World's shortest man thinks big

Wearing a sparkly white suit and sporting a tuft of dyed, slicked-back hair, the world's shortest man said Friday there was every reason to think big about being tiny.

Recognised last year by Guinness World Records as the world's shortest man who is mobile, 20-year-old He Pingping stands only 74.1 centimetres (26 inches) and weighs seven kilos (15.4 pounds).

He Pingping, who was born with a deformity that stunts normal bone growth, said his small size let him slip through tiny spots and eat as much as he wanted for a pittance.

"I'm not particularly envious of someone who is tall. If you're tall it is hard to move and it's very inconvenient," said He, who was in Japan to appear on television.

"I can weave my way through tight spots if I'm short. It's much better to be short," he said, slipping into a niche between a poster board and a wall in front of flashing cameras.

A native of China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, He at one point fit himself into the shoe of the world's tallest ever man -- late American Robert Wadlow who stood 2.72 metres (eight feet, 11 inches).

"My dream is to continue to hold the world title of smallest man," He said.

He said one chicken nugget was enough to fill him for the day, although he said he can eat up to a bowl of hot noodle soup when he's feeling particularly hungry.

Despite his tiny height, He, who lives with his sister, smokes a pack of cigarettes per day but said he was trying to cut back "because it's bad for the health."

The world's tallest living man, herdsman Bao Xishun, also happens to be from China's Inner Mongolia. Measuring 2.36 meters, Bao was married in 2007 and has a son who was born last year.

Around the world in an attempt to enter the Guinness book of records

People stand around a large plate of hummus in Jerusalem. In an attempt to break the Guinness Book of world records for the largest plate of hummus, the plate of hummus measuring about 4 meters in diameter.

The line of pizza, made with more than 840 pizzas, measured 221 meters long.



Chefs slice a giant mooncake measuring 8.15 meters in diameter and weighing approximately 22.5 metric tons for sale at a store in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning province.

Israelis prepare a vegetable salad in their attempt to break the Guinness record for the biggest salad in the world in Sde Varburg


An Iranian cook waits to prepare a 1,500-meter-long sandwich in northern Tehran. Iran attempted to set a record for the sandwich as the world's largest sandwich in the Guinness book of World Records.


Men grill part of a sausage looped around a rack in Bucharest during an event to attempt a record for the world's longest sausage.


Paraguayans barbeque beef during an attempt to create the world's biggest barbecue in Mariano Roque Alonso near Asuncion. More than 30,000 people grilled 28,000 kilograms of beef on fires covering an area 60 m wide by 100 m long.


Mexican workers cut a large sandwich weighing almost 7,000 lbs in Zocalo Square in Mexico City


Apple strudel is cut into portions by chefs in an attempt to enter the Guinness book of records in Amman, Jordan.


A Filipino baker inspects a giant strawberry-shaped cake at a bakery in the mountain town of La Trinidad, Benguet, north of Manila. Three tons of strawberries, a ton of flour and a thousand eggs were used to create the cake, which has a base measuring 16 feet by 24 feet and a strawberry-shaped top towering eight feet.

World's fattest marries

Uribe, who is the world's heaviest living man according to Guinness, wed Claudia Solis, his longtime girlfriend.