Wednesday afternoon, a man wearing a pair of huge, glittering iron shoes attracted attention in Sichuan Province with his claims that the footwear weighed 300 kilograms.

The man called himself Wukong, after the Monkey King in Journey to the West, which is considered to be one of China's four great classic novels.

"I set the Guinness record by wearing a pair of iron shoes that weighed 200 kilograms last year," said Wukong. "And this pair is 100 kilograms heavier. I'm going to once again challenge the Guinness record with them."

Wukong shoehorned his feet into the shoes and tied them. He then began to walk, making loud bangs with every step. Two bystanders tried and failed to carry the shoes after Wukong took them off.

Wukong said he worked up to this feat by running with sandbags fastened to his legs. He added to the weights gradually until he was strong enough to wear iron shoes.

Some experts warn that this kind of weight training doesn't suit everyone since some people may suffer severe injury from this practice.

China News Service