Ruan Liangming breaks the Guinness World Record for time spent covered in bees.
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It’s a practice, they say. One that pushes its practitioner’s patience to the breaking point and one that can cause tremendous pain.
Here’s the brief history of bee bearding according to Wikipedia:
Though beekeepers since ancient times have allowed bees to rest on their bodies in order to demonstrate their rapport with the insects, the practice of congregating measurable quantities of bees on the face was initiated by Petro Prokopovych, a Ukrainian beekeeper, in the 1830s. The practice spread to various “freak” exhibitions at American carnivals by the end of the nineteenth century.
Bee bearding is typically judged in one of two ways:
(1) How many pounds of bees are on the body.
(2) How long the bees cover the body.
The “beard” is created because once a queen is attached to the body the workers will follow.
Ruan was covered in bees for over 53 minutes, breaking his previous record of 20 minutes. And many sources report that he was not stung in the process. His body positioning shows the meditative state he went into. Controlled breath, total awareness. So the next time you’re out camping and the buzz of a bee or two is annoying you beyond belief… breathe, and readjust your perspective by thinking of Ruan’s shimmy:
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–Photo: AP