He Pingping

He Pingping (Chinese: 何平平; born July 1988) is a Chinese man who has been officially named by the Guinness World Records as the world's shortest man who is able to walk.Citation |last=Zuckerbrod |first=Nancy |title=World's shortest man, leggiest woman meet |url=http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jNOaEsIqFlbH_WBRQiBIFMn6-PxAD93847UO1 |publisher=Associated Press |date=2008-09-16 |accessdate=2008-09-17]

The 20-year-old measures 73 cm (2 ft 5 in) tall, [Citation |last= |first= |title=The World's and Me |url=http://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/T/the_worlds_and_me/index.html |publisher=Channel 4 |date= |accessdate=2008-09-17] and is the third child of 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 normal bone growth and bodily height.

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 is currently recognized as the world's tallest man by Guinness [cite web|url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080820/wl_nm/tallest_title_dc|title=New rules make China's Bao world's tallest again|last=Nichols|first=Michelle] , and their televised meeting in July 2007 attracted global media attention.fact|date=September 2008 In May 2008 he appeared in the British Channel 4 documentary called "The World's Smallest Man and Me" hosted by Mark Dolan. [cite web | url=http://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/T/the_worlds_and_me/smallest/index.html | title=Programme Two: The World's Smallest Man and Me | publisher= [http://www.channel4.com/ Channel4.com] | date=2008-05-12 | accessdate=2008-09-27] In September 2008 he appeared with the world's longest-legged woman, Svetlana Pankratova, in London's Trafalgar Square, to publicize the release of the 2009 edition of the "Guinness Book of World Records".

Since his January 2007 appearance on television, his status as the world's shortest man has been verified by Guinness World Records. His height was measured three times over the course of 10 hours before he received a certificate officially naming him as the world’s shortest living man.

In 2006 Guinness World Records disallowed an application from a then fourteen-year-old Nepalese boy, Khagendra Thapa Magar, who measures 53 cm but will review the case when he is 18 years old. A Jordanian man who claims to be the world's shortest man, Younis Edwan, has not been measured.

See also

*List of shortest people

References