China went from famine to fat in a few short decades, until it reached that true pinnacle of economic prosperity -- it is on a diet. 

    Sales of slimming products from weight-loss teas to mung beans are rising sharply, gyms are opening (and closing) at lightning speed, and traditional Chinese hospitals are reporting a rise in patients seeking acupuncture and fire-cupping treatments to help shed weight. 

    Slimming product sales grew 10 percent in 2008 to six billion yuan ($885 million), according to Euromonitor, which predicts six percent annual growth for the next five years. 

    According to a 2008 study, Chinese adults are getting fatter more rapidly than those in any nation apart from Mexico. About a quarter of the Chinese population is overweight or obese. 

    “In China, young girls think their weight is a big problem, even if they look tiny,” said Jackie Mao, a Weight Watchers teacher. Sophia Sun, 29, is one such member. Although trim and petite, she said that “Every caterpillar has a dream to be a butterfly.”

    Weight Watchers chief executive David Kirchoff said that building a diet business in China is not unlike building one in France -- another country whose fat people look slender to North Americans. 

    The biggest hurdle in China is building a nutritional database to assign points to such a vast and complex cuisine, which contains dishes such as kung pao chicken and “husband-and-wife lung slice” that are unknown to Western health experts.

    Mr. Kirchoff said that the “lazy Susan culture” of China makes things more difficult. Restaurant meals tend to be ordered communally, with over-ordering a sign of respect -- which makes life hard for dieters. 

    Many Weight Watchers clients live with their parents, so family members do the cooking. It can be hard to ask a generation that remembers mass starvation to consider fat and meat the enemy. 

    For foreign slimming companies salivating at the thought of 1.3 billion dieters, there is money to be made from all of them.

    Source: www.ftchinese.com

 外国减肥公司盯上中国市场

       在短短几十年里，中国人经历了从饥馑到肥胖的转变。现在随着中国经济繁荣达到新的高峰，中国人开始减肥了。

       从减肥茶到绿豆，各种减肥产品的销量都在急速上升；健身中心正在以闪电般的速度开业(和关门)；越来越多的人前往中医院，寻求用针灸和拔火罐的方法减轻体重。

       根据欧睿信息咨询公司的数据，2008年，中国减肥产品销量增长了10%，达到60亿元人民币。该公司预计在未来5年内，减肥产品销售的年均增速为6%。

       根据2008年一份调查报告，除墨西哥外，中国成年人的变胖速度比任何国家都快。目前大约有四分之一的中国人处于超重或肥胖状态。

       美国减肥机构慧俪轻体的教师茅小姐说：“在中国，年轻女孩把体重看作一个大问题，即使她们看上去已经很瘦了。”29岁的孙小姐就是这样的顾客，她既苗条又娇小，不过她说：“每个毛毛虫都有变成蝴蝶的梦想。”

       慧俪轻体首席执行官戴维·基希奥夫说，在中国开设减肥公司和在法国很像，因为对北美人来说，那里所谓的胖子并不算太胖。

       在中国经营的最大障碍是建设一个营养数据库，给品种繁杂的中国菜评分，比如宫爆鸡丁和夫妻肺片等外国健康专家不熟悉的菜式。

       戴维说，中国的“餐桌文化”使减肥变得更加困难。人们在餐厅就餐时习惯共餐，为了体现尊重会点很多吃不了的菜——这令减肥者更难减肥。

       许多参加慧俪轻体培训的中国人与父母同住，家里人负责做饭。要想让经历过大饥荒的一代认同脂肪和肉是敌人，这绝对是一件难事。

       对于外国减肥公司而言，在13亿人身上必定有钱可赚。