According to records, the Yellow Emperor lived 118 years old, Emperor Zhao lived 135 years old, Huan Huan lived 100 years old, Yao lived 118 years old, Yu lived 98 years old, King Wen of the Zhou Dynasty was 100 years old, King Wu was 95 years old, Zhou Gong was 100 years old, and Jiang Ziya was 80 years old, and he has been helping King Wu fight the world. There are also Lao Tzu 120 years old, Confucius 75 years old, Mozi 99 years old, Zhuangzi 80 years old, Mencius 90 years old, and Bian Que 99 years old.
The Book of Rites says, "Twenty weak crowns, seventy years old." This means that 20 years old is considered adulthood, and 70 years old is considered old age. However, we are now an adult at the age of 18, and at the age of 60, we are called old age, so that we can enjoy a pension. According to the "Zhou System" record, during the Zhou Dynasty, there were people over 80 years old in the family, and one person could not serve; if there were old people over 100 years old in the family, the whole family could not serve, which showed that there were still more people over 80 years old, if there were fewer, there would be no such regulations.
Therefore, according to history, it can be found that the natural life expectancy of ancient people is not shorter than that of modern people. If you want to say short, it is due to some factors below.
The above table shows the comparison of the average life expectancy of ancient people and the average life expectancy of modern people from the Qin and Han dynasties to the Ming and Qing dynasties.
First, the mortality rate of children is high.
Ancient people generally belong to early marriage, most of them are married around the age of sixteen or seventeen, and when the first child is born, most of the parents are not yet 20 years old, so the possibility of children dying is very large, even if they grow up, the body is not strong.
Second, there are many wars.
In ancient times, frequent wars led to many men being arrested to join the army, countless people died in battle, and when the strength was insufficient, even the old and weak women and children were arrested.
Third, the medical level and conditions are poor.
The medical level in ancient times was not as developed as it is now, and many diseases were not treated at all. For example, those women who have difficulty in childbirth, if they go to the hospital for a caesarean section now, it should be more secure. In addition, in ancient times, if a plague or other disease was often powerless, a plague would cause thousands of deaths.
Fourth, daily malnutrition.
Ancient agricultural production was backward, grain could not keep up, the vast majority of ordinary people, if a family has more children, the child's nutrition is not guaranteed, and even starved to death. If a major drought occurs, it will also cause a large number of people to starve to death.
Fifth, the phenomenon of marriage between close relatives is common.
Due to ignorance, many people in ancient times were married by close relatives, and the marriage of close relatives would easily cause various possible diseases to the body of the next generation.
Therefore, due to war and natural factors, a large number of people will die, which has to pull down the average life expectancy of ancient people.