the Indian who has the longest ear hair

Attention all Chinese challengers to the Indian with the world's longest ear hair (4 inches) or the Americans who smooched their way to the world's longest kiss (30 hours, 59 minutes, 27 seconds) -- your day has come. And this time it's official.

The Guinness Book of World Records landed in China on Thursday, bestowing 10 awards on record-breaking people and places and for the first time sanctioning a local firm to look for more.

The London-based institution has a lawsuit pending against a Shanghai outfit which borrowed the Guinness tag, said Stewart Newport, the Keeper of the Records.

"It's unfortunate that some people may have been misled, but hopefully this will rectify it," he said.

Guinness has signed an agreement with the Liaoning Education Press, based in the northeastern city of Shenyang, to publish the Chinese-language edition of its 2003 record book and review applicants for future editions, Newport said.

Guinness first published its record book in 1955. The reference now claims to be world's best selling copyrighted book with sales of more than 94 million copies in 37 languages -- only the Bible, not exclusively copy written, has sold more.

Most of China's new record-holders were long overdue.

They include athletes like diver Fu Mingxia, who became the world's youngest sporting champion at the tender age of 12 in 1991 and is unlikely ever to be beaten.

And since July, 1980, a movie house has been screening the classic "Love on Lushan Mountain" four times a day, everyday, to tourists in the picturesque Jiangxi province setting which gave the film its name. Guinness researchers took more than two months to determine to their satisfaction that no other theater had continuously shown the same film as long.

(Agencies)