3月16日，西藏林周县江夏乡加荣村118岁老寿星阿麦次仁（中）与曾孙女央吉（右）、曾外孙女美朵卓玛在一起。

　　当天，西藏林周县江夏乡加荣村藏族老人阿麦次仁迎来118岁生日。她是现在西藏年龄最大的老人。阿麦次仁老人从小性格开朗、耿直，喜欢吃糌粑、肉末、肉包子等，喜欢喝酥油茶和清茶。目前，西藏百岁老人共有79名，全区人口的平均寿命由1959年之前的35.5岁提高到现在的67岁。

　　Tibet's oldest woman, Arme Tsering, celebrated her 118th birthday Monday at home in the northeastern suburbs of Lhasa.

　　In her best clothing -- a blue vest, green woolen sweater and a brand new Tibetan costume -- Tsering sat quietly under an umbrella in her courtyard to enjoy the sunshine as guests, mainly county and village officials and a few reporters, poured in. Everyone offered a hada, a white, Tibetan-style scarf, and wished her good health.

　　One by one, the old woman quietly counted the beads in her left hand, while the crowd curiously watched her and snapped photos.

　　Tsering was born on March 16, 1891, in a small village in Ngari Prefecture. She moved with her husband to Lhunzhub County, about 40 km northeast of Lhasa, in the 1930s.

　　"Happy birthday to you ..." everybody sang in Mandarin and Tibetan as the birthday cake was shared. Three Tibetan women, all village officials, sang a Tibetan song to congratulate her. Said one: "Of all the people I know, no one is as lucky as you ..."

　　Tsering couldn't see or hear them: she's lost her hearing and eyesight. She sat motionless when her daughter fed her birthday cake, but smiled when her great-granddaughter, 9-year-old Medo Drolma, naughtily daubed cream on the old woman's cheeks and nose.