Chinese Dwarfs Start Their Own Village

A community of dwarfs in China is tired of being discriminated against and is doing something about it.

The Telegraph reports that the people of Kunming, a mountain community in southern China, have set up their own village to escape discrimination from normal sized people.

All of the 120 residents are under 4-feet, 3-inches tall, and they run their own police force and fire department. The group also has turned itself into a tourist attraction by building mushroom houses and living and dressing like fairy tale characters. ( See a photo. )

"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 dwarf village has sparked debate throughout the country. "When I first heard this I pictured myself obscure freak shows from a hundred years back," wrote one commenter on the GoKunming Web site . "Pay the entrance fee and you can watch these people perform."

Another commenter countered saying, "They can't work anywhere ... so we have a village for them to live and be happy in. ... In China we have villages like this for all kinds of people. ... This way they can get a steady income every month since people come and see them perform."

In the early 1900s, Lilliputia was a Utopian city of little people that prospered within the confines of Coney Island's Dreamland before the whole amusement park burned down in 1911.