After a long and painful international quest for love and his dream bride, the world’s tallest man began a life of wedded bliss yesterday with a shop assistant from his home town in Inner Mongolia.

Bao Xishun, the 7ft 9in (2.3m) herdsman tied the knot at the tomb of Kublai Khan in northern China. The 56-year-old titan bore a lovestruck grin as he gazed the long way down to Xia Shujian, his 29-year-old bride, who comes up to her husband’s elbow.

Xia, who declared that she was “madly in love”, was wooed in a one-month courtship. Bao found love on his doorstep after years of searching for a soulmate. “If we have a child, I hope he or she can be 1.8-1.9 metres tall,” Bao said. “Then he or she can play basketball.”

His official status as the world’s tallest living man has bestowed celebrity upon Bao. The traditional Mongolian ceremony, celebrated with more than 2,000 relatives and friends, had all the glitz and national attention of a royal wedding – plus lavish sponsorship.

That was all just icing on the cake to Xia, who said: “You need to have feelings for someone to be in love. Even if he is a big shot, you can’t love him without feelings.”

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