Mount Everest is the highest mountain on Earth, as measured by the height of its summit above sea level. In May 2005, artist Xu Zhen led an ascent on Everest, and succeeded in removing the summit of the mountain, reducing its height by 186cm, Xu Zhen's own height. The summit of the Mount Everest has been touring art exhibits throughout the world ever since.


xu zhen next nature mount everest 2


The British claimed in 1856 that the summit of the Mount Everest was 8,848 meters in height. Various official and independent surveys since have consistently shown that Everest is not as high as had been thought, pointing, perhaps, to evidence of global warming, or a shift in the tectonic plates, though its cause still remains unproven.


Xu Zhen is known as the maverick of the Chinese art world. With no patience for conventional, out-moded ways, his urgent desire to confront every value of a society he perceives as banal, hypocritical, or plain conventional, extends to his own approach and practice as an artist.

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32 comments

  • Move along, folks. People have known for a while that this is a hoax.

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  • THAT IS TERRIBLE. Why would you do that? It's people like that, that's not art that's nature. The biggest mountain in the world. Then again, the possiblity of even having enough energy seems totally unrealistic.

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  • Sorry to dissapoint everyone that thinks this is real, but it would be impossible to even hold that much weight on your back. Even for three people. It is good art thou. It's cool that they made a replica of it!

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  • ok y would someone take the summit off of a mountain? it is COMPLETELY FAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  • COMPLETELY FAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  • It's not about whether its real or not. The artist wants us to challenge our thoughts on what is real or not. Like... a reference to the original moon landing or how are we certain Mt Everest was 8848 meters high?

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  • haha people are getting so worked up over this and it's total BS... Firstly, how do you suppose they 'cut' this piece of mountain? They certainly didn't do it with any kind of manual saw, and they could never have carried some sort of chain saw up with them. More importantly, how do you think they got it down? Men and women who summit Everest many times have just enough strength to get themselves back down- no one could have carried this big piece of mountain, and furthermore, the air is too thin up there for helicopters. pretty funny, though.

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  • Sam

    yes this seems possible... not... surely we would have heard more about it if someone had casually chopped the top off Everest... plus, how the bloody hell could he have done that! the final stage to climibing the mountain (hilary's step) is a near vertical rock face... impossible... Nice idea though...

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  • This is a lie

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  • sam

    nice awesome wicked cool w00t ow could some1 climb 8848km

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  • I completely agree. How can you morally deface the most majestic, highest point in the world? How can he sleep at night knowing that, if its not a hoax (which I truly hope it is,) He ruined the dreams of future mountain climbers. Taking the summit of Mount Everest off mount everest? Is he crazy? I live in a beach community, which is the farthest altitude you can get from Everest, and I am outraged someone would dare do this unspeakable act.

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  • This better be a fake, an assault like that on a mountain is a crime against nature - I hope Xu Zhen enjoys having perhaps the worst Karma in the world.

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  • i say its a hoax.

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  • Photo shop! I once got all dressed up in cowboy stuff and stood in a bar and had my picture taken in black and white. you know to get that ol western day look! same here no way they could have cut through that or even make it down with it. and a couple hundred pounds of rock i would say by the look of the rock that would be maybe closer to a thousand lbs

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  • ted

    Thats impossible, they can't even get a corpse down the mountain much less a couple hundred pounds of rock. Just look it up on wikipedia.

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  • mount everest looks amazing. what's it like on the summit. what's it like looking at the plateau of tibet from the summit. i'm doing a school project for my exams and this is one of the questions. its actually what i thinkit would be like to reach the summit and look at the plateau but.. i dont really know so.... watever. =]

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  • I can't believe someone would do that, and who allowed him to do it anyway? Is it even real???? Helicopters can't go up that high so how did he get it down. It's not even his artwork, its God's and the mountain's. Whatever, It's unfair you can't go cut off the top of the white house and call it art, so why does he think he can reshape a mountain? Ughh, i really don't understand this...

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  • this stinks the pictures look so fake its not even funny because like if you were to have some kind of proof or something like that i think that it would be more appropriate to have a video but thats just my opinion so just take it i will check back on this site in 20 days and i want it to have a video of someone climbing the mountain so that i can believe that it is actually true because i just cant believe i

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  • i think john walker is climbing up the mount everest

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  • good photos i allways thinking that evean i can climb maunteverest

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  • Ok. I know this for a fact, the top was not that pointy. There's room for an expedition to all be standing at 29,028, that picture looks as if there's room for an expedition of cockroaches. He would not be able to get a piece of rock that big down the freakin mountain. There's the fact that above 25,000 you're dying every second. And I'd like to see someone carry that down the Lhotse Face. That's a 60 degree skating rink. Now imagine if you manage to make it down the face, there's still the Khumbu icefall. Even if it was ailrlifted, the helicopter couldn't get mich above 20,000. It's obviously a hoax and everyone who thinks otherwise is a sap. My two cents.

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  • I agree. Hard to beleive it is real. I would have to see some sort of documentary to see how it was done. Hmmm...even so...WHY? Perhaps because he could...if he truly did.

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  • don't worry...unless you paid to see it. ever read any true life accounts of summiting everest?? this isn't possible, that mass of rock would not be able to be carried by ten healthy mountaineers all using bottled oxygen...and since the air is too thin for helicopters to fly much higher than camp 1 on the mountain thats not possible either...in fact in the few (i've only read of one) rescues by a helicopter at camp 1 there were two stranded climbers both with cerebral edema and they had to be taken one at a time because of weight restrictions. also, depending which face of the mountain they decsended theres no way they could get it down the ladders or across them for that matter spanning the bottomless crevices of the khumbu icefall...the summits still in place and this guy and his claims are wack.

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  • Bullshit. Without a helicopter there's no way they could carry that much rock. Without a 2m blade there's no way they could sever the pinnacle in the planar way it's presented. Liars. And if not, fools.

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  • I agree, this was an act of vandalism, but don't worry, Everest has the record by several hundred feet, so it's still the highest peak by quite a bit

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  • Why???? Why would he do that? WTF!!!! He destroyed what this great earth took millions of years to build! I think he should be arrested.

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  • wierd...........untrue and mean to nature... god i can't beleiv peeps wood do that to nature!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!ahhhhh!

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  • Relevant? noooo... not exactly but I can't resist: Now, everybody agrees: there can be only ONE highest peak on the face of this earth; you simply CANNOT have TWO equally highest summits. Then, you claim is that Mt Everest is the highest peak on earth? I beg to differ. You are wrong, wrong, wrong! the highest peak on earth is th Chomolungma! Noooo! it's called Jongmalunga! Noooo, the really highest peak on the face of this earth is the only Sagarmatha!!! Now, now, now... you can't have FOUR highest peaks. Makes no sense... Now, could it be that God, Yaveh, Allah, Shiva and god-knows (sic) what ever other names our "one and unique" deity comes under all roll up into ONE? Raise your joined hands to heaven or present it your arse, your choice: you are ALL worshipping the one and same: GOD (if is exists, of course).

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  • A for effort... but it's like showing off something that is only seen if worked really hard for, therefore cheapens it, like a freak show. it's basically an act of vandalism, like cutting down a famous tree. why is this work interesting or important? it's neither, like how chopped off musuem heads are shown in musems. what is the point of the work?

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  • =A=

    As soon as you cut off the summit, another peak becomes the summit – and so on. Before you know it, there are exhibitions of rocks in glass houses everywhere. How interesting is that? High mountains will grow extinct and then we will have nothing to look up to. I hope Xu Zhen (or Mohammad) will return to the mountain one day and set it free.

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  • "If Mohammad can't go to the mountain, let the mountain come to Mohammad."

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  • nice! don't think it's "real" though

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