14 DAY TRIAL // Now, it is official: the world's shortest man is a Chinese: the 20-year-old He Pingping. The man is 73 cm (2.4 feet) tall and he is a native of Huade county, Wulanchabu city (in Inner Mongolia province). His father, He Yun, said that, at birth, he had been only the size of an adult's palm.
The parents of He are both of normal height. He has two sisters of normal height who are both married now. He Pingping suffers from a bone condition called Osteogenesis Imperfecta, which impedes the normal growth of bone and bodily height.
"At birth, he was only the size of an adult's palm," said his father, He Yun.
The man had applied at the Guinness Book of Records in 2007. Guinness confirmed his world record after He's height was measured three times - morning, noon and night - at the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region Hospital. His record and picture will be in the 2009 edition.
He appeared in many Chinese TV shows, together with Bao Xishun, 56, also named Xi Shun or "The Mast", a 7-foot-9-in herdsman (2.36 m), also from Inner Mongolia, confirmed in 2005 by Guinness World Records as the world's tallest living man.
Since then, Bao has lost his Guinness Book position in the favor of Leonid Stadnyk, measured to be 2.57m (8ft 5in) tall in 2007.
Also from China comes the world's shortest couple: Chen Guilan, the wife, is 0.7 m (2.3 ft) tall, while the husband, Li Tangyong, is 1.1 m (3.6 ft) tall. The couple got married in Shunde, Guangdong Province (southeastern China) on Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007, during the National Day (1 October) holiday.
Their dwarfism is congenital (hereditary) and their love story, started three years ago, was initially opposed by her parents, as specialists don't recommend marriages in such cases.
