Last week, as China celebrated the 72nd anniversary of Communist Party rule with a week-long public holiday, state-run media cranked up the patriotism to hail the country’s economic rise, military achievements, political clout — and even the height of its men, as reported by CNN World.
Height Increment
Several outlets, including nationalist tabloid the Global Times and broadcaster CCTV, ran reports about a study — published last year in The Lancet medical journal — that analyzed the evolution of average heights worldwide.
Of the countries examined, China saw the largest male height increase — between 1985 and 2019, the average height of 19-year-old men in China increased by nearly 3.5 inches (9 centimeters).
The trend appears consistent with what Chinese researchers have found in their studies.
One related hashtag for the topic was viewed more than 200 million times.
The nationwide reforms marked a significant turning point.
Nutritional Advancement
As the more market-oriented economy grew and the country stabilized, food supply and personal wealth expanded.
Importantly, children began receiving the nutrition they needed to grow healthily — reflected in their height.
“The growth of children and adolescents improved in tandem with economic development,” said a 2014 study by researchers at the Capital Institute of Pediatrics in Beijing, which found that malnutrition had steadily decreased in toddlers while obesity began appearing in affluent areas.
It was physical, tangible evidence of the country’s progress in alleviating poverty; in just the past few decades, hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of poverty, according to Chinese government standards.
Economic Growth
China’s economic growth and the improvement of its living conditions are a major source of pride for the Chinese public — many of whom reflected on social media about the country’s rapid transformation during the “Golden Week” holiday following National Day on October 1st.
“Now children’s heights are much higher than before because nutrition is much better than before,” one Weibo user said.
Rural Areas remain Common
According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, the per capita disposable income for rural households in 2019 was 16,021 yuan ($2,440), compared to 42,359 yuan ($6,450) in urban areas.
And many rural communities have been cut off from basic amenities and transport links for decades, even as large parts of the country have rapidly modernized.
And though rates of stunting and undernutrition have dropped dramatically around the country, they remain common in poor rural areas, according to the 2014 study.
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Source: CNN World
