Shape of the nation: Chinese women are getting fitter, but everyone’s getting weaker
Women are getting fitter, but male students are getting fatter, and everyone’s becoming weaker, a national survey has found.
The “2014 National Physiques Monitoring Report”, released in Beijing on Wednesday, tracked the body shapes and general conditions of some 532,000 people aged from three to 69.
It found 89.6 per cent were of an “acceptable” physical standard, a 0.7 per cent increase from the last survey in 2010. But only 88.2 per cent of adult men passed the standard, down 0.1 per cent from five years ago. In comparison, 91.9 per cent of adult women made the grade.
Male physiques appear to have been declining since 2000, when the first such report highlighted a fall in men’s physical strength and a rise in obesity.
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“Maybe men are too occupied with their work,” said Qiong Huang, a Beijinger, 31. “It’s getting more difficult to find a boyfriend who keeps fit and in good shape. Perhaps it’s easier to train myself to become stronger than to have a muscular boyfriend.”
Harrison Wang, 33, said women were “constantly on diets” and “regularly going to the gym”. “[But] men, especially the straight guys, seem not to care so much about figures and shapes. Many of them are getting fat after getting married or having children,” he said.