Healthy life-style sweeps China amid weight administration marketing campaign

By Zheng Bofei and Wang Xiaopeng (Xinhua) 08:06, June 22, 2026

Students run on the monitor throughout a weight administration course at China Agricultural University in Beijing, capital of China, March 21, 2025. (Xinhua/Chen Zhonghao)

* Weight administration in China is redefined as a science-backed, society-wide venture. That change has been accelerated by a nationwide marketing campaign that’s now coming into its third yr.

* A survey discovered that 49.6 % of Chinese residents participated in sports activities and health actions in 2024 — a rise of 18.7 share factors from 2018.

* Experts famous that wholesome weight administration requires, amongst others, a deeper understanding of how weight loss program impacts blood sugar, blood lipids, physique composition and long-term illness threat.

BEIJING, June 21 (Xinhua) — For eight weeks, roughly 180 obese youngsters in Shanghai skilled a brand new type of health intervention — one which was way more thrilling than the same old “run more, eat less” prescription.

Instead of pounding the pavement, they placed on digital actuality (VR) headsets and stepped into digital sports activities arenas, the place AI-powered coaches guided them by way of desk tennis and soccer matches.

The teaching system, named REVERIE, was developed by a world multidisciplinary workforce led by researchers from Shanghai Jiao Tong University. By combining AI-driven teaching, movement monitoring, and immersive VR worlds, REVERIE is providing a brand new approach to make train extra partaking for obese and overweight adolescents.

From campuses and hospitals to dinner tables and health facilities, weight administration in China is present process a elementary shift — redefined not as a take a look at of willpower, however as a science-backed, society-wide venture. That change has been accelerated by a nationwide marketing campaign that’s now coming into its third yr.

Two years in the past, 16 Chinese departments and organizations, together with the National Health Commission (NHC) and the ministries of schooling and civil affairs, collectively launched a three-year “Weight Management Year” initiative, which comes amid rising concern over obese and weight problems.

The marketing campaign goals to construct supportive environments, promote wholesome life and enhance irregular weight situations amongst key teams.

According to the NHC, 34.3 % of Chinese adults have been obese, and 16.4 % have been overweight in 2018. Citing analysis forecasts, it warned that 70.5 % of Chinese adults may very well be obese or overweight by 2030 if no efficient measures have been taken to curb the pattern.

For a rising variety of folks, weight administration not means merely “getting thinner.” It now represents a broader transformation — in how they train, how they search medical recommendation, and the way they take cost of their long-term well being.

MAKING EXERCISE PART OF DAILY LIFE

Exercise stays essentially the most seen — and essentially the most accessible — pillar of China’s weight-management push.

At Dalian University of Technology in northeastern Liaoning Province, scholar Wang Zhucen enrolled within the college’s inaugural weight administration course. After 21 days of normal train, dietary steerage and group help, he shed 6.3 kilograms — a loss he described as one of the best testomony to his perseverance. “I felt genuinely happier,” he added, “when I sweated for an hour every day with my classmates.”

The course affords two tracks — a 21-day intensive program or a full-semester curriculum — overlaying scientific train, diet and psychological well being help. In the primary intensive session alone, 33 college students misplaced a mixed 133 kilograms, whereas additionally displaying marked enhancements in blood stress and psychological well-being.

Beyond college campuses, younger individuals are reshaping their every day routines, too.

Wang Kai, a 31-year-old finance employee, wrapped up a day at work and entered a gymnasium in Beijing’s Chaoyang District at round 7:30 p.m. He threw himself into coaching gear and plunged right into a session of sled pushes, rowing, working and lifting.

“Before, I’d just go home, watch dramas and play on my phone,” he stated. “Now I come here to train almost every day.”

This health growth rides on a quickly increasing public sports activities infrastructure. By the top of 2023, China had constructed 4.59 million sports activities venues and roughly 370,000 kilometers of health trails. A National Bureau of Statistics survey discovered that 49.6 % of Chinese residents participated in sports activities and health actions in 2024 — a rise of 18.7 share factors from 2018.

Students take a weight administration course at China Agricultural University in Beijing, capital of China, March 21, 2025. (Xinhua/Chen Zhonghao)

EATING DIFFERENTLY

For 28-year-old media employee Chen Hao, altering his weight loss program has grow to be as essential as altering his exercise routine. His annual bodily check-ups as soon as confirmed warning indicators stacking up yr after yr — late nights, spicy takeout, barbecue and beer. Once he acquired severe about coaching, he ditched meals supply, started cooking at residence, and made it a behavior to get to mattress earlier than 11 p.m.

Chen’s story exemplifies a pervasive follow generally emphasised by health professionals: common train issues, and it really works much better when supported by more healthy dietary habits.

At Dalian University of Technology, dietary steerage is woven into the burden administration curriculum. Students are taught to grasp how meals, coaching, sleep and psychological state intertwine.

“To manage weight, we need to encourage students to engage in scientific exercise and make proper diet a part of their daily routine,” stated Chang Bo, a professor at Zhuhai College of Science and Technology. “Moreover, college students should strengthen their self-discipline to improve their lifestyles and health management.”

The sweeping marketing campaign has reached takeout companies. In some localities, meals supply platforms and eating places are being inspired to supply dishes with much less salt, oil and sugar, together with extra nutritionally balanced choices. The goal is to make more healthy selections extra accessible — particularly for many who depend upon takeout meals.

Experts famous that wholesome weight administration shouldn’t be diminished to short-term weight-reduction plan. It requires common meals, balanced diet, ample protein, diminished oil, salt and sugar, fewer late-night snacks, and a deeper understanding of how weight loss program impacts blood sugar, blood lipids, physique composition and long-term illness threat.

Light meals are offered at a canteen of Huzhou University in Huzhou City, east China’s Zhejiang Province, March 25, 2025. (Photo by Yi Fan/Xinhua)

SEEKING MEDICAL HELP

Many individuals who have already developed metabolic problems are turning to hospital clinics for skilled intervention.

At Sichuan University in Chengdu, the campus hospital lately launched a life-style clinic in response to surging demand from college students and school desirous to shed weight scientifically and undertake more healthy routines. The initiative got here after a freshman survey revealed widespread issues: skipping breakfast, insufficient sleep, and a sedentary life-style, in response to Su Qiaoli, vice chairman of the college hospital.

Unlike standard medical providers that always deal with post-symptom prognosis and remedy, this clinic prioritizes prevention — selling balanced diets, common train, adequate sleep and emotional regulation — to intervene early earlier than persistent situations resembling hypertension or diabetes take maintain.

Li Xiaoying, director of endocrinology at Zhongshan Hospital affiliated with Fudan University, referred to as weight problems the “origin” of many persistent illnesses, together with diabetes, hypertension and heart problems.

“If obesity is brought under control,” Li stated, “these diseases can be effectively prevented and treated.”

Medical employees measure the bodily knowledge of a affected person at a weight administration middle of Huzhou Central Hospital in Huzhou City, east China’s Zhejiang Province, March 20, 2025. (Photo by Yi Fan/Xinhua)

In current years, weight-management medical providers have expanded quickly throughout the nation. By early 2026, greater than 5,500 medical establishments at or above the secondary stage had arrange wholesome weight administration clinics, in response to the NHC. A separate NHC discover stated such clinics ought to coordinate sources from departments together with endocrinology, medical diet, psychology, cardiovascular drugs, rehabilitation and conventional Chinese drugs.

New drugs have additionally entered the general public discourse. They usually are not positioned as a shortcut for informal weight reduction, however as a medically supervised choice for eligible sufferers dwelling with weight problems or associated well being dangers.

A 58-year-old affected person surnamed Li, who weighed almost 100 kilograms, was among the many first in China to obtain Semaglutide as a prescribed weight-loss remedy after Wegovy — a Semaglutide-based drug — entered the home market. Wang Cunchuan, Li’s doctor, recalled that inside a day of Wegovy’s launch in mid-November 2024, greater than 40 eligible sufferers got here to his hospital in Guangzhou for consultations.

Yet docs warning that weight-loss medicine are unable to behave as an ideal shortcut for everybody.

“A medication is ultimately aimed at making patients healthier, improving their quality of life and extending their lifespan,” stated Mu Yiming, a doctor on the Chinese PLA General Hospital. “The focus is not on the body mass index — it’s on the patient.”

Since the launch of the three-year weight administration marketing campaign, Wang Guangling, deputy director of the medical diet division at Jiangxi Provincial People’s Hospital, commonly seems in brief movies on Douyin, the Chinese model of TikTookay, to share weight reduction data.

“Weight loss is a marathon, not a sprint,” Wang stated, urging the general public to handle their weight scientifically, and put money into well being by way of sustained actions.

The message is evident: this isn’t a short lived marketing campaign to chase a decrease quantity on the size. It is a long-term shift in how folks eat, transfer, sleep, search care and handle their well being throughout a lifetime.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Zhong Wenxing)