Wei Basao (L) and Wei Qishou, a couple aged 103 and 102 in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, have been supporting each other through numerous hardships and difficulties over the past 96 years. [Guilin Daily/Liu Jiaoqing]

A centenarian couple in Guilin, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, have stayed together for 96 years, pulling through all hardships and difficulties without losing their love and mutual respect for each other.

The wife Wei Basao, 103, a traditional rural Chinese woman, was brought to live with her in-laws at 6 as a child bride. Her "husband" Wei Qishou was only 5 at the time.

"The family seniors were invited to have a simple meal that night and then we were 'married'," the senior lady recalled.

Life in the subsequent years was never easy. The girl tried to help by babysitting for others, earning merely a set of clothes after a year's hard work. The boy took up the family burden at 10, cutting firewood and working as a casual laborer to bring in more money. The family did not even have a quilt and lay huddled up at night.

Nevertheless, Wei Basao seldom complained about the impoverished days. "Everyone experienced the same hard times," she said. "Had it not been for my mother-in-law who always shared with me her very limited food, I would have long been dead."

When the pair became old enough, they continued to work in cooperation to live an independent peaceful life without much material comfort. Their six children have all started their own families.

Having spent over nine decades together, the centenarians who are enjoying their simple later life still go for walks, hand in hand, when the weather permits, said their neighbors.

The centenarian couple often go for walks hand in hand. [Guilin Daily/Liu Jiaoqing]

The seniors are still healthy enough to work in their vegetable garden. [Guilin Daily/Liu Jiaoqing]

The couple always work in cooperation in daily life. [Guilin Daily/Liu Jiaoqing]

(Source: news.qq.com/Translated and edited by Women of China)

Editor: Eileen Cheng