China's "Little People's Kingdom" is a theme park, where little people dance and sing in fairytale costumes, drawing both curious groups and criticism. The theme park, near Kunming City in Yunnan Province, employs 108 dwarfs (矮子) from across the country, who gather on an artificial hillside twice a day to dance and sing for tourists. And all pretend to live in a tiny hilltop village.
The guests can watch shows like comedies, group dance and acrobatics (杂技). The show's centerpiece, a funny performance ofSwanLake,sees performers dressed in special pink costumes and pretending to be little swans. "The first time I performed it (SwanLake) I felt a bit embarrassed. I had never worn a skirt like that before. But later, once I got used to it, I found I could do it very well," said Chen Ruan, 21, from Hunan Province who joined the park when it opened.
For many of the employees, the park offers a rare opportunity to find work. As unlikely as it seems for men and women doing daily funny performances ofSwanLake, they think that it feels good to live in dormitories that look like caves while living with people with similar experiences. In addition, the life facilities in the park are made according to their special needs. Besides, performers in the park earn 2,000yuana month, around twice the salary of a high school graduate.
The founder of the park, Chen Ming, made his fortune by producing electronics and investing, but said he had always wanted to help the disadvantaged groups in the community. People, like human right activists for the disabled, think that such a park only encourages the discrimination against little people. The only requirement for participants to be employed at the theme park is to be shorter than 51 inches and be able to take care of themselves in daily life. The youngest employee is 18, and the oldest is 48.
