A Chinese war veteran shocked doctors after living with a bullet stuck in his neck for more than 77 years. (pictures)

The pensioner, Zhao He, 95, had visited a hospital in Linyi City, Shandong province, on October 20 after taking a nasty fall.

When doctors pored through his x-ray scans they discovered not fractures - but a bullet still lodged in his flesh.

Zhao's son-in-law Wang, speaking to local reporters, said the nonagenarian had fought in the Second Sino-Japanese War but was unaware of the bullet lodged in his body.

Zhao said he could not remember the year he was shot, but as the war ended in 1945, the bullet would have been lodged in his neck for at least 77 years.

He: 'At that time, I took many shots, but I didn't know I was hit in the neck too.'

Zhao had joined the army as a teenager and was shot during that conflict but recovered without the near-death experience diminishing his appetite for battle.

The veteran's son-in-law Wang said his elderly relative had never complained about the injuries or told people the stories of his heroism.

He said: 'He was injured while carrying a wounded comrade across a river during one of the battles. There is shrapnel in other parts of his body as well.'

Zhao then went on to fight alongside North Korean communists after the U.S. joined South Korean troops in the Korean War in the early 1950s. He returned home a war hero and lived a sedate life working in local factories.

His family consulted with medical experts but decided not to have the bullet surgically removed due to Zhao's age.

The foreign object has not appeared to cause any adverse medical conditions for him.

Zhao added: 'I've been healthy all these years so there is no reason to change things now.'

A similar bizarre incident happened in Scotland two decades ago, when doctors found a bullet in the neck of World War II veteran Robert Kincaid, a resident of Gourock, Inverclyde, in 2003.