Exposing their bellies to a television audience while their weight is displayed on screen, obese contestants on a hit Chinese reality show compete to slim the fastest, with a midriff-baring weigh-in a weekly highlight.
Thirty per cent of Chinese adults — roughly 320m people — are overweight and about 12 per cent obese, China’s health watchdog said last week, creating an eager audience for Jiangsu Television’s Changing My Life.
As China escaped from decades of poverty, obesity was connected with higher incomes. But there is mounting evidence that, as has occurred in western countries, the link with affluence is breaking, with lower-income urban residents more prone to the problem.