Chinese woman, 'aged 127', dies According to Guinness World Records, the oldest person ever to have lived was Jeanne Calment of France, who was 122 years and 164 days when she died in 1997. Luo's 1885 birth date was quoted on her official residency permit and identity card, both issued in recent decades, and was confirmed by a state-sponsored research institute in 2010. China's official Xinhua news agency ran reports of her 127th birthday celebrations on its website in October, describing her as China's oldest person. "She was a kind person but at times had a very bad temper ... she had a strong character," Huang Heyuan said. Luo, who worked as a farmer all her life, and gave birth to five children, is survived by several great-great grandchildren in the remote village of Longhong, in China's southern province of Guangxi. The village is part of Bama county, a poor region that officials say is home to more than 80 centenarians. Her relatives gathered in her simply furnished brick house on Tuesday to light red incense sticks in remembrance. Relatives said they had stored her body on a mountain close to their home and were waiting for an auspicious date later this month to bury her.