Shanghai now boasts three "centenarian couples," - two more than last year - and they are expected to compete for the national "longevity double stars" title this year.

Zhang Mucheng and his wife Xu Dongying

The three couples are all in good health, living in the Pudong New Area, Chongming County and Yangpu District, said the Gerontological Society of Shanghai.

Zhang Mucheng, 102, and his wife Xu Dongying, 103, from the Pudong New Area were the only centenarian couple in Shanghai last year, and received the title "longevity double stars" in the city. The sum of their ages ranks at No. 9 among couples on the Chinese mainland.

Zhang and Xu, who have five sons and three daughters, are set to celebrate their 81st wedding anniversary in October. They would like to break the Guinness world record for the longest marriage, which stands at 85 years.

Chongming couple,100-year-old Shen Guangyuan and his wife, 102-year-old Huang Xuesong, have been together for 80 years. To help keep healthy, they played sports for many years. Shen said he still takes a walk twice a day for half an hour at a time.

In Yangpu, Wu Zugang will be 103 on March 23, while his wife Wan Huixing became a centenarian in January. They married in 1932. Despite being very different in many ways - for example, Wu loves Western-style food and Wan prefers traditional Chinese cuisine - they tolerate these differences and are still very much in love, they said.

The society officials said that these sprightly seniors are lucky for 200,000 elderly people in Shanghai live alone - with the associated problems of loneliness and helplessness.