Chinese version of Guinness 'Chinness' wins recognition

July 28, 2010

China has got its own version of Guinness, the iconic record of records: "Chinness." The word was derived from "Chinese" and "Guinness," and it has been officially approved by China's State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC).

"The trademark application took 3 years for verification and the SAIC's three month announcement period," said 46-year-old Zhang Dayong, the founder of Chinness.net.

Zhang set up the website in 2003. Since then, it has assessed about 500 individual applications of which 300 have been recognized as "China's Best."

"I got the idea and started to work on the Chinese version of Guinness in 1989. My mother and younger brother helped me collect back numbers and old newspapers to help me sort through the information about Chinese records," said Zhang.

He said Chinness is a certification body for accrediting Chinese records, set by Chinese or set in China.

"If Guinness is like the Olympic Games, Chinness is like China's National Games," explained Zhang.

"China boasts a long history of civilization. It is a pity many interesting record-setting events were not recorded in a form like the Guinness Book of Records," he said, explaining his motive for setting up the website.

Zhang was born in 1964 and he has suffered rigidity sex rachitis since his childhood. He worked as a part-time correspondent for Luoyang Daily, a local newspaper, before he completely lost his ability to walk in 1991.

Xinhua reporters saw that Zhang can only lie on his back. He works with a computer and a telephone by his side.

The official Chinness website records a range of feats, such as the man who recited 20,080 digits of Pi (the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter); the man who did 43 push-ups in 41 seconds with only one right thumb and two legs; and the carving of 793 traditional full-form Chinese characters on a one-square-centimeter agalmatolite, or Fuzhou Shoushan stone.

Another Chinese version of Guinness is the Shanghai Jinisi (the same pronunciation as the Chinese translation of Guinness). However, this organization is not recognized by China's trademark regulator.