All 4 brothers – together with Quynh at 100 years previous, 98-year-old Nguyen Ngoc Giao, 95-year-old Nguyen Ngoc Hoan, and 91-year-old Nguyen Ngoc Can – boast outstanding pasts, with the three eldest having been guerrillas within the First Indochina Conflict who later transitioned into roles as officers in several areas. They now reside with their giant households in Van Giang District, a part of Hanoi-adjacent Hung Yen Province.
Can, the youngest brother, took up a place as a lecturer on the Vietnam Agricultural Academy after his navy service.
Collectively, the siblings’ huge lineage encompasses over 300 descendants, together with youngsters, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, unfold throughout varied provinces and cities.
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(center row, from the second to the fitting to left) Nguyen Ngoc Giao, Nguyen Ngoc Hoan, Nguyen Ngoc Quynh, and Nguyen Ngoc Can, surrounded by their descendants, on their father’s loss of life anniversary in October 2023. Photograph courtesy of Quynh |
“It’s exceedingly uncommon for a household to have all 4 siblings surpass 90 years of age whereas sustaining sharp minds and the flexibility to look after themselves independently like we do,” remarked Giao.
He famous that one attainable key issue underlying their lengthy lives is their constant optimistic angle and a wholesome way of life, characterised by common consuming and sleeping schedules, constant train, and abstention from smoking.
Quynh, who celebrated his one hundredth birthday earlier this yr, stays intellectually vibrant, as evidenced not solely by his prolific studying and common writing of poetry, but in addition his proficiency in translating Chinese language to Vietnamese. He credit common gatherings along with his brothers, the place they test in on one another’s well-being and share new poems they’ve composed, as their simplest methodology of reminiscence upkeep.
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Nguyen Ngoc Quynh (sitting) celebrates his 100th birthday on Feb. 15, 2024. Photograph courtesy of Quynh |
Following in his elder sibling’s footsteps, Giao has additionally dedicated to a each day studying behavior, viewing it as a useful supply of knowledge. As for topics, his pursuits embrace delving into historical past, folks tradition, and Buddhism. Within the earlier years when mobility was much less of a problem for him, he incessantly explored historic websites in Hung Yen and its environs on his personal.
A veteran bearing the scars of war-inflicted wounds, Giao locations nice emphasis on bodily exercise. He makes it a degree to stroll 1,000 steps round his yard each morning and afternoon.
His dietary routine includes consuming three well-timed meals a day—breakfast earlier than 8 a.m., lunch earlier than 11 a.m., and dinner earlier than 7 p.m. He adheres to a meal sequence beginning with greens, adopted by different primary programs and rice, a technique that aids in fiber absorption, weight management, bodily energy, and longevity, he believes.
As a substitute of readily turning to treatment, Giao prefers to make use of herbs from his backyard, equivalent to fever vine, guava leaves, lemongrass, and ginger to deal with illnesses, except prescribed by a doctor.
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Nguyen Ngoc Giao, 98, at his Hung Yen residence, taken on March 14, 2024. Photograph by VnExpress/Quynh Nguyen |
The third brother Hoan emphasizes that nurturing each thoughts and physique is essential, however sustaining an optimistic outlook, a optimistic life stance, and avoiding bitterness or unfavorable speech about others is paramount. The siblings collectively advise {that a} sound spirit is crucial for a sound physique.
At 91, the youngest sibling, Can, stays actively concerned in quite a few native organizations, together with the aged affiliation, the retiree affiliation, the native social gathering cell, and a poetry membership made up of former lecturers from the Vietnam Agricultural Academy. He additionally leisurely engages in gardening, cultivating sufficient greens to maintain his family and supply for his youngsters residing in different areas.
Can is ready to attend the seventieth anniversary of the Battle of Dien Bien Phu as an honored visitor this Might because of his participation within the marketing campaign.
“Regardless of being over 90, I’m assured in my well being to partake in all of the occasion’s actions,” Can asserted. “The enjoyment of getting older but having brothers to share the recollections of such important experiences brings me happiness.”
Nguyen Ngoc Tuyen, the brothers’ native neighborhood chief, additionally famous the rarity of getting nonagenarian and centenarian siblings who not solely retain their well being and psychological acuity but in addition actively contribute to and assist communal endeavors of their village and commune.
He mentioned in 2023, exemplifying their neighborhood spirit, the brothers facilitated the relocation of 108 household graves to accommodate the development of the capital’s Ring Street No. 4, which passes via the commune.
Nguyen Ngoc Nham, 55 and Giao’s eighth baby, mentioned that spending time along with his father and three uncles in continued good well being and psychological readability is a serious delight for the prolonged household.
He defined that his father and three uncles nurtured all their youngsters – and their youngsters’s youngsters – below the household’s Confucian ethos, the place erudition lays the groundwork and virtuous character is esteemed. Therefore, from their early life, he and his siblings and respective descendants have obtained instruction in correct etiquette, habits, and societal engagement.
Annually, in the course of the Tet Lunar New 12 months celebration, members of the multi-generation household convene at their ancestral shrine in Hung Yen to honor their forebearers and trade needs for continued sturdy well being. Even amidst the vastness of their household, the quartet of elder brothers persistently recollects each particular person’s identify and their familial connection.
One of many brothers’ unachieved aspirations is to seize {a photograph} encompassing all members of the in depth clan, which they haven’t been in a position to do but on condition that quite a few relations stay in several areas.
Nham put it thusly:
“All 4 of them are desperate to safe a complete household portrait that encompasses all their youngsters, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and even great-great-grandchildren, in addition to their spouses, as quickly as attainable.”