Wang finds great joy in his grandchildren's occasional visits. (Chuang Kung-ju)

With his full head of white hair, erect posture and graceful, smiling visage, the first impression that Wang Zhongtian, 85, gives is of a well-studied man of letters. In fact, his schooling ended after he graduated from junior high school. He's a retired soldier who has sold beef noodles and worked as an orderly. But in his seventies he dedicated himself to calligraphy, and he has since become a master who has taught many students. And in 2007, at the ripe old age of 83, he realized a long-held dream of taking a 1,000-kilometer motorcycle trip around the island of Taiwan.

Confronted with his impressive series of accomplishments as a senior citizen, he notes: "I've been bluffing people my whole life!"

It turns out that humor and optimism are his secrets to staying young.

Like other old soldiers of his generation, Wang, born in 1926 in Shandong's Zibo, tells a story that starts with being uprooted amid the chaos of war: From a poor family, he was forced to enlist in the army after graduating from junior high school at 18. The following year he, alone among his family, went with the Nationalist army to Taiwan. The silver lining in the cloud was that he was selected by his commanding officer to become a lieutenant.

Wang served as a fitness officer. He was reliable and hardworking, and apart from organizing teams and putting on matches, he would often be asked to resolve disputes, arrange VIP visits, and write speeches for his superior officers.

Recalling his days in the military, he says self-deprecatingly: "I never had a day of military training and never served as a real soldier. Yet I was able to retire as a lieutenant colonel. Despite never studying physical education, I was able to serve as a fitness officer. Pretty impressive, no?"

When he retired at 49, although he received a monthly pension of NT$40,000, it was insufficient to pay his mortgage and the tuitions of his four children. To make ends meet, Wang opened a noodle shop in Taichung's Shuinan with his wife, who is 14 year his junior and who had formerly taught dressmaking. Eight years later, they closed the noodle shop, and he followed his wife to work at Taichung Veterans General Hospital, where he was employed as an orderly. It wasn't until his children had all graduated from university and were supporting themselves that he formally retired at the age of 70.