bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Annemarie Evans

Nearly seven years ago, civil servant Barry Kwok Tak-ming  submitted his unique claim to fame to Guinness World Records: a piece of skin  21.6cm by 10.2cm  peeled from his sunburnt chest in the shape of China.

He claimed it was the largest piece of skin to be peeled whole from a living human.

Unfortunately, Mr Kwok, who is  a  photographer, did not capture his chest on film  to show the peeled area. Despite  witness statements by his mother and sister to the Home Affairs Department  testifying to the fact that the skin is indeed  his, the record bid  is in limbo.

Mr Kwok has kept the skin, citing it as a family treasure 'to be passed from generation to generation'.

'The technology may not exist in my lifetime,' he  said, to prove his  claim, although he will research technology that could help him.   In the meantime, he provides a magnifying glass to anyone who wants to stomach a closer vetting.

Mr Kwok, 43, who shares a Lok Fu  flat with his mother and sister, is an ardent patriot.

'My younger sister took 90 minutes to help me to peel  the largest piece of skin in the world off my chest with her hands, without using any equipment, in the shape of a China map,' he said of the precision peeling by his sister 28 years ago when she was 10 years old.

He keeps the skin in an  album that contains his boyhood collection of 1970s Hong Kong stamps.  The  piece,  held  in place by  tape, has taken on a yellowish-brown tinge over the years, but still maintains its size and elasticity.

He  said that for security reasons the album never leaves his home. While occasionally turning on a dehumidifier near the  drawer where  his prize is kept, Mr Kwok has not found it necessary to take any other steps to protect   it.

(For the record, the reason  Mr Kwok was so sunburnt on a beach  on July 22, 1979, was that he was trying to emulate the bronzed skin tone of his hero, Bruce Lee.)

If the Guinness record bid ultimately fails,  Mr Kwok said he would be happy to donate the skin to Ripley's Believe it or Not!  for public viewing.

''Collective memory', this is a very hot term used in Hong Kong for the government preserving buildings,' Mr Kwok said. 'This is a collective memory for me. It tells history. That's why it is a personal treasure to me.'



Skin king can't get record bid off his chest