Tallest Man Marries

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<p>Yesterday, the Guinness-certified world's tallest living man, who is 56, said before his wedding ceremony: "If we have a child, I hope he or she can be 1.8-1.9-meters tall. Then he or she can play basketball." </p><p>He told China Daily earlier: "If it weren't for my disease, I might have become a basketball superstar just like Yao." </p><p>But for a day at least, Bao was as famous as Yao as global organizations joined Chinese print and television counterparts in a media scrum at his wedding ceremony in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. </p><p>Yao's face may launch a thousand products but Bao, no stranger to the media in China, attracted about 15 sponsors for almost everything during his wedding - from liquor to his shoes. One firm specially made a 2.9-meter blanket of camel hair for the marriage. </p><p>Inner Mongolia used his fame to turn the wedding into a branding event. </p><p>"He has a very good image in Inner Mongloa," Bao's agent Xin Xing was quoted as saying. "We plan to use his name to develop tourism." </p><p>His bride, Xia Shujuan - 28 years old and 1.68 meters tall - reaches his elbow at about two-thirds his height, and is half his age. </p><p>She basked in the limelight yesterday - after all, she was the chosen one after Bao's worldwide hunt for a bride. </p><p>She was an assistant at a shopping mall in Chifeng of Inner Mongolia; and it was love at first sight when they met on February 24. </p><p>The wedding was held on the grasslands of Erdos, where some Mongolian legends say Genghis Khan is buried. </p><p>After offering a sacrifice to the gods at 8 am, Bao, wearing a blue silk robe and bow and arrows slung across his back, led a parade of 99 young men and 49 horses to the bride's yurt. </p><p>After the traditional wedding, Bao - who some say is a descendant of the Khan - carried his bride in a 12-meter-long war chariot. The couple spent the night in a yurt. </p><p>A 2.8 by 2.2 meter bed was ready for the couple, but their 3-meter-high home is still under construction. </p><p>The wedding was the best time in his life, apart from the three years he spent in the army as a basketball player, he said. He had to quit at 23 because of rheumatism. </p><p>Late last year, Bao hit the news when he saved two dolphins in an ocean aquarium in Northeast China by reaching into their stomachs with his 1.06-meter arm and taking out pieces of plastic that the dolphins had swallowed and which were lodged in their stomachs. </p><p>Agencies contributed to the story </p><p><br/>(China Daily ) </p>

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Tallest Man Marries

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