New Reply

Post a Reply

Thread: Should China say goodbye to Western lifestyle?

Title: (100 characters at most)

Content: ( 3,000 characters at most, please )

You can add emoticons below to your post by clicking them.

[quote=SUMMERSNOW,302214]China grows fat while embracing Western lifestyle

What is the image of Chinese people on your mind? Thin, yellow-skin, black eyeballs, black hairs. The other traits remain unchanged except “Thin”. As an arcticle at usatoday.com suggests, “China grows fat while embracing western lifestyle”.

The article says: “For centuries, people in China have been fairly lean, but now at least one-fourth of adults there are overweight or obese, a trend starting to take a toll on the country's health care system and economy”

“In 2006, 26% of the Chinese population weighed too much — about 275 million people — compared with 8.8% in 1989, says study author Barry Popkin, a professor of nutrition and director of the Obesity Center at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He bases this on national data from his biennial China Health and Nutrition Survey. Other estimates from 2002 suggest anywhere from 22% to 30% of the Chinese weigh too much.”

The article also points out:
“A key reason for the skyrocketing incidence of overweight in China is they're adopting a more Western lifestyle, Popkin says. The average Chinese adult has shifted drastically from a diet of grains, beans and vegetables to consuming over half of calories from cooking oils, pork, poultry, beef, mutton, fish and dairy foods.”

The analysis of the researcher’s survey found:

•27.6% of Chinese males were overweight or obese in 2006, up from 6.8% in 1989. That's an increase of 1.2% a year.

•The rate at which adult citizens are becoming overweight is climbing faster in China than in all developing countries except Mexico, and greater than developed nations such as the USA, Australia and Great Britain.

•The prevalence of overweight is greater — and rising faster — among the poor and less educated than among higher-income adults.

•The risk of being obese is 80% higher for adults in households that own a motor scooter or car than in those that don't. About 14% of Chinese adults bought a motor scooter or car for the first time between 1989 and 1997.

(Note: the excerpt and stastics from USA Today, attributed to the author Nanci Hellmich)

In the end, the researcher says “China needs to adopt national policies to change this trend or face a dramatic increase in early deaths, disability, absenteeism and medical care costs from weight-related illnesses”.

I agree with the researcher that China needs to adopt national policies to curb the obesity. How? Should all Chinese boycott Western lifestyle? As I understand, a national boycott launched by the State can be the most effective way to curb the trend. Is it workable in the real world? The enormous economic profit makes both businesses and the government unwilling to take the action. Even a great number of Chinese consumers are “western food addicts”. Are you for or against boycotting Western lifestyle? Do you have the courage and perseverance to say goodbye to western fast food (Mcdonald, KFCs)? 
[/quote]

characters left

Name:

Get a new code