Red and maroon are such good colors that both compliment her so well! I hope there were some people who told her how great she looked, if I had met her, I’d definitely want to tell her that she was so pretty and had such a charming smile!

She looks like she was a very sweet woman, and I really hope she had at least moments of happiness in her life. Her height made her feel very self conscious and I wish she had people who supported her and boosted her confidence vs people who stopped and stared. 

She did not want to be a performer, but felt it was one of the few ways for her to earn an income, it’s for this reason that I’m using the Historical Disability Awareness flair instead of the Sideshow Performer of the Day flair. 

Some facts about her:

\-she was born in Liuan, Anhui, China.

\-her parents were both farmers.

\-her family struggled financially for much of her life.

\-the pituitary gland tumor is what caused her height. When she was 11 years old she was 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) tall.

\-she learned to play basketball from a young age, but had to stop when she began experiencing too much pain in her joints.

\-she was 6 ft 11 in (210 cm) when she was 15 years old.

\-it was when she was 15 years old that she first went to see a doctor about her condition. Word about her height had spread so much throughout her town that she felt seeing a doctor would be the best course of action.

\-the doctor accurately diagnosed her condition, but refused to schedule a surgery to remove the tumor because Defen and her family couldn’t afford the cost of 4,000 yuan.

\-she was extremely self conscious about her height for the majority of her life, in one Chinese interview she expressed feeling sad and anxious about her height saying, 

“I am very unhappy. Why am I this tall? If I were not this tall, others would not look at me like this."

\-the chronic pain and extreme pressure in her joints made it very difficult for her to walk and she spent the majority of her time in her bed or in a specially chair when she was traveling.

\-word about her height spread even more and she was contacted by several agencies who wanted to train her in various sports. This plan was never followed through because her height and the pressure on her joints made her too weak to do any strenuous form of exercise.

\-she and her father decided that earning money in traveling carnivals and shows was one of the few ways that she could earn a dependable income. 

\-she began her performing career when she was 20 years old.

\-she never attended school and never learned to read.

\-she enjoyed knitting in her free time and said that it was her favorite hobby. 

\-she attracted a lot of attention whenever she left her house and expressed her dislike for it because of how invasive everyone was. She described feeling like a spectacle rather than a person. 

\-in 2002, she found a hospital willing to remove the tumor for a price she could afford, and made a full recovery from the surgery. She hoped that the successful surgery would help her in being able to live an independent life.

\-her peak height was 7 ft 7 in (234.69 cm) or 7 ft 8 in (237.74 cm) tall. She was recognized as being the world’s tallest woman after Sandy Allen, who previously held the title, died in 2008.

\-TLC (the American TV network) dedicated a show to Defen and her daily life in 2009.

\-tragically she suffered a major fall in her home and experienced internal bleeding in her brain. After she recovered enough to see visitors, she was visited by China's tallest man, Zhang Juncai. She said that this visit cheered her up a lot.

\-she passed away in her family’s home when she was 40 years old.

I really hope she had some caring friends in her life, it makes me incredibly sad that she had to deal with so many people in her daily life that treated her like a spectacle, she just wanted to be treated as a regular person. 

I am however glad that she had a passion for knitting since it’s a very calming creative outlet. I hope some of her work still exists because I’d love to know what it was that she enjoyed knitting!

Yao Defen (1972-2012) was a Chinese woman who had a pituitary gland tumor and was recognized as being the world’s tallest woman during the end of her lifetime. She enjoyed knitting in her free time and helped support her family financially by performing in traveling shows and carnivals around China.