Breaking Guinness World Records new trend in China
October 12, 2011
A record-breaking trend has recently emerged in China. Many people are literally seeking to break records to get their names in the Guinness Book of World Records for all sorts of feats. USA Today reports that the U.S. currently holds the record for the most records held per country with 5,187 different titles, but the recent influx of Chinese applications is slowly closing that gap. The Asian nation is currently ranked seventh with 454 records.
"In China, our tradition is to be humble," Dong Cheng, one of the two Guinness adjudicators in China, told the news source. "We're told, 'don't try to be number one, but the younger generation is more individualistic and confident than before. They want to stand out."
Some are seeking to break records that have been set in other countries, such as the longest vehicle drift, while others are attempting to create new categories that are very Chinese in nature. The news source reports that some of these records include most ping pong balls caught with chopsticks in one minute, for which the record is 17, and most needles inserted into the head (2,009 needles).
People can use phone cards to make calls to China to talk to their friends about the latest records being challenged.