He Pingping

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He Pingping
Born	July 1988 Inner Mongolia, China

He Pingping (Chinese: 何平平; b. July 1988) is a Chinese man who currently holds the world record as the world's shortest man in the Guinness World Records.

The 19-year old measures 74 cm (2 ft 5 in)[1] high, and is the third child to a family in Huade county, in the city of Wulanchabu in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. He has two sisters, both of whom developed at normal rates and are now married. According to his father, He Yun, at birth he was as small as a palm. When it became apparent the child was growing very slowly, doctors diagnosed the cause as the bone deformity Osteogenesis Imperfecta which hinders the normal growth of bone and bodily height, although it is much more likely that He Pingping has Primordial Dwarfism.

In January 2007, He was invited to take part on a television program in Tokyo, Japan and has since then become an internet icon. Interestingly, his home of Inner Mongolia is also home to Bao Xishun, who at 2.36 metres tall was recognized as the world's tallest man until August 2007, and their televised meeting in July 2007 attracted global media attention. In May 2008 he appeared in the British Channel 4 documentary called "the world's smallest man and me" hosted by Mark Dolan. He is extremely temperamental and he even slapped a cat on T.V.

[edit] Other claimants

Others have also claimed the "World's Shortest Man" title. Lin Yih-Chih, a resident of Taiwan and current holder of the title, has been unofficially measured at 67.3 cm. In 2006, Guinness World Records disallowed an application from a fourteen year old Nepalese boy, Khagendra Thapa Magar, who measures 53 cm but will review the case once he is 18 years old. Younis Edwan has not been measured.