Zhongxiang city of central China's Hubei Province was recognized as a "World Longevity Area" on the 4th International Conferenceon Population Aging, which was held in Malta recently, according to China News Service reports on July 9.

Zhongxiang is the third Chinese city to win the title after Chengmai county and Wanning City in Hainan province. It's also the only city recognized as the "World Longevity Area" at the conference which was jointly held by International Expert Committee on Population Ageing and Longevity and the United Nations. A total of more than 30 experts from Malta, Canada and China attended the conference.

Sound ecological environment is the fundamental cause of longevity, according to Wang Wuyi, fellow with Institute of Geographical Sciences & Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Science.

Studies show that many of the city's soil is rich in a variety of microelements, which are beneficial to humans, including calcium, copper, iron, selenium, potassium, magnesium, manganese, zinc and other elements. Rice cultivated in the city contains more microelements than that of other cities.

The city has 109 centenarians, 3,075 citizens older than 90, and 19,000 people older than 80. The oldest man ages 114.