Embarrassing, but thanks to the commemorative bowls given out at the “100 year” party held in December 2010, I just realized that Gene’s grandmother is in fact 102 years old and, sadly, wasn’t born during the last months of the Qing dynasty. 

It’s embarrassing because I should have known that she would likely still use the old system of counting the year of life one’s in, rather than the number of years lived through as we mostly do now.

Still just as excited (and terrified) to meet her, however.

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Morning edit:

When I wrote this in a hurry last night, I thought Gene’s grandma may have been born during the first months of the Republican era, but the more I look at that date on the commemorative bowls, the less certain I am.

The date reads: 1911, Lunar Calendar 11th Month, 20th Day.

According to the chart I’m looking at now, there doesn’t appear to have been an 11th lunar month, 20th day in 1911. 1911 begins in the 12th lunar month and ends in the early part of the 11th month.

The uprising that sparked the end of the Qing and the beginning of the Republican era started on October 10, 1911. The Republican Era officially begins on January 1, 1912.

When was she born?

Does it even matter when you’re 102/103 and you’ve seen a century of grand world events?