her home yesterday.

Chan Ng was found collapsed around 8 am by her 76-year-old daughter, Fung, at their home in Kwai Oi House at Kwai Fong Estate.

Fung rang the care-on-call service, which arranged for Chan to be sent to Yan Chai Hospital but she was certified dead.

Police learned Chan suffered from multiple underlying conditions such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes and heart disease, which contributed to her death.

The death was not deemed suspicious but that will be confirmed by a forensic pathologist.

Chan was born in 1909 - within a year of China's last emperor Puyi ascension to the throne.

As a child she witnessed the end of the Qing dynasty and later survived two world wars and the Chinese civil war.

She saw the establishment of the People's Republic of China and lived through the Cultural Revolution and the nation's economic reform.

And in the final years of her life, she lived under the Covid-19 cloud.

Pang Kai-mau, a specialist in emergency medicine, said the 114-year-old's death was due to geriatric diseases.

Her blood sugar and blood pressure levels were imbalanced, which, he said, could lead to heart failure. It was not known if she was infected with Covid but Pang said this too could have led to multiple organ failure and death.

He also said many elderly believe they "didn't need to consult a doctor over slight discomforts," but chronic diseases can develop into heart disease, a stroke or pneumonia, which could be fatal.

Pang said family members should pay attention to the physical condition of the elderly and advise them to seek medical care once they detect physical discomfort.

As the border will reopen this month, the elderly should protect themselves from a Covid infection by getting vaccinated and avoiding crowded placed, he added.

According to the Guinness World Records, the oldest centenarian was Jeanne Calment, a French woman born in 1875 who passed away in 1997 aged 122. French Lucile Randon is now the world's oldest living person, aged 118.

From the 2021 census, Hongkongers are living longer, with the average life expectancy of men and women last year being 82.9 and 88 years old respectively - eight and seven years longer than 30 years ago.

The number of centenarians has also increased from 289 in 1981 to 11,575 in 2021 - a record high. Among them, 76 percent are female.

Hong Kong's longest living person was Cheung Kwai-mui, who was born in 1893.

Cheung passed away in 2010 at the age of 117.