Abstract

'Fat China' provides an in-depth analysis of the growing problem of obesity and body image in China as urban lifestyles change and a sizeable middle class emerges. Rising obesity rates are examined in relationship to changing diets, modern lifestyles, investment from foreign fast food and supermarket retailers and urban planning. Crucial to this analysis is the likely effects on China's future development and already overburdened healthcare system.

'‘Fat China’ looks at one aspect of the "economic miracle" that had previously escaped attention […] the growing rates of obesity on the mainland. [The] findings are startling.' —Mark O’Neill, ‘South China Morning Post’

'In this remarkably well researched and thought-provoking book, French and Crabbe expose a darker side of globalisation in China… Western multinationalists have submerged the Chinese consumer in a sea of chocolate and ice cream. The consequences for public health are incalculable.' —Tim Clissold, China investment specialist and author of ‘Mr China’

'The two authors open our eyes to the global phenomenon of obesity hitting China...the book ‘Fat China’ brilliantly shows this fast and sudden evolution of China, between the past generation and that of today.' —www.ma-grande-taille.com

'Authors Paul French and Matthew Crabbe have explored “how changing diets, modern lifestyles, investment from foreign fast food and supermarket retailers and urban planning” are lending China a very American problem.' —Evan Osnos, ‘The New Yorker’

Paul French is a founder and the Chief China Representative of Access Asia based in Shanghai. Access Asia specializes in providing information on China's economy and consumer/retail markets. He is the author of a number of books on China's history, development and current society.

As co-founder of Access Asia, Matthew Crabbe has been analysing the consumer economy of China for almost two decades. He has specialist knowledge about the development of China's consumer lifestyles, and the repercussions that such fast change has for Chinese people and society.

China's economy has boomed, but a potentially disastrous side effect - along with pollution and a growing income gap between urban and rural regions - is the effects obesity will have on the country's fragile healthcare system. Today's overweight in China can look to a mixed future of bright economic hopes for their country, and poor and deteriorating health for themselves. From a situation 20 years ago when diets were limited by food availability, and famine was still a recent memory, China's urban centres have seen alarmingly rising rates of obesity. Throughout the country an estimated 200 million people out of a total population of around 1.3 billion were overweight (over 15%).

Why is this issue so important? Taking into account that the recent period of stable world economic growth has in large part been driven by the availability of cheap labour in China, which produces much of the goods that keep the retail tills ringing elsewhere in the world, the issue of China's rising obesity is an issue of potentially global economic significance. Consider a scenario just a few years down the line, where there are so many overweight urban Chinese, suffering from obesity-related illness, that the government, in order to pay for increased healthcare treatments, has to raise the levels of income and other tax to pay for this huge and continual expense.

For more information please see the book website: http://fatchina.anthempressblog.com

‘This eye-opening and pioneering book on obesity in China is based on comprehensive research and statistical data. More important, the authors examine the health problem against global economic, sociocultural, and political backgrounds and in much broader contexts… Highly recommended.’ —A. Y. Lee, George Mason University, ‘Choice’

'When Deng Xiaoping said 'To get rich is glorious', he probably didn't realize that getting wealthy would make many Chinese fat... In an informative and entertaining style, French and Crabbe reveal the dark side of China's growing middle-class: a fast increase in obesity-related illnesses such as diabetes. A great read on an important topic.' —Andy Rothman, China economist, CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, Shanghai

'While some people around the world agonize about the rapid spread of China’s global influence, others within China are more worried about the spread of the country’s waistlines – or at least they should be, according to this fascinating and exhaustively researched study by Paul French and Matthew Crabbe. By turns colourful, witty and alarming, this book provides fascinating insights into China’s fast-changing society.' —Duncan Hewitt, Shanghai correspondent for ‘Newsweek’ and author of ‘Getting Rich First: Life in a Changing China’