52 Year Old Chinese Factory Worker Credits His Good Health To His 800 Pound Iron Shoes

Tangshan — A Chinese factory worker says walking in huge iron shoes weighing more than 200 kilograms each can cure back pain, but faces hefty competition in his bid to build the country’s heaviest footwear. “I’ve been walking with iron shoes for seven years,” said Zhang Fuxing, before strapping two crudely-welded iron blocks to his feet. “After they reached 400 kilograms (882 pounds), I felt very proud. Next spring I plan to add 50 kilograms.” Zhang took a deep breath before each wrenching step in the towering footwear, with every impact leaving him struggling for balance. It took him over a minute to take 10 paces, but he claims to walk up to 15 metres each day in the shoes, which he has gradually increased in weight, and touts them as a cure for back pain and hemorrhoids. Zhang, 52, credits his ability to move the shoes — which he leaves outdoors, safe in the knowledge that they are close to impossible for most people to lift — to the Chinese spiritual martial art Qigong, said to involve controlling the flow of supposed bodily energies. “It’s not strong muscles that make you able to walk like this, the power comes from internal organs,” he said, adding: “When you walk with your heart it will work.” Zhang believes his shoes to be the heaviest in China, but admits that competition from a number of other eccentrics renders his claim uncertain. One of two Chinese iron shoe wearers to share a Guinness World Record for walking 10 metres backwards in heavyweight iron boots is Zhang Zhenghui from Changsha. According to a 2010 report by the official Xinhua news agency he has gold-painted shoes weighing more than 200 kilograms.

Hey Zhang you’re 52 years old and you’ve got perfect back health…how do you do it!

I wear 800 pound iron shoes, bro.

Perhaps my most favorite Asian quirk of all time. 800 pound shoes. So completely absurd and over the top you absolutely have to respect it. Zhang looks like one of those inflatable men outside a car wash/Dee Reynolds flailing around uncontrollably. This is what Clancying in China is like. They call it Fuxing-ing. Jeans with some 800 pound blocks of iron strapped to your feet. Truth be told, I don’t like wearing shoes, period. And I’m talkin about shoes with air bubbles and rubber soles and soft insoles and shit. Like walking around with pillows and clouds on your feet and I still don’t like em. Imagine rockin 800 pound blocks of iron? For sure not. No fucking thank you. I’ll be the guy in my robe and my morning slippers with back pain at the age of 30. You go ahead deriving power from your internal organs and “walking with your heart” lugging around 1,600 pounds of iron with your perfect little back. Overachieving asshole.