Alimihan Seyiti

Alimihan Seyiti was born in 1886 in Komuserik Township, Yengixahar County of Kashgar in Qing dynasty's ruled Xinjiang. She was a farmer and, above all, an expert in herbology.^[2] She had been living in Komuserik since then.^[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. 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 her home,^[12] at the age of 135, without confirmation whether she died from COVID-19 or other causes.^[13]