Beijing fights 'battle of the bulge' with extra PE classes: report

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2008

BEIJING (AFP) — Beijing hopes to stave off an obesity epidemic among its youth with a dramatic increase in physical education, state media reported Tuesday.

All students aged seven to 18 returning to school from their summer holidays will have to attend daily PE classes, the China Daily reported, citing the Chinese capital's education bureau.

Previously they were required to have PE only once a week, and sometimes even that class was skipped because schools wanted to give students more time to study, it said.

Research from the Beijing Centre for Disease Control showed at least 14 percent of young people had obesity problems, the paper said.

Chinese waistlines have grown in tandem with the nation's economy in recent years, triggering warnings that...