How would you celebrate your birthday when, or should we say, if you turn 100? For retired local actor Bai Yan, who is officially a century old, it would be throwing a star-studded bash at Chinese restaurant Yummy Palace where more than a hundred guests, including celebs like Zoe Tay, Christopher Lee, Aileen Tan and Pan Lingling showed up to celebrate the well-loved veteran star.

Bai Yan's shindig may have been a private one but we managed to snag a few pics from guest Chen Xiuhuan, who tells us that while the party was packed with well-wishers, it was also more of a cosy get together for artistes past and present to mingle with each other, indulge in food and, of course, take lots of selfies.

Besides celebrating Uncle Bai Yan's 100th birthday, I also managed to catch up with a lot of old colleagues who I haven't seen in a long time! Xiuhuan chirps.

Xiuhuan tells us that that despite various attempts over the years to meet up with the retired actor, she never got to do so until this party due to conflicting schedules . When I heard about this event, I immediately 'signed up' for it, she laughs. There were too many people who wanted to be there, and they had to close registration!

Even though the actress has never worked with Bai Yan before, she has nothing but praise for him. His voice has always been very strong and powerful and it still is, she tells 8days.sg. He also talked a lot that day. [My impression of him] is that he's a very happy person who's full of positive energy. .

“The whole party was very heartwarming, and everyone sang him a birthday song. Everyone was in a joyous mood,” adds Xiuhuan.

While the younger generation may not have heard of the China-born actor, older audiences, on the other hand, will be very familiar with Bai Yan with is affectionately known as Bai Yan-shu (or Uncle Bai Yan). Born in 1920, he first started out in a Chinese dance troupe, and performed acrobatics and magic tricks in the '50s and '60s. He then made his acting debut at 65, where he became known for playing kind fatherly figures in Ch 8 dramas, like We Are Family (1988).

So what present does one give a centenarian? [The organisers] told us that we didn't need to buy him presents, but I gave him an ang pow to wish him health and happiness. A lot of the artistes like Zoe, Aileen and Lingling, all gave him ang pows too .

Besides the star-studded guest list, Xiuhuan also tells us that Bai Yan-shu's family was present too, including his granddaughter, Jenny. “His granddaughter lives with him and she takes care of him at home, adds Xiuhuan.

Bai Yan with his granddaughter (in red), and his daughter and son

According to reports, the buffet lunch reception started at about 11.30am, with Bai Yan arriving at the restaurant shortly after. One organiser mentioned that even though Bai Yan-shu doesn't remember most of the artistes, he was still very happy to see so many people turning up to wish him happy birthday.