Being overweight in China

I've been frequently thinking of weight issues lately as I am currently trying to shed pounds. This seems to be around the time when newbies are starting or thinking or starting to apply for jobs for September. We talk about different issues that one may encounter in China and this is one we may not have covered.

It is not easy to be overweight in China  If you are thinking of coming to work in China and you are overweight then you need to have a thick skin. The Chinese will tell you are fat (everyday). They will advise you to lose weight (usually ridiculous diet plans like eating 3X a week instead of everyday). We all get stared at but I think when you are overweight (or funny-looking ) you take it to heart more.

I'm prejudice of course but I think it's harder on females. Even in the west, a man's beer gut has always been more acceptable than a female's pot belly. You are also in a country surrounded by petite women (not all, some Chinese girls are starting to chunk up but on the whole...). The men on this forum are good guys (yes George even you ) but be prepared to meet some real winners over here who will even compare your body shape to that of a Chinese woman's. It all can take a toll on your self esteem.

Yes, bit of a problem. Large people, especially females stand out in the crowd, so are definitely noticed and talked about. The Babe's partner has this problem, and Babe constantly berates taxi drivers when comments are made. So be prepared with a very thick skin!!

When I walk down Queen street in Brisbane, Australia,I wonder what the Asians think when they first come to this country. There's a mob of short skinny Asians, walking among a mob of (by comparison) big Anglo Aussie men and women. I can just imagine what a shock it must be to them to see one or two of us walking among them on their home soil. One thing I have noticed though is that some of the Asian folk are becoming quite "chunky";perhaps it's all the "Big Mac's" I notice they are hoeing into.

Westerners are generally just bigger. Even when I weighed about 55kg, Chinese people would say I was "fat." Um, no. That's not fat. I walked into stores and would be told "oh you can't fit into anything here" before I even started looking! But many Chinese girls can be quite obsessed with weight too -- even my tiny tiny students (high school girls!) say they want to lose weight, which would actually be unhealthy for them. Their standards of what counts as fat and what doesn't are a bit off. If you have any sort of body image or eating issues, China can be a bit of a head-trip. I gained weight, as women tend to do, when I had my son, and living in China makes me completely self conscious about it, and really distorts my image of myself. I know if I were back home I would still be considered to be a fairly average weight, but here, I've crossed over into "fat" territory, and it bugs me.

Keep in mind that Chinese people generally use the word "fat" and don't mean anything negative by it. One of my students is called, and answers to, "fatty" by his classmates. If you ask a student to describe a friend, they'll say "she's a bit fat" with no hint of mean-ness. They're candid about appearances -- if you're a guy, they'll ask why you're so hairy, if you have bad skin, they'll point it out as if you don't already know, and if you have a weight issue, they won't beat around any bushes or use words like "heavyset" or "large boned," nope, you're straight up fat! That takes some getting used to, but they really aren't trying to be hurtful, even though I'm sure that even heavier girls who grew up in this culture can't enjoy having their weight constantly pointed out all the time. Like I said, a head-trip.

I've been told hunerds of times that I'm too thin...
I reply that I'm normal, most others my age are fat 

Bosses & rich men can afford to eat plenty, so a FaT man shows proof of has comfortable life... 

thick girls have "meat" to make her mo fun&comfy then a thin girl, but having thin girlfriend/wife looks better to friends 
look in the girl rental shops, the thicker girls get more biz 

IMO, it's the eating of bread that be making the younger Chinese biggger, many are eating a large chunk of bread as a compleat breakfast, lunch & snack.
bread & white sugar added to their life sitting in class... 

I see the trend of younger Chinese kids getting fatter for the reasons DaDan mentioned and the Big Macs they eat.

Like Local Dialect, I've been told I was too fat to fit into anything in the store. When I do find something in the shops, I'm an XXL.  I'm a medium back home.  Yes, I need to lose about 15 pounds, but I'm not obese.  I try not to compare myself with the petite young things I teach, or my also petite co-workers.  My genetics are against me if one chooses to look at it that way. 

What Local Dialect said about the use of the term 'fat' here has been my experience too.  "You are fat.  You should lose weight."  I don't like the use of the word 'should' when being told something unsolicited by casual acquaintances (or strangers on the bus).  But I have to remember that they mostly mean well when dispensing that advice. 

Something we get here that we certainly don't get back home is people rubbing our fat bellies.  Total violation of personal space, IMHO.  I've noticed it when out with my bald friends, too.  People want to reach out and touch.  When the foreigner reaches out to touch back, the Chinese person runs away screaming.  Why it's ok for them to touch us and not vice verse is beyond me unless it's like petting a dog or something.  Curiousity??

Babala said it - develop a thick skin.  I think a strong dose of healthy self-esteem is needed for a foreigner to survive here.  That goes double for someone of largish proportions.

Being a foreigner you will be stared at like you're an alien. I don't think there is a way around that.

Anything un-Chinese about you will be pointed out. I am constantly reminded that I have a large nose (quite a standard nose by western standards) and golden hair.

I am an average size (again, by western standards) and nobody has pointed out that I am larger than the local girls. I expressed that I might have trouble buying clothes to a few students and they all seemed totally convinced I would have no problem. I am a whole lot taller than them, so even that would make buying pants very difficult. Nobody has commented on my size - and I do know the Chinese word for fat...

You're not fat ...... you're strong.

I'd certainly second Babs here...being overweight in China is a constant battle.
It genuinely does not have the stigma it does in the West; most comments really are meant perfectly innocently. In a society that's relentlessly homogeneous and mind-numbingly bored, discussing even minute deviations from the norm is a time-honored diversion. You have to learn which ones are just being Chinese, and which ones are truly being assholes...and a little experience will quickly teach you to tell the difference.

The former must be borne with patience and kindness, and the conversation quickly steered to other topics.

The latter...personally, I went upside a few heads, but this is not a course I can generally recommend. Verbal combat is better, so hit the Chinese lessons...learning to counter the question "How much do you weigh?" with the question "How many Japanese did your mother f@#k?" is MUCH more effective, tends to quickly send the asshole into stunned retreat, and won't land you in jail.

Not so true...

Strong are those brave enough to wear a t-shirt on a sunny day any month tween Aprilish & Octoberish 

FaT is anyone wit an extra 6kg or so 

So what exactly is "fat" in China? Are tall, but not heavy, people considered fat?

I'm actually trying to lose some weight too because I feel like this could be a problem too (I'm not very overweight but could lose 15 pounds.)

I will definitely reverberate with what Raoul stated. Most Chinese are so aberrantly obsessed with looks--not just weight either--the shape of your face, the size of your feet (ha and other sizes of down-south appendages), the width of your shoulders. It really becomes too much. I remember saying my share of "why don't you shut your pie hole for once instead of overtly showing me your ignorance," which actually made my self-esteem rocket after their numbing physical remarks-although they didn't understand a word I said. Difference is the a big draw as the foreign monkey.

However, the whole obsession with appearance isn't just with foreigners; it's with all bi-pedals. One time, I was on a tour of some god-forsaken 5000 year old dunghole of a temple. I saw a bus load of junior high students and one tubby girl. She was treated like a leper. I really felt sorry for her, and felt a lot of anger toward her classmates.

Continuing my diatribe, if you're handicapped, you're treated like you have shamed the middle kingdom, but I'm not going there.

And so on...

My point is the culture places a great deal of emphasis on appearances, and yes, you can argue that western culture does the same, but I think it's over-the-top in China.

I may be bitched slapped for stating it here, but I sure as hell wouldn't want to step into China if I was obese or overweight. You want your China experience to be enjoyable, but it would just be a daily pain in the ass everytime you stepped outside.

Thank you.

So what exactly is "fat" in China? Are tall, but not heavy, people considered fat?

I'm actually trying to lose some weight too because I feel like this could be a problem too (I'm not very overweight but could lose 15 pounds.)

Well, like I said, I had people claim I was "fat" when I was 55kg, which is something like 120 or so lbs (even Americans start thinking in metric after living here long enough!), and I'm not short, so its not like I was packing those kg on a 4 foot frame or something  . In fact, I think if I had been any thinner I would have started looking unhealthily think, but a lot of Chinese girls like that look, very waif-like, stick-thin, and hold themselves to impossible standards. I think regardless, If you have any sort of extra weight at all its best to be prepared for the "fat" comments and try not be surprised or insulted by them. I do think age has something to do with it as well -- if you're in your 20s and single you'll get a lot more flack about your weight than you will if you're older with a family. Even though I weigh about 10 kilos more than I did back then Chinese people don't comment as much, or if they do, they assume (rightly) that I gained weight with my son.

That said, I also think Chinese people have sort of a mental block when it comes to Westerners -- they have certain expectations, and expect us to live up to them, and sometimes they actually alter their own reality to make it meet those expectations. Like that time I went into the store and they said I couldn't fit anything in there, when in fact I quite clearly could. I am positive they were just saying that because they saw a white person and immediately went to "fat American." You also sometimes get the same block when you speak Chinese and get met with a blank stare, as if you've just spouted off Martian, because of course, we foreigners can't speak Chinese, its just impossible. The most ridiculous example I can think of is how about 3 out of 4 Chinese people comment on my son's "blue" eyes. My son has dark brown, almost black eyes. There is no universe in which they could be mistaken for blue, but Chinese people see him, think "blue eyed foreign baby!" and that's what he becomes.

If you have a bust and hips than you may get called fat occasionally. I like to put as if you don't have the figure of a 13 year old boy, you are fat. You will look in awe as your 98 pound university student tells you that she is on a diet and needs to lose weight (or you may feel like smacking her ) but the Chinese do set themselves for sometimes impossible standards when it comes to body image.

I taught with an American girl. She was tall and not overweight in the least. She had a little padding around the middle but that's it. Some of the girl students who ask her if she wanted to lose weight and were so dumbfounded when she said no.

So to the future teachers looking to come here, just read how hard it can be on women who aren't overweight but told they are fat. Now picture that you already have a hang-up about your weight. China is a hard place to be in that sense but at the same time, if you can brush it off you'll do fine.

Raoul made a good point. Most Chinese are not trying to be mean when they call you fat but you will get those jerks from time to time. You'll get to know the difference. Here's what I say to a bitchy Chinese girl
Bitchy : Don't you want to lose your weight?
Me : (smiling) Yes, don't you want to get a boob job?

This is actually a real good thread for folks that haven’t been here because it is Very True that imperfectly shaped folks Will be told Often about their bod, nicely & insultingly.



very few girls of all sizes & nationality I've met are unable to look in a mirror & not see extra fat on her bod... plenty guys too.
China really Does have a LoT of competition amongst females to fit what is considered a nice figured beautiful female...  hard to not be common…
hard bodies &/or defined muscle on females is not seen as attractive in most Asians mind,
`before, & still in the areas away from city jobs/diet/money a high majority of Chinese were/are thin from their type eating & available foods, so one doesn’t need much extra to be noticeably bigger=fatter than most…

Another thing that females Need to know before they come to China,
Foreign guys here tend to chase the many, many, many local females…
Very good chance it Will be difficult to find a “good” foreign boyfriend in China unless you’re above average in looks…