Xu Han, who weighed 174 kg, was reliant on a breathing machine because of respiratory failure caused by obesity. On May 10, the 23yearold had surgery to remove part of his stomach. [Photo by Cui Jingyin/China Daily]

A growing problem

In 1975, 0.7 million Chinese men were obese, which meant the country was ranked 13th in the world. In addition, there were 1.7 million obese women, making China the global No 10. The combined figure accounted for less than 2.5 percent of global obesity.

That picture has changed dramatically. In 2014, China overtook the United States to become the world's fattest nation for both men and women. The country was home to 43.2 million obese men - accounting for 16.3 percent of the global total - and 46.4 million obese women, or 12.4 percent of obese females across the world, according to research published in April by The Lancet, a medical journal.

The research, based on surveys of more than 19 million people in 186 countries, also showed that China was moving higher in the global ranks of "serious" obesity. In 1975, China's men occupied 60th place, while the women were in 41st place, but by 2014, both men and women were second in the global rankings.

In the past decade, the number of overweight or obese people in China has risen faster than in a large number of developed countries, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

In 2012, nearly 12 percent of Chinese adults were obese, compared with 7.1 percent in 2002. Meanwhile, the figure for children and adolescents - ages 6 to 17 - was 6.4 percent, compared with 2.1 percent in 2002, the report said.

Yang Qinbing, director of the nutrition department at Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital, and a member of the Chinese Medical Doctors Association, said the country faces an obesity time bomb: "The prevalence of obesity has become a serious health problem in China, and it is one of the most dangerous health risks for the country in the near future."