Xue joined a running event in Shanghai in 1990 to celebrate the 11th Beijing Asian Games. Photo provided to Shanghai Star

"I run for fun, never for competition or to challenge my limits," he says. He runs about three or four kilometers every day.

Cars occasionally roar past. Xue considers these four-wheel creatures "the biggest danger on the road as they sometimes ignore the traffic lights". Xue seldom travels in automobiles—he gets carsick.

He is also wary of modern electric appliances. He never uses a washing machine, washing all his clothes by hand. He would rather mop the floor than sit in front of a TV. He can recite all the phone numbers of the members of his family but refuses to use a cell phone.

Every day, after finishing his early morning run, Xue brings his wife breakfast. In the afternoon, he tidies up the house. "It is my blessing to be able to do housework. I feel happy that I can contribute and help others," he says.

Xue grew up in a village in Wujiang. He graduated from a normal college in 1936, at about the same time the Japanese army invaded China. He joined the anti-Japanese movement and had the job of secretly pasting up posters in the night and sending military information to his superiors.

He came up with clever ways to pass on information. He hid messages in tubes of toothpaste, between two pieces of glass in a mirror and in one especially thrilling case, he hid messages in a Japanese newspaper.