Liu Shengdi and Liu Shengjie were born conjoined by a fist-sized ball of flesh on the sides of their chests in 1887 in Jiangxi province's Nankang city.

Their desperately poor parents began touring the province to exhibit the twins for money when they were age 8.

A year later, they were put on display in the United States, Great Britain and Italy.

They earned a fortune this way and returned to China in 1903 to buy farmland and build houses.

They married two women - in separate ceremonies on the same day - three years later and continued to earn a living as performers.

They were known for walking with their arms around each other's shoulders. The only difference in their appearances was that Shengdi was taller.

They cooperated in everything. When one was driving an ox, the other would hold the plow.

The twins were known for being good-natured and compromised when they disagreed.

They were surgically separated when Shengdi became critically ill in 1957. He died four hours after the operation at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital. The procedure is believed to be the first of its kind in the country.

Shengjie lived to 80.