The Kingdom of Little People in China employs about 100 people of short stature. The park offers employment to people shorter than 130 centimeters, about 4 feet tall.
The Kingdom of Little People in China employs about 100 people of short stature. The park offers employment to people shorter than 130 centimeters, about 4 feet tall.
Photo: Yunnan Adventure
Huang Xuejing broke away from the kingdom he once called home six years ago. At just 130 centimeters — a little over 4 feet — Huang’s height permitted him entry into the kingdom in 2009.
His physical growth was limited when he injured his spine in a fall at age 8. Having been warned that surgery to restart his growth could lead to paralysis, his family chose to not take the risk.
The maximum height for workers there is 130 centimeters, meaning Huang just made the cut. He soon found himself working behind the scenes as a manager. But life wasn’t quite what he had been promised.
Photo: FunCage
Exploring The Kingdom
An hour’s drive east of the city of Kunming in southwest China, the park has been branded a disgrace by some overseas, stoking debate about the treatment of people with disabilities in China.
The US-based dwarfism support group Little People of America highlight that opinions vary about whether dwarfism/short stature is actually a disability and believe the kingdom is comparable to a zoo.
The kingdom is billed as a tourist attraction, by its owner, real estate mogul Chen Mingjing. Now, seven years after opening its doors, the kingdom remains open, but few tourists seem to be buying into the fairy tale. Just 15 customers, mainly families with young children, could be counted on one recent day, most of them Chinese.
Photo: edition.cnn.com
After paying the 100 yuan ($15) entry fee, customers sit in front of the main stage to watch the morning performances. On this day, 30 performers in pink and red coats dance while a “king” character, complete with a cloak and crown, swans around regally. Shortly afterward, an all-female dance team performed a Bollywood-style routine.
The tone is cute and quirky, with a karaoke feel to the songs sung between dance routines. Another regular performance involves male dancers dressed in female ballerina outfits and pirouetting to “Swan Lake” music. It’s like any other show performed in jest, but with a much shorter cast.
Photo: edition.cnn.com
Life In — And Out Of — The Kingdom
Huang joined the work force in the theme park after having been enticed by its owner, Chen, who was impressed by Huang’s abilities and sold him his dream for the kingdom, Huang said.
“He was very keen and sincere,” Huang said in his small but impeccably tidy studio apartment in central Kunming. “He explained that he wanted to make the kingdom the biggest in the world.”
Chen explained to Huang that managing a team of people with height impediments would be best by someone who understands their perspective.
“That was why he wanted me,” said Huang, who in turn felt that a job helping people like himself might be more meaningful.
Huang Xuejing, in the red jacket, used to work in the kingdom as a manager but left six years ago to work as a freelance performer in Kunming. Photo: edition.cnn.com
But after 3½ years, Huang chose to set out and work as a freelance performer in Kunming. He wanted to earn more and found life in the kingdom too isolated, despite regular travel to Kunming, his hometown.
These days, “I host, sing rock music in bars and attend launch ceremonies and weddings,” he said.
Huang earns 5,000 to 20,000 yuan ($740 to $3,000) a month. He didn’t want to reveal how much he earned inside the kingdom but said his current salary was “a lot more.”
Earning A (Good) Living
“People like us have to save for the future,” said Yang Qianjun, a former colleague of Huang’s at the Kingdom of the Little People who also ventured out in search of more lucrative employment.
Yang, 30, is 125 centimeters (about 4 feet) tall and worked in the kingdom as a performer until he left four years ago.
Yang Qianjun used to work as a performer in the kingdom but left to become a restaurant host in the city of Kunming. Photo:edition.cnn.com
He says he was initially paid 800 yuan ($120) a month at the kingdom, later rising to 1,200 yuan ($180) with deductions for food. “It wasn’t enough,” he said.
Charismatic and talkative, Yang now works as a host in Kunming at a Cultural Revolution-themed eatery plastered with Mao Zedong imagery and staffed by waiters in soldier uniforms.
He earns about 3,000 yuan ($440) a month and says he rarely is discriminated against for his height — something he had feared while in the safety net of the park. “People around here are really nice,” he said.
Hiding Away In The Kingdom
But in China, especially in rural areas, attitudes about disabled people bringing “shame” to families can often persist.
Some workers still living and performing in the kingdom said they’d had more negative experiences in public.
“In the outside world, people look at me differently, like I’m some kind of monster,” said singer Li Jia, who has worked in the park for six years and has no plans to leave.
Life inside the Kingdom of the Little People Photo: edition.cnn.com
