Who was Zeng Jinlian, the tallest women ever ?

Wetall invites you today to discover who was the tallest woman ever to have lived. You’ll also understand why she could have exceeded the height of the world’s tallest man ever.

Who was Zeng Jinlian?

Zeng Jinlian was born in the People’s Republic of China in Yujiang in Hunan Province on 26 June 1964. She died on 13 February 1982 when she was only 17 years old and was still growing. She could no longer stand upright due to scoliosis and moved about in a wheelchair.

At 18 months of age she could lift 23 kg (a bag of cement).

Her parents measured 1m63 for her mother and 1m56 for her father. Her three brothers and sister were of normal height (1m58).

At her death she weighed 147 kg.

Her hands measured 25.5cm and her feet 35.5cm, if Wetall had existed at the time she would have been able to find large size shoes to fit her.

She suffered from a pituitary tumour which caused her gigantism. Her doctors wanted to treat her by radiation but she always refused because she didn’t want to lose her hair.

How tall was Zeng Jinlian?

Zeng Jinlian measured 2m48 at her death. She is the only woman to have exceeded 8 feet (2m43) out of 12 people total.

In her time, she was the tallest person on earth.

If she hadn’t died at 17 she would surely have been taller than the world’s tallest man ever: Robert Wadlow. He measured 2m72 before dying at the age of 22. At his death and like Jinlian, he was still growing. What suggests she could have beaten him is that she was taller than him at 17 years old exactly. Jinlian measured 2m46 and Robert 2m45.

Here’s a comparative table of their respective growth already presented in another article:

Age	Zeng Jinlian Height	Robert Wadlow Height
4 years old	1m56	1m60
13 years old	2m17	2m18
16 years old	2m40	2m40
17 years old	2m46	2m45

In fact, the world’s tallest man of all time could have been a woman.

How did Zeng Jinlian die?

Jinlian died from complications of her diabetes. She was 17 years old. Her gigantism and scoliosis didn’t help improve her medical situation either, nor did the state of medicine in China at that time.