What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
As we all know, from the Republic of China era back two thousand years, no matter which dynasty, strong or weak, the average life expectancy of the people can rarely exceed 40 years old, but looking at the history books, there seem to be many ancient people with high life expectancy. The reason for this paradoxical phenomenon is that the ancient medical level was low, the sanitary conditions were not good, and a considerable number of people died under the age of 10, which seriously reduced the "average life expectancy". That is to say, if the ancients could live a healthy life past the age of 10, and then eat enough and wear warmly, in peacetime, there is still a great chance to live to 6 or 70 years old, compared with now, the gap is not very large.
In order to prove the above point, let's take a look at the military service system of the Qin, Han and Tang dynasties, the age of men's exemption from military service (suspension of service) is what is the age - the imperial court recruits ordinary people to serve, the maximum age is naturally determined according to the conditions at that time, if the actual age of most people is not up to 50 years old, then 50 years old as the upper limit is certainly meaningless, and it is impossible to use this as the upper limit.
First look at the first unified dynasty, the Qin Dynasty, according to the qin law, those who have knights are exempted from old age (suspension of military service) at the age of 56, and those who are not knighted are exempted from old age at 60 years old.
Under the Han Dynasty, the age of suspension of military service was slightly adjusted in the era of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, but for most of the time, it was still implemented according to the standard of 56 years old for those with titles and 60 years for those without titles.
The Tang Dynasty initially adopted the prefectural military system, the age of exemption from military service, the early Tang Dynasty was 60 years old, and later changed to 61 years old, and the Tang Xuanzong period was once changed to 50 years old, but the duration was very short and can be ignored. After the middle of the Tang Dynasty, it was changed to a conscription system, from the military to a profession, and most of the time it became hereditary, so there is no value for discussion.
Judging from the age of exemption from military service in the three dynasties of Qin, Han and Tang, they were all in the range of 56-61 years old, so in the eyes of the government at that time, a 55-year-old man could still go to battle to kill the enemy, and it was certainly impossible to be an old man who was dying and surviving, otherwise, the army would not be allowed to do funerals every three to five? Therefore, the actual age of survival must be higher than the age of exemption from military service, that is, greater than 60 years old.