Nearly 40% of Chinese children are at risk of obesity by 2030, according to a study by the Peking University School of Public Health. To tackle this, the authors call for urgent measures, including a 20% tax on sugary drinks and the promotion of physical activities. In this context, a film dedicated to weight loss in the rings has sparked real enthusiasm for women’s boxing.
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From our correspondents in Beijing, Stéphane Lagarde and Chi Xiangyuan
Third highest-grossing film of all time in China, Yolo – literally meaning “ hot, spicy, boiling and burning » – filled the theaters during the last Spring Festival holidays: more than 3.3 billion yuan (or around 420 million euros) in box office revenue for this adaptation of a Japanese comedy. It is the story of an overweight and unemployed woman whose life will change when she meets a boxing trainer.
For 15 days and in reaction to this film, the number of female boxers has exploded: at the “A Up fitness” club, on the third floor of a shopping center in the center of Beijing, the practitioners jumped by 30%, according to coach Liu Qiang:
“ Before, we didn’t have as many people at this time of year. People normally come in April, when temperatures riseexplains this 42-year-old coach with steel pectorals. But there, we have lots of people who come to ask us how to lose weight. I tell them that it’s also a question of diet. Many Chinese people develop diabetes because they eat too many carbohydrates, rice and noodles. »
No question of spending five hours a day exercising like actress and director Jia Ling, who lost 50 kilos between the start and end of the film. The trainer advises the Beijing women in the neighborhood’s office towers to spend 45 minutes in the ring, three times a week, and to apply the “2.1.1” diet: half the plate in protein, ¼ vegetables and ¼ starchy foods.
Sales of boxing gloves jumped 60%, and advice advocating A balanced diet and physical activity are multiplying on the internet. In Hefei, central Anhui province, Crystal started a diet after seeing YoloAnd she’s not the only one : “ Around me, even thin people found that they had gained weight recentlysays the 26-year-old. It’s because of the lifestyle. They took up fitness and boxing. »
The young woman intends to lose 5 to 10 kilos gradually, “ so as not to feel too heavy and to be healthier “. In China, more than 700 million Chinese are overweight, and 17% young people are obese.
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