The 107-year-old virgin who was afraid to marry starts her search for Mr Right

A 107-year-old virgin has finally decided to get married and settle down with a younger man - mainly because she can't find anyone older than her.

Wang Guiying is on the look-out for a fellow centenarian although she accepts that he'll probably be a youngster in his late 90s or early 100s.



So the hunt is on through old people's homes in the Chinese city of Chongqin for a suitable groom for the spritely spinster.

Spinster Wang Guiying, aged 107, wants to marry a younger man to look after her (picture posed by models)

But she agrees he'll need to be in good health and be able to look after her like any other husband.

Miss Guiying decided to look for a mate because she was worried she was becoming a burden to her nieces and nephews - the youngest is 60.



'My problem is that I can't get about like I used to,' Miss Guiying said.



'I broke my leg when I was 102 and I had to stop doing the chores like washing my clothes.



'I'm 107 and I'm still not married. What will happen if I don't hurry up and find a husband?'



Miss Guiying was born in southern Guizhou province, the daughter of a salt merchant, and as she grew up, she recalled, she saw her uncles and other men scold and beat their wives.



'I often found my aunt crying in the woodshed after an attack,' she said.



'All the married people around there lived like that. Getting married was too frightening,' she added.



It was an era when Chinese women had a low social standing and few, if any, rights.



Many also had their feet bound in a painful tradition to ensure that as future brides they looked dainty.



After her father, mother and older sister died, Miss Guiying shied away from settling down with a husband, moving instead to the countryside where she became married to her work - surviving as a farmer.



She toiled in the fields until she was 74 years old, then called it a day because she was no longer strong enough to keep up with the brutal daily routine.



As an act of compassion, her nephew took her in, but now she is worried that he and her other nephews are too old to look after her.



'My nephews and nieces are getting older and their children are already tied up with their own families. I'm becoming more and more of a burden.'



So she's made herself 'available' - and local officials have answered her call for help in finding a husband.



Her family and a government search party have been primed to scour old folks' homes to look for likely candidates.



'She believes that somewhere out there is a Mr Right,' said an official.