A Chinese Proverb

饭后百步走 Fàn hòu bǎi bù zǒu
活到九十九 Huó dào jiǔ shí jiǔ

Word by word translation:
Rice after one-hundred step walk
Life arrives nine ten nine.


After a meal, walk a hundred steps to live to be ninety-nine.


I've heard this proverb many times, but I have trouble remembering exactly how it went. It came up again the other night and I was sure it was "walk 99 steps to live to be 100." We finally had to ask our friend at our favorite restaurant for confirmation. Seems like it'd be better to be able to live to be 100 rather than just 99, but I think that the saying uses 99 because it rhymes in Chinese. I don't have any trouble following this saying because pretty much any Chinese food I eat is more than 100 steps from my house. I don't know if the saying applies to American food too :)