Eighty-Five Years of Life
Four Grand Journeys
The Oil Years: Gobi & Wilderness
Mr. Yang Zengen was born in Beijing on October 18, 1940, into a Hui (Chinese Muslim) family. After graduating from the Beijing Petroleum School, he devoted his entire life to China's petroleum geology — from the windswept Gobi of the Yumen Oilfield, to the frozen wilderness of Daqing, and finally to the North China Plain. He was among the first generation of petroleum workers in New China — the toughest of a generation that could endure hardship. In his youth he was extraordinarily strong, able to do twenty-seven pull-ups. Fiery-tempered, he threw himself into work without reservation. The scorching Gobi sun, the freezing winds of the snowfields, and the roar of the oil derricks forged his unyielding spirit — and planted in him a longing for distant horizons.
Years of Sojourning: Heading South
When he retired at fifty-five, he chose not to stay home enjoying his grandchildren, but packed his bags and began thirty years of sojourning. Six months among the bamboo groves of Chengdu, three years in the coconut breezes of Hainan, two years in the spring light of Kunming, four years by the springs of Jinan, three years amid the bustle of Shanghai, and nine months in Chiang Mai, Thailand. He was a tireless traveler, from north to south, from home to abroad, city after city unfolding through his life. In his later years he lived with his son, and together father and son traveled to the United States, Europe, New Zealand, Japan, and many other countries.
Cycling the World: Measuring the Earth
At seventy — an age when most people would be settling into a quiet retirement — he made a decision that astonished everyone: he got on a bicycle and rode long distances alone. The Sichuan–Tibet Highway, Xi'an to Singapore, Kunming to Vietnam, around Hainan Island, around the Shandong Peninsula — five great routes, tens of thousands of miles of mountains and rivers. One bicycle, one man: snowy peaks, rainforests, coastlines, plains... He measured the world with his legs and wrote story after story of courage and freedom with his wheels. He proved by his actions that those who love life never grow old.
A Peaceful Departure: A Life Without Regret
He was robust all his life and had hardly ever been hospitalized. In 2026, a check-up diagnosed heart failure and he was admitted to the cardiac intensive care unit — but after only three hours he insisted on leaving. He was not used to hospitals and wanted to go his own way. He said calmly, "That's enough — 86 years, I've had my fill, and I have no regrets." On June 6 he told his son he wanted to go that very day; his son asked him to hold on a little longer, until his daughter Yang Liu arrived on the 8th. And he did hold on — when his daughter walked in on June 8, two and a half hours later he passed away peacefully, without pain. His son and daughter were both by his side, and his younger brother and sister had also come to stay with him before the end.
With his last strength, he waited for the people he wanted to see; with a lifetime of candor, he left without regret.
