Once the film On Entering Middle Age – with a story based in Shanghai -- aroused much concern about and sympathy for the life of the middle-aged in China. (On Entering Middle Age, adapted from the realistic novel of the same name by Shen Rong and directed by Ren Dao Zhongnian, won China’s award for the top feature film of 1982.) And what is it like for middle-aged people in Shanghai today? Statistics shows that the middle-aged still make up the most tired group among all age groups. This was one of the conclusions announced recently at the 2002 Nationwide Conference on Physical Fitness in Shanghai based on a survey conducted by the Shanghai Physical Culture Administration and other departments in Shanghai.

The young and the old have more enthusiasm for physical exercise than do the middle-aged, creating a physical health situation that might be described as "hot at both ends and cool in the middle," according to the Shanghai physical fitness survey released in the "Bulletin of Observation and Survey on National Physique, Shanghai 2000." The elderly were actually most active with 55.6 percent of people 60 or older reporting that they did physical exercise. Next came boys with some 39.7 percent and then girls at 27.2 percent. But as for the middle-aged -- among men aged 40-49, only 27 percent said they participated in any kind of physical exercise while women aged 30 to 39 ranked lowest, at 23.1 percent.

Most people who did not exercise gave being too busy at work as the main reason (44.8 percent).

Zhao Yinghua, vice-chair of the Shanghai Physical Culture Administration, sees an urgent challenge in these figures: Adults need to be educated on the health benefits of physical exercise, he said.

"Although we have made great progress in Shanghai in the nationwide physical fitness campaign in recent years, middle-aged people -- especially those in their forties -- are the most difficult group to reach," Zhao said.

The Shanghai Physical Culture Administration plans to work to improve laws and regulations that support physical fitness and devote major efforts to popularizing a healthy and positive lifestyle, create more space for doing physical exercise, give instructions on the scientific basis of physical exercise, and promote general sports activities in different forms to build up various networks for encouraging the citizens of Shanghai to exercise, especially the middle-aged.

Shanghai’s Young Are Getting Taller

"The Bulletin of Observation and Survey on National Physique, Shanghai 2000" reports that the younger generation in Shanghai is growing nicely in body and bone-structure. Height, weight and chest measurements for young people in Shanghai are top the nationwide average. The younger the age group, the taller the average height, the survey showed, with Shanghai’s younger generation reporting in at about the same height as their counterparts in the north part of China. In the 20 to 24 years old age group in Shanghai, men are about five feet eight inches tall on average while women five feet and three inches. This compares to five feet four inches for men and five feet for women in the 65 to 69 age group.

More and More Shanghai People Are Overweight

As living standards on the one hand have improved, on the other hand not enough people are getting physical exercise -- Shanghai people are facing a weight problem, according to the survey. In the adult group, some 25.9 percent could be considered overweight, and that figure increases with age. Men at 50 and women at 65 registered the highest problem of overweight and obesity. As for the young -- in 1991 in Shanghai, only 28 young people out of every 1,000 youth could have been considered overweight. Today it’s 101 out of 1,000, or three-and-a-half times more overweight youth than ten years ago. In 1991, overweight youth made up 2.8 percent of the 7 to 18 years old. Today, that numbers is up to 10.1 percent.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a standard by which to tell whether you are overweight or not. Divide weight by the square of one’s height. The normal range varies between 18.5 and 24.9. Any result under 18.5, indicates you weigh to little. Results between 25 and 29.9 indicate you weigh too much. But, if your result is above 30, you are without a doubt obese.

(From People’s Daily and translated by Zhang Tingting for china.org.cn February 17, 2002)