Between Showers

Life is short

He PingPing, who at 2 feet 5 inches tall was officially crowned world’s smallest man in 2008, died today at the age of 21. R.I.P.

In January 2007, He was invited to take part on a television program in Tokyo, Japan and became an Internet icon. His home of Inner Mongolia is also home to Bao Xishun, who at 2.36 metres tall was recognized by Guinness as the world’s tallest man until September 2009. 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. 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.

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 once he reaches 18 years of age October 2009. A Jordanian man who claims to be the world’s shortest man, Younis Edwan, has not been officially measured by Guinness.

Following his January 2007 appearance on television, He’s status as the world’s shortest walking man was 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 walking man.

In September 2008, he traveled to New York City to help launch the 2009 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, which certified him as the world’s smallest walking man.

On April 25, 2010, He was featured in the tenth episode of the 16th cycle of the American reality show, The Amazing Race, filmed earlier in Shanghai. The episode was dedicated in his memory.

He was admitted to a hospital on 3 March 2010 in Rome, Italy after complaining of chest pains. He had been filming Lo show dei record.[11] He died on March 13, 2010 at the age of twenty-one of heart complications.[12] The Guinness World Records editor-in-chief, Craig Glenday, said that he was “an inspiration to anyone considered different or unusual.”