Lilliputia Redux

October 1, 2009 11:40 AM

In Kunming, southern China, a community of dwarves has set up its own village to escape discrimination from normal sized people."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.

This is not the first time that an intentional city of little people has been built - in 1904 circus man Samuel Gumpertz built Lilliputia, "The Midget City". A 1/2 scale reproduction of 15th century Nuremberg at Dreamland, Coney Island, in Brooklyn, but Lilliputia was built strictly for the spectacle. Lilliputia had a full-time population of as many as 300 little people, complete with its own relatively sized parliament, beach, theatre, stable with small ponies, and functioning fire department (which 'performed' by putting out set fires on schedule, several times day).

In fact, in 1911, when Dreamland burned to the ground "only Lilliputia's midget fire fighters - confronted with the real thing after +/- 2,500 false alarms - put up a real fight against the holocaust; they save a small piece of their Nuremburg - the fire station - but otherwise their actions are hopeless."

posted by dirtdirt (31 comments total)

Just don't go into Murder Pass.
posted by kowalski at 11:43 AM on October 1

Aye carumba, I used to tell tourists this is what happened in Ireland and that Leprechaun was actually the village they came from.
posted by Damienmce at 11:44 AM on October 1

Were they forced by zoning laws to make the town look like something from the Mushroom Kingdom?
posted by pyrex at 11:46 AM on October 1 [1 favorite]

It's not hard to find, either. I just looked at it on Google Maps.

It is located in south central China. If you are coming up from Laos, then you really just need to get onto the Kunyu Express Way. From there, you just follow the yellow brick road.
posted by flarbuse at 11:47 AM on October 1

Who run Bartertown Kunming?
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 11:48 AM on October 1

"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.

Now they exploit themselves? I guess they're making a buck (er, yuan) off their own labor and entertainment value for themselves, not a circus master.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:48 AM on October 1

Nothing demands respect like building mushroom houses and dressing like fairy tale characters.
posted by reverend cuttle at 11:51 AM on October 1 [1 favorite]

Reminds me of the 7 1/2th floor in that documentary about John Malkovich.
posted by kmz at 11:53 AM on October 1

Reminds me of the 7 1/2th floor in that documentary about John Malkovich.

If only that were a documentary...
posted by Perplexity at 12:01 PM on October 1 [2 favorites]

Aye carumba...

What's that - Gaelic, or Putunghoa?
posted by Kirth Gerson at 12:03 PM on October 1

Were they forced by zoning laws to make the town look like something from the Mushroom Kingdom?

From the title of the article it's an existing theme park.
posted by odinsdream at 12:05 PM on October 1

New Jersey had its own Midgetville years ago. http://tinyurl.com/ycsz32w
posted by otto42 at 12:06 PM on October 1

It would suck to be the tallest midget there... everybody there would ask you to get stuff from the top shelf all the time...
posted by Nanukthedog at 12:07 PM on October 1

Those three men in green must be from the Lollipop guild.
posted by Orange Pamplemousse at 12:11 PM on October 1

Uh oh!
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 12:16 PM on October 1

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.

I'm not sure why this is even being debated. A bunch of dwarves started living together for protection, and then decided to exploit the big people by charging them to do nothing but watch the little people. If someone comes around and actually exploits them - and by exploit I mean force them to work for little to no wages - then sure I'll be angry, just as angry as I'd be if some dwarf in the village started exploiting other villagers. If like-minded people want to get together and charge people to watch them, I'm not sure how that's anyone's business but their own.
posted by scrutiny at 12:31 PM on October 1 [5 favorites]

I'm with scrutiny. Seems like a rather ingenious way to support themselves. It also must be nice to be able to blend in with your community for once.
posted by Go Banana at 12:49 PM on October 1

Reminds me of the 7 1/2th floor in that documentary about John Malkovich.
If only that were a documentary...

I'm writing this from the 3 1/2 floor of my building. Yes, that is my mailing address.
posted by StickyCarpet at 12:58 PM on October 1

It's a world of laughter, a world of tears...
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:02 PM on October 1

I'm writing this from inside John Malkovich's mind.
posted by kmz at 1:02 PM on October 1

Can you imagine the MeTa this thread would generate if these were albino little people?
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 1:54 PM on October 1

otto42: New Jersey had its own Midgetville years ago. http://tinyurl.com/ycsz32w

You can just post the actual link, it isn't that hard.
posted by paisley henosis at 2:10 PM on October 1

Can you imagine the MeTa this thread would generate if these were albino little people?

Oh honey...
posted by electroboy at 3:22 PM on October 1

Hi Ho, hi ho ...
posted by banshee at 3:39 PM on October 1

Isn't this really the essence of tourism as an industry? It's no different than Mexicans living with other Mexicans and then inviting people to pay them to come stay for awhile in Mexico and gawk at the Mexicans, to me. Yes, bad things could potentially happen, people could be unhappy, but not necessarily. It might fall apart, it might thrive. People like living around other people who're like them. If there's a community large enough to support this, well, as long as they have plans in place to deal with stuff like average-sized children born to the residents? Fine by me. It seems like it'd be no worse than living in your average tourist trap town. Not necessarily better, either, but eh.
posted by larkspur at 3:45 PM on October 1

I'm sad that their situation is such that they find this necessary. Separatism is a failing of the fled society.
posted by Pope Guilty at 5:41 PM on October 1 [1 favorite]

If like-minded people want to get together and charge people to watch them, I'm not sure how that's anyone's business but their own.


And unlike in town it's only $10 for a dance!
posted by xorry at 7:11 PM on October 1 [2 favorites]

These magical costumes and jolly smurf homes just help perpetuate the hurtful Hollywood stereotype that little people are likable, happy, and sociable, like characters you would find in a cartoon or a children's novel. Let us do away with this demeaning nonsense and let people once and for all recognize dwarves for the drunkards, brigands, and menacing whoremongers they really are!:

“The Wonder Behind the Wizard of OZ”

... The other key actors in this film were the Munchkins. The Munchkins were played by midgets. Off screen these midgets were nothing like the darling little people they played as Munchkins. Mervyn LeRoy, the producer, said that, “We had a hell of a time with those little guys’. Reportedly these midget actors were involved in sex orgies. Police had to be stationed on every floor of the hotel to stop this lewd behavior. Noel Langley, one of the screenwriters, described these actors as being so raunchy that the studio was forced to provide armed guards for the showgirls. In her later years (Judy Garland) stated that these Munchkin actors were drunks who drank every night and later had to be picked up by the police in butterfly nets. Hugh Fordin, in his book on Arthur Freed, describes the Munchkins as “The most deformed, unpleasant bunch of adults imaginable”. Fordin went on to say, ‘This unholy assemblage of pimps, hookers, and gamblers infested the Metro lot and all of the community”. It must be stated that there were a few Munchkin actors who did not participate in this debauchery. However, this goes to show that appearances, especially in films, can be very deceiving. On screen, these actors brought to their roles a touch of fantasy and vulnerability which led audiences to believe that the Munchkins were adorable innocent characters.

posted by dgaicun at 8:44 PM on October 1

A more detailed article: The secret salacious world of the Munchkins
posted by dgaicun at 8:58 PM on October 1

Now they exploit themselves?

In capitalism, man exploits man. In socialism, it's the opposite.
posted by dhartung at 9:23 PM on October 1 [1 favorite]

If people paid to hear me sing funny songs while I stood around in shiny pants and curly-toed shoes and a turban outside my mushroom house with my similarly short mate in mushroom town, I'd say that was a pretty good deal, not exploitation. What are their options? Be an accountant or lawyer? *shudder*
posted by pracowity at 3:10 AM on October 2