A Living Small World Ride

I've floated through Disneyland's Small World attraction dozens of times, and when I saw this photo that's the first thing that came to mind:

Everyone in the mountain commune in Kunming, southern China, must be under 4ft 3 ins tall and they run their own police force and fire brigade from their 120 residents.

Now the group has turned itself into a tourist attraction by building mushroom houses and living and dressing like fairy tale characters.

"As small people we are used to being pushed around and exploited by big people. But here there aren't any big people and everything we do is for us," said spokesman Fu Tien.

The idea of housing dwarves in special compounds would be anathema in the West, and the village has sparked fierce debates among expats living in China.

"When I first heard this I pictured myself obscure freak shows from a hundred years back," wrote one commenter on the GoKunming website. "Pay the entrance fee and you can watch these people perform."

But others said that it was the dwarves' best chance of employment given the surplus of labour in China.

"We might feel aghast at treating humans this way but this is the best way the Chinese government can deal with the situation right now," wrote Tonyaod.

"Go back a hundred years or so in our culture and we will see that we did the same thing à la the freakshows and the circus."

Gotta give them credit for trying.