Photo taken on Nov. 25 shows centenarian Deng Kaiming drying noodles in her kitchen in a village in Chongqing, southwest China. (Photo/Zhou Bangjing from People’s Daily Online)

Centenarian Deng Kaiming, though retired from the family business of making dried noodles, still occasionally comes to the workshop to offer some guidance to her granddaughter, who now runs the business.

Deng started making dried noodles in the 1930s. At that time, the job was the only source of income the widow had to raise her 12 children. Due to the low wheat yield and lack of machinery, her workshop could produce little more than 10 kilograms of noodles per hour.

By 2003, however, when Deng’s granddaughter took over the business, she could easily produce 250-300 kilograms of noodles per day thanks to the use of dough mixers and noodle makers.