All for the Olympics: Man sticks 2008 needles in his head

A TCM doctor in Nanning by the name of Wei Shengchu (韦盛初) has stuck 2008 needles in his head to "welcome" the upcoming Beijing Olympics in a wild, wacky publicity stunt. From the Business Times 《时代商报》:

50多岁的韦盛初自幼酷爱中医,2002年9月25日，他在报纸上看到一条消息说加拿大一名男子在自己的左右手臂上扎下了420针，并成功申报吉尼斯世界纪录。韦盛初十分感慨，在他看来，在手臂上扎针并没有什么难度，而且420针也不算多。据统计，如果韦盛初一边消毒一边扎针，那么每分钟大约可以扎 5-7根针，如果预先把针消好毒后连着扎，那么他每分钟可以扎12根针，这是最快的记录。经过反复研究、试验，韦盛初决定在自己的脸部和头部扎针，从1380针到2100针，韦盛初对自己头上扎针的技术越来越有信心，并多次当众表演。
50 year old Wei Shengchu has loved traditional Chinese medicine since young. On 25 Sept 2002, he read on the papers that a Canadian man had stuck 420 needles on his rigt and left arms and successfully clinched a Guinness record for himself. Wei was very surprised since he thought this was no great feat at all, and 420 was not a particularly big number. According to Wei's calculations, if he worked on both disinfecting the needles and piercing them at the same time, then he would be able to stick between 5-7 needles per minute. If all the needles were to be disinfected first and consecutively pierced, then he would be able to stick in 12 needles each minute. That would be the maximum possible speed. Through repeated research, trial and error, Wei decided to stick the needles in his face and head, working his way up from 1380 needles all the way up to 2100. He began to develop great confidence in his technique and even went in public to perform.

Photo from AsianOffbeat.com