China is going on a diet

About a quarter of the Chinese population is overweight. A 2008 study found that Chinese adults are getting fatter faster than those in any country apart from Mexico. Weight Watchers thinks it has found a formula for dieting that suits China. It recently opened four branches in Shanghai, in a joint venture with Danone, the French food group.

"In China, young girls think their weight is a big problem, even if they look tiny," Jackie Mao, a Weight Watchers teacher, told the Financial Times. Sophia Sun, 29, is slender but says: "I don't think to be slim is good enough. I don't want to be skinny, just a little slimmer than before."


The biggest problem for Weight Watchers in China is building a nutritional database based on the country's complex cuisine. And Chinese culture makes things more difficult. Restaurant meals tend to be ordered communally, with over-ordering a sign of respect — which makes life hard for dieters.

Paul French, author of Fat China, says overweight Chinese have a choice to make: get thin quickly, through liposuction; get thin slowly and alone, at the gym; or get thin slowly in a group such as Weight Watchers.