CRI听力:Beijing Weight Loss Camp Teaches Overweight Chinese Teens How to Get Fit

In the past, the Chinese population was slimmer and healthier. These days, fast food chains have moved in and greasy American food and lack of exercise has led to an ever-growing obesity epidemic in China's youth.

An Shuaibin is one of the coordinators at "Beijing New Concept Weight Loss Camp" in Hebei Province about an hour away from Beijing. The camp was started in 1999 by fitness trainer, Zhang Yanmei.

"This current epidemic is actually related to China's education model. Parents chase after good grades and so they don't let their children play sports. But in our society, a healthy body needs to be the first competitive strength. Without a good body, unfortunately, a person cannot compete with others. Some members missed job opportunities because of their appearance, so they came here to build themselves up and lose weight."

Health is the priority and so they have a variety of activities and sports to keep the students busy during the day. The teens have their choice of swimming, tennis, badminton, 'spinning' cycling classes and more.

Personal trainer Yaoling works at the camp. He explains that exercise and a consistently healthy meal plan in the entire 30-40 day period is essential.

"As for diet, our campaign has professional nutritionists and dietitians for the individual. The diet is light- with lower calories and oil. As for the exercise, we focus on the aerobics and strength training to burn fat."

Just like in America, Shuaibin adds that a lot of overweight Chinese are looking for a quick fix. However, weight loss results without a change in habits aren't sustainable.

"Our idea is different from other weight loss camps. We want to help people change themselves. That starts with the way they think, because many Chinese believe a weight loss camp should help a person lose 30 or even 40 kilograms in one month. The most important thing is to change their lifestyle to show them how to be healthy.

The camp activities are tailored around the student's needs. Twenty-one-year-old An An from Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, is here this month hoping to lose 15 kg. She is naturally quite tall, but explains that illness and medication caused her to gain a lot of weight.

"The first thing is to be persistent. A life focused only on losing weight is kind of boring so you can't be only fixated on the results. Secondly, you have to stick to the diet they give you. Thirdly, it's good to build up good relationship with other members here. When we are all in it together, we can encourage each other."

Even though they wake up every day at 7 am, and have very long fitness classes during the day, they have plenty of support from the staff and each other. It may not be such an easy month, but it's worth it in the end.

Fifteen-year-old Yuhan is at the camp for another reason entirely. He's not comfortable being skinny so he's come to learn how to eat better and build muscle strength.

"There are many participants who are my age. We all feel happy to be together here. Also, there are many professional coaches to help us train and learn, so I feel very much at home."

It's not only about society's standards of beauty or views regarding overweight or underweight individuals. This camp provides a supportive environment for young adults.

"First of all, obesity can lead to low self-esteem. A lot of the kids don't have confidence because there is pressure from society and it makes them feel they cannot trust themselves. A lot of people think a person who cannot manage his or her health cannot manage other things well either."

Whether it's to lose weight, or make a few friends, the camp helps give kids the guidance they need to live a healthier life.

For CRI, I'm Andrea Hunt.