Che Mah (15 April 183821 March 1926) was a Chinese

dwarf Dwarf, dwarfs or dwarves may refer to: Common uses *Dwarf (folklore), a supernatural being from Germanic folklore * Dwarf, a human or animal with dwarfism Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Dwarf (''Dungeons & Dragons''), a sh ...

. He was considered to be the world's smallest man during his life, at .

Biography

Che Mah was reported to have been born on , in

Ningbo Ningbo is a sub-provincial city in northeastern Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises six urban districts, two satellite county-level cities, and two rural counties, including several islands in Hangzhou Bay and the Eas ...

on the island of

Zhoushan Zhoushan is an urbanized archipelago with the administrative status of a prefecture-level city in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang. It consists of an archipelago of islands at the southern mouth of Hangzhou Bay off the mainland c ...

(transcribed in contemporary sources as "Chusan" or "Choo Sang"). In 1881, he was brought to the United States, where he would travel with the ''

Barnum and Bailey Circus The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, also known as the Ringling Bros. Circus, Ringling Bros., the Barnum & Bailey Circus, Barnum & Bailey, or simply Ringling, is an American traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Earth ...

''. When he traveled with shows, he was considered the most polite & most intelligent dwarf on exhibition. In 1882, he married Louisa Coleman, a trapeze artist. The couple had one son.

Later life

In 1909, he married Norah Cleveland; the couple divorced in 1923. When Che Mah retired, he moved to

Knox, Indiana Knox is a city in Center Township, Starke County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 3,662 at the 2020 census. The city is the county seat of Starke County. History Knox was founded in 1851, and is named for American Revolutio ...

, United States, where he would remain till his death , aged 89. He is remembered as one of the most respected citizens of Knox, Indiana.

References

1838 births 1926 deaths Chinese people with disabilities Qing dynasty emigrants to the United States Entertainers with dwarfism Chinese entertainers Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus people American circus performers 19th-century circus performers 20th-century circus performers American people with disabilities People from Knox, Indiana {{China-bio-stub