Li Shuxiang, an 85-year-old man living in Changsha, began penning down a diary in 1941 and has recorded his life with more than 13 million words.

Born and brought up in Changsha, Li embarked upon his diary writing at age 10 when he was a fifth grade student at a private primary school in Changsha county. The 85 diary books he has kept ever since tell not only his own life story, but also the changes of the city and country over a time span of 74 years.

“I wrote my first diary on Sept 8, 1941, when I was 10 years old. And it’s a class assignment,” Li recalled. He successfully cultivated the assignment into a life-long habit, which was only forced into a pause in 1944 when the conditions did not permit.

He only got to pick up the diary-keeping again in January 1948 and goes on with no more pauses. In simple, direct language, the diary tracks Li’s life through his participation of the revolution and students’ movement before liberation, 27 years life joining the army, civilian work at Changsha Bicycle Factory starting at the age of 40s and all the way down to a happy life after retirement.

His diary in the early 1940s also gives a true description of people’s life during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.

“The Japanese army has broken into Changsha county. No sooner have I arrived at school today when I came across their plane bombing. I heard people yelling, ‘Move and hide quickly. Don’t make noises’,” he wrote on Sept 20, 1941. It’s the first “war journal” by Li.

Li wrote next day, “I stood in front of the door with a classmate, watching a group of wild geese flying either in V-formation or in one-line under the leadership of the head goose. The classmate said that the geese are really united. I thought to myself that the Chinese people should take the geese as examples and get united to fend off the Japanese invaders and revitalize the country”.

“There’ve been more and more new words and new life in my diary since the reform and opening-up,” he commented.

The purchase of washing machine and color TV in the 1980s, the install of a home phone, buying a new house, venturing into the stock market in the 1990s, all were “big deals” in Li’s life and could find records in his diary.

“Life in the 21st century seems more like ‘changes with each passing day’,” pointed out the octogenarian.

The 84-year-old is able to skillfully use the computer and cellphone. He can also make video talks with relatives living abroad. These, naturally, are also part of the source materials of his daily diary writing.

Li has more say to the development of Changsha, a city he has lived all his life in. The opening of the Wuyi Avenue, the completion of bridges that cross over the Xiangjiang River, and so on – Li put all the “big deals” of the city into his dairy too.

“On April 29 last year, the first day of the trial operation of Changsha Metro, I went to experience the ride purposely and wrote it into the diary,” he mentioned.

Ten years ago, Li set up a goal for himself – to live beyond the age of 84 and keep a diary for more than 70 years, so that he can break the record made by Edward Robb Ellis from the US who had wrote diaries for nearly 70 years.

Now he has achieved the goal but with undiminished passion, “I will keep on writing as long as I have the strength to hold a pen,” added the diary lover.