China’s Viral “Skinny Enough” Challenges Are Making People Sick | Gen 跟 China 

And the best part is that asian parents will tell you "Why you so skinny??? Eat more." Then you eat more, and they say "Why you so fat????" Its just a never ending cycle.

Thank you Vice Asia for your support. I’m Qinwen Zhang in the video, who once slimmed down to 28kg. Hope everyone who's watching this could pay more attention to Eating Disorder as mental illness.Wish you enjoy your food and stay confident and healthy；）

As a non-skinny Asian woman, I feel so seen. It is disgusting how social media has made these beauty standards even worse. There was a famous streamer that showed up weighing like 110 lbs, and the Internet tore into her stating she was too chubby. She ended up losing a ton of weight and now they love her. I hate it.

The world has ridiculous beauty standards and social media just made it worse

When I got covid last year, I lost 8kg. It was really hard to force myself to eat when I couldn’t taste anything. I was so exhausted all the time, it was hard for me to eat let alone get up and cook food. But by the time I recovered, I’d lost 8kg. When I finally went back to school and saw family and friends I got two very different responses. My Asian family and relatives applauded my weight loss, saying how good I looked even though it’d been an unintentional outcome of being really ill. They encouraged me to maintain my new weight and gave unwanted tips like only having breakfast and lunch, skipping dinner, etc. Made me feel guilty about eating, etc. Whereas my western friends saw my weight loss and bought me food instead. Saying how I looked so skinny now and if I was okay. If it weren’t for my friends, I think I would’ve had a really hard time eating regularly again. All that really matters is being healthy mentally and physically.

Alex, the rumba teacher said “if you can’t see my value through my body, it’s your problem, not mine” and “ i’m not happy with my size but I think it’s fine”. Well said lady!

"If you can't see my value because of my body, that's your problem, not my problem" "I think loving yourself is acceptance. Loving yourself doesn't mean that you give yourself a hundred marks. I think for me loving myself is that I can accept my strengths and weaknesses" Well said Alex! Will keep this here for my own reminder (: you're pretty, your personality really shines through and make you so attractive in this video! I want to be as confident as you are :D also, you dance really well! I enjoyed watching you dance with confidence P.s. your cooking looks delicious

I’m a Russian young woman. Although I have never really suffered from an eating disorder, it has haunted me everywhere. In childhood, I was thin and a little girl. My weight was completely normal for my age category. But because genetically I don't have an elongated torso and waist but rather wide hips and short legs, I seemed a little wider than others (although I don't think so now). At the age of 12, I liked one boy, but I couldn't admit it to him for a long time because I was afraid of his negative reaction. But I confessed to him. After that moment, my life turned into a living hell. He said that I was too fat (like a pig) and that he would never look at people like me in his life. This person stalked me, bullied me, and did many other offensive things that left me deeply traumatized (I still can't be in a relationship with another person). This was the first trigger of my addiction to food. In the following years, I could stand for hours in the mirror and look at my body. All their "imperfections", wide hips, my square figure, and thick legs. At the age of 15, I found out that my close friend had an ED, she lost a lot of weight, and looked sick and tired. She never let me help her and was afraid of doctors. I couldn't help her, she didn't listen to anyone. She is still suffering, despite the efforts of doctors. This was the second big trigger for me. I just hated mirrors and stopped wearing beautiful things that I liked because of my figure. I started wearing super big pants and sweaters. I became disgusted with eating, I looked at the food and thought that all my problems were only because of it. My parents always supported me and never told me about my appearance, because it only made my complexes worse. But it didn't affect me at all, so I skipped meals and (Suicide Trigger) injured myself for hating myself, my body, and my appearance. I just hated everything in myself. Although at that time in my life there were no people who caused triggers. On the contrary, my friends called me cute and pretty. One girl even said that I have a beautiful and big ass and she is jealous because of that😂🤡🤟. But it didn't help, all my thoughts were about becoming flat and having a skinny figure. Such as the girls had at my school. I wanted to wear skirts, but I didn't. I wanted to wear T-shirts, but a skin disease and thick hands did not allow it. I didn't see the feeling of satiety, it scared me. Because I immediately felt fat and swollen. And I liked the emptiness inside. It gave me at least some waist and a flat stomach. But all the same, the part of my mind responsible for logic said that it was wrong and food was needed for existence. So I don't think I had a real eating disorder, I just think I, like many young girls, had a bad experience with food. But I am glad that there have always been people in my environment who have helped me. Without them, I would have snapped and committed suicide at 16... Now I also suffer from my appearance and body. But I'm working on it. Of course, I'm addicted to food, but in a different sense. I like to cook and try different cuisines. Now I'm experimenting and eating more plant foods. Although, like all people, I break down and return to the old habits of skipping meals and feeling guilty for the food I ate. But now I just got rid of a lot of triggers, especially from social networks and accounts with unhealthy weight loss nutrition. I have lost people because of ED and many have committed suicide, so I want to value my life more and live for those who could not enjoy it. I want to say that no matter who you are and what you look like, and what you love, don't let some unrealistic standards or the desire of others take away the most valuable thing - it's you. When this thought came to me, I cried for a long time like a baby. So simple, but so hard to figure out. I speak about that because I'm someone who almost passed away willingly. If you are struggling now, just know, I’m here, and let me hug you through a difficult time 🫶🥹

I lived in japan for a year and starved myself and was applauded by other students and my hostparents, who also encouraged it. before that they had commented on my weight every single day and had struggled with an eating disorder prior to coming to japan. i could not explain to them that i was suffering from ED because it simply was not "an issue" there.

Love what she said: she honors her appetite and that being comfortable in your body should be your personal standard of beauty.

The most disturbing thing about this is, it's a mindset problem so it's going to be VERY difficult to change their mind even if they want to. It's a belief that has been planted by the society (perpetuated by humans of course) to think that being physically beautiful, skinny will make you happier and 'worthier'. And because it's so deep rooted in their mind, they will actually be happier achieving that standard vs not achieving it. Most of the misery comes when they aren't able to achieve the standard. Im a Korean woman who lived in America for during my adolescent years, and the lookism culture in Korea has deeply affected me even as a child that even though I recognize its problem and try to combat it for my OWN sake, It's almost impossible to get rid of it. It's almost as if the belief system has been permanently programmed in my mind. Part of me believes that if I was able to achieve the beauty standard, I would be happy and worthy, but part of me knows that the standard does more harm than good in societal level. So I just hope that it gets better for the kids of future generations.. but tbh it seems like it's getting worse and worse.

This needs to be addressed. I’m 53 and in the UK, and in the 80’s and 90’s, everything here made you feel ashamed to have a normal figure. Every girl I knew as a teenager hated how fat they were, even with tiny waists. I still cannot stand to look at my own body, the shame is so ingrained in me that I cannot change it no matter how I try. I feel that people should not have to look at me. All because of how “size zero” was pushed by all media and everywhere you looked back then. Doesn’t matter that this country isn’t doing it now, I still have it in my head that I have to be skinny to be worthy. China needs to address this or todays teenagers will be affected for life, like I am.

Beauty standards constantly change. There was a skinny fad in the West too during the 80s-90s through magazines and supermodels. Being the healthiest you is the most beautiful you lol. Don't let changing standards control you.

I’m Japanese and after I moved to Canada to study, I was really surprised coz my Asian friends always care about their body and weight and say "I gotta lose more weight" while most of non-Asian friends don’t care. I mean some of them care and it’s not just in Asia though. Tbh almost everyone in Japan, especially women think “being skinny is being beautiful“. I used to think that too and it’s natural to believe that since there are many cute girls who are skinnier than me on social media and people like them. U know we can see how many likes those girls get and obviously many people like skinny, pretty girls coz it’s beauty standard. People who managed to lose their weight say “You should start a diet if you want to be pretty and popular” and that post gets 10k likes. A 14 year old innocent girl who had no confidence believed that and started too extreme diet. It’s me. I thought I could love myself and just be pretty but I never thought I was skinny enough or I was so pretty that I could be confident. It just made me scared to eat food. It was really toxic that people around me always said “ You’re so skinny! I wanna be like u” I felt like everyone was judging me. Luckily in Canada I met new friends and I started to think that I don’t have to care about my body and others anymore!! People in here don’t say anything about my body and it’s just so comfortable. Now I’m back to Japan and when I see my friends and their parents, they always say that I don’t look like I gained weight though I went to Canada. (Many people think people gain weight after studying abroad because food in abroad is not that healthy as what we eat in Japan. ) Anyways, they think I would be glad if I hear that I’m still skinny but it just makes me stressful. I don’t want anyone to say anything about my body. I hate that beauty standard and hope people won’t care about that too much.

Growing up in Brazil i always faced a different problem: being too skinny. My body type is far away from the perfect body figure in my country, people always said to me how i was skinny and tall and how much i needed to gain some weight. These comments always affected me until now, when i learned how to love me the way i am. Also im 1.93m and 64kg, genetics plays a big role for me since my whole family is skinny and tall

I really liked what the Zumba instructor said. Loving ourselves doesn’t mean we have to feel good about our bodies. Our bodies do so much for us, despite how we feel about our bodies, it’s important to accept it and learn to be neutral about it. Thank you for sharing a light on ED. As a normal weight person, I feel our eating disorder is often overlooked and people don’t understand the severity of it.

As someone who struggled with ED, seeing this made me both extremely grateful to have that behind me, but also very sad knowing others feel as emotionally messed up as I did. This is even worse.

I have an autoimmune disorder. When I was 27, I became so ill I had to take a five week leave of absence from work. My internal organs were so swollen they pressed against my stomach and gave me a constant feeling of always being full. I struggled so much to eat that along with all of my other issues, I seriously thought I may die. I tried to eat spoonfuls of peanut butter because I physically was incapable of eating any normal volume of food. I lost an absurd amount of weight in a very short time. At 5’8” I fit an American size 0-2. EVERYONE told me how great I looked. Dull, grayish skin, sunken eyes with dark circles, but I was SKINNY! So I looked so good. It was very disheartening to me that everyone thought I looked better when I was dying. On top of how extremely thin I was, these people knew I had dropped a drastic amount of weight in a very short time span. But it didn’t matter. I was skinny.

Korea: obsessed with facial features China: skinny waist Japan: cuteness America: hourglass figure India: fair complexion Europe: porcelain skin with red lips I am sure other countries must have had their own obsessions. Such a wor!d we live in

I lived in Hong Kong for a summer while doing my college internship. My first day in the office, a young man came up to me, grab my wrist and said to his coworker in Chinese "Wow, look, her wrist is so fat. I can barely fit my fingers around it!" My mouth drop, probably with a look of horror. How do you respond to a comment like that? His coworker told him I understand Chinese. He looked me straight in the face and said in English "Well, it's true. You need to loose weight." I am 5'3" and 105lbs! I didn't think much of it since it was one dumb random comment. I went to a clothing store and was shock to find that I barely fit into their 1 size fits all clothes and my feet were on their XL size. My shoe size is 6.5! The 2 sales girls were giggling (I know it was at me because I understand them) I was there for a summer and felt the body shaming. I can only imagine growing up there. The pressure and ridicule to be skinny and tiny.

I’ve always been skinny but growing up in Latinamerica that’s not an asset at all. I used to feel very self conscious about not having the curvaceous figure considered as the beauty standard in that part of the world. I moved to Australia at 19 and seeing so many versions of beauty opened up my eyes. Fast forward a few years and a I got into a car accident and badly broke my leg and elbow. It was a blessing in disguise as for the first time I started to look at my body not for what it looked like but for what it did for me, what it had allowed to do prior to the accident which I had never truly appreciated. It’s hard to care about the shape of your legs when you can’t walk. Several surgeries later and I can go places again….Now I talk to my body and tell it: “ As long as you’re healthy you can be any shape you choose to be”. I’m still skinny but thankful for my body.

I remember weighing 43 kg one day at 26 yo and just staring at my legs, admiring them. Later that day I ran into an old friend and she was so shocked to see my hollow face. She touched my cheeks and asked me if I was okay. I had not paid attention to my face up until that point. I didn’t listen to her at the time, but when I look at pictures from back then, I can now see what she meant. It looked so lifeless and I just never saw that. Only things that mattered to me were my bones sticking out, my skinny legs, my boney back.. Today I weigh almost 20 kg more and I got my chubby cheeks back. And I actually look younger today than when I did back then. Seeing these girls faces before and after reminded me of that time. And they all look so beautiful as well.

It is so sad that so many women, do not want to be affected , but we ALL ARE. We know weight should not be that important, but in our mind, during our grow up time, we are planted the idea of we can not be fat ,we need to be thinner. It can not be changed. It is frustrated. It is a typical sign that feminism is we weak in China. We do not have the rights to be in any weights in a peaceful mood. We are worried all the time. There is so much pain inside.

As a Chinese woman, I deeply understand the body standards they talking about. It's really frustrating and hopeless when people so care about the weight of woman, even women themselves.

As an Asian who came to UK for over 2 years, now I'm always surprised and enraged so much by the body shaming comments on Chinese social media when I log back into them. It's a mix feeling of "OMG how can you say that" and "I bet everyone around you had said the same thing to you." It's so absurd since I'm using western TikTok at the same time and so many people will be called out for this type of behaviour. It's literally a parallel universe, people in Asia think it's a way of looking out for your health but it's nothing more than toxic verbal abuse. Not to mention that almost every time jumping on a video call with my mom after a while, the first thing she'd say is "You should stop eating so much and control your body a bit, your face looks fat." Thanks god that my dad sometime will just tell her to shush. Updated Guys, not my mom today in the family group chat after I posted this comment lmao Me: sending pictures of my lunch yesterday(pesto pasta) and this morning’s breakfast (avocado toast) My mom: you should cut down on the carbs, that’s how you can stay away from being fat Me inside: AHHHHHHHH WOMAN LET ME LIVE

As an Asian from PH, I was born thin. I got bullied and my lunch always been taken away from me when I was young and got social anxieties and trauma. When I got the freedom, I ate a lot to regain myself. However, I became too fat. I sometimes had rough times because clothes are kinda difficult to find for my size, and Im about 80kg with 5'3 height right now. But I never said I hated it. In fact im happy this way. Thats how you know people would like me the way I am, and not how I physically look like. Your body will degrade and become old and lumpy in the future, but people who will be loyal to you will always be there. Thats all I need. Now, not "All asians" like thin as stick like some of these people are. Sexy and malnourished body are two completely different things. They dont define beauty to some countries. We are all aware they're unhealthy. Its your choice if you want this kind of body, but remember. Beauty will be nothing if youre near lying down your death bed.

I’m from Singapore, and I used to get compliments when I was borderline underweight. The problem is that when I’m an actual healthy weight, my face is very round since I tend to put fat on my face before anywhere else. I eventually got diagnosed with a medical issue and got treatment, which led to me putting on weight (I’m at the ideal weight for my height now). But I actually got people telling me how round my face is and that I have a slight double chin. I don’t care though, my body looks great now! I actually have meat and a good shape. I can’t help my fat distribution, just gotta learn to love what you have as long as you’re healthy.

I’m from the west, but had recently lost twenty pounds whenever I was already thin. I remember many telling me “how beautiful” and “model-like” I looked. Positive reinforcement really hurts in that sense. I was so weak and pale, there was no color in my face and I was always light headed. It wasn’t until my boyfriend said “you look so gaunt and tired, please eat more, I love you” that I realized it was a big deal

People praising these unhealthy standards in the comment section are disgusting. These women aren't thin, they're underweight, dangerously so. Imagine calling a bunch of teen girls ugly for not being sickly thin. It seems like people just love to insult fat people and say "but their health" without understanding the health risks of being underweight.

As someone who suffered an ed, both overeating and undereating, I regularly followed Kpop model diets and it ruined my whole mentality over food. Thank you for emphasizing this “normalized” issue that’s nationwide.

Beauty is the state you feel comfortable in. She is absolutely right about that. Nothing can make you more beautiful than when you feel completely comfortable in your own skin. I love that we were able to see three different perspectives about the same topic in this video. It gives an insight into how everyone perceives beauty differently. Don't go for the trends, go for what's healthy for you, what makes you comfortable and what makes you feel good. Don't let anything force or influence you to change that. Like Cindy said, be in control of your own body, you're it's best handler. No one else is.

Ngl. Whenever I look at Chinese,Japanese and Korean standards I feel very blessed to have been born in India. There was a trend amongst girls of my age to be thin but our parents and elders would always emphasise on eating properly,engaging in sports and reading. My mom and teachers would always make sure I ate. There was once a time I did not bring my lunch box and every person(teacher incl.) gave me some stuff from their box on a plate to eat so that I do not go hungry.

I'm from Southeast Asia and throughout my teen years my own family would comment on my body, how I was too chubby, my butt was too big, etc. I eventually developed bulimia and secretly kept it up for years to gain acceptance, whether it's from society, friends, or family. It slowly escalated into chronic gastritis and I now experience pains from mild spicy food, skipping a meal, indigestion, mild oral medication, and heart burn among others. My husband was pivotal in my stopping bulimia and I'm slowly learning to accept a body that is healthy rather than skinny. Remember, those people giving external gratification aren't going to be there when you fall ill or feel down. You have to rely on your own strength and a healthy body is one way to do that.

“I’m not happy with my size right now. But I think that’s fine” Awesome level of nuance to see, genuinely. Feels like in western discussions too, this isn’t really brought up. People should absolutely be in an environment to be able to accept their bodies for what they are. BUT they should also be in a position to themselves be unhappy with their body and want change, without that affecting the rest of their life.

I grew up in China until I come to the States at age of 14. I always think of myself as not skinny enough and it really makes me feel bad about myself. Sadly, this unhealthy mental thought never go away in my mind. I was chubby in High School and I lost a lot of weight 5'7 height and 132 lb. However, I feel the same way as now 235lb... I don't know why. Looking back at my pictures in HS, I realized I was so slim. Now I just want to lose weight but so hard...

This obsession of the thinner the better has been around, particularly for East Asian women, for a long time. Japan and Korea are the other two obsessive nations. I never knew being curvy (c. 50kg = 110lb) was attractive until I moved to the US as a teenager. And when I relocated to live in the UK later on, I was always labelled as tiny. I literally thought people were bonkers uttering such a nonsense. The gap between what I was led to believe I was in East Asia vs what others in the West saw was mind boggling.

I remember when I took my last math class in college. We were in class during a break and I was eating some chips. An Asian guy that was very friendly with me asked me if I had gained weight. The girl sitting next to me was really shocked, and told him not to say something like that or asked him how he could say that, I forgot exactly what she said. I just told him I didn't know, and I honestly don't since the only times I get weighed is when I go to the doctor which isn't that often. Later, when I was studying at the library, same guy came and sat down at my table. He asked me the same thing and said I should lose 5-10 lbs. I just told him I was focused on passing the class, since I'm bad at math, and that my weight or losing weight wasn't a priority. Can't say I was offended, I was just surprised at his nosiness. Like, how does my weight affect him in any way? 🤣 I do suspect he may have been interested in me, like I said, he was very friendly with me. So ig maybe he just wanted his future gf to be skinny? 😂 Anyways, that wasn't going to happen.

I visited China for the first time recently, I can concur that beauty standard in China is really toxic. Other than stick thin, they do not accept any other body image and body shape. I remember shopping for clothes and I could only fit into size L but it was slightly tight (when I'm consistently a UK8/10), the sales assistant asked me to lose some weight. As a gym enthusiast and a frequent marathon runner, that comment was appaling to me. I hope with more awareness, this will change one day.

Its amazing (and disturbing) to read so many off all your comments. So many of you describe your experience in so much detail. All experiences about expected body standards, but so many from different countries with different expectations. Thankyou all for sharing. For me, a guy from Holland, it is something we know exist but are blissfully unaware how it is like. Keep sharing the stories!

It really hit home how she could look in the mirror and know that she didn't look good and needed to gain weight but still be unable to reconcile that feeling with wanting to be thin.

Unfortunately these sort of body standards are seeping into India because of intsa, bollywood and kdramas. For example when I was 13 years old a group of mean girls in my class asked why I was fat (aap itne motte kyu ho?) . I was literally shocked by this question. My figure at that time was like the healthy girls shown in this video. I simply replied as a joke that my school uniform made me look fat. “Yeah right” One of the girls replied and made up a puffed up face to ridicule me. Later that year that same girl’s friend had fainted in the science laboratory. When she was offered a bar of chocolate after recovering she refused it like it was going to poison her. At that instant I realised that she was suffering from body image issues. She was extremely thin( not like a skeleton that they are showing in the video but she was at the verge of becoming one) and was considered one of the the most popular and beautiful girl in the school. It pains me to see that even the people who tried to ridicule my body are not comfortable in their own body. edit: Seriously it's heart breaking to read people's stories in the comment section. I'm just here to say that I support all of you. Because I've been there. Fortunately I have parents who understood me and forced me to lead a healthy lifestyle i.e enough food and right exercise(walking and yoga). I still have certain amount of belly fat and chubby round face. But I love it. No matter what anyone says. It's there for a reason. It proves that you are completely healthy and normal. It also doesn't matter if you are skinny or very fat. What matters is you fulfil your body's and heart's need. Not other people's judgements.

I used to have hard times too in my 20s. I was so aware of my weight. I am over 175 cm at that time. You can say I am tall for average asian girl. And of course my weight is much more than other girls. People always say that they didn't expect me to weigh this much or I have a big belly or bla bla. And I tried to lose weight and always tried to suck my belly in. I worked out everyday. Trying to lose weight. Trying to have an hourglass shape. Trying to be pretty. And everyday is like a hell. Everywhere is hurt, my arm, my leg, my belly, my heart. There is nowhere that is not hurt. But I overcome that. Right now I feel happy with my body and I still work out. But just for feeling good. Working out makes me less suffer from bloating and period pain. Since I am not aiming for any weight lose or body type, I am starting to enjoy it too ❤

I lived in china for 6 years and this is so super accurate. After lunch times the bathrooms at my company would always smell awful only to later realise it was because lots of girls would puke after their meals and it was so normal. All the conversations i had with my chinese friends was about their body size but they were not comfortable talking about the methods they use to loose weight. The amount of pressure they go through is so bad n they way they are so mean to each other is even worse. I dont think it will change anytime soon its so ingrained in them.

The Zumba instructor looks so happy and self accepting. I love her energy!

As a western woman from the USA, I lived in mainland China for about a year. The beauty standards over there shocked me. The obsession with being very underweight is rampant. I lost 30 pounds while being there because I was constantly ridiculed for having a bmi of 23. Unfortunately, when I came back the idea of staying and getting thinner stuck with me. I don’t want to blame my experience in China for my eating disorder but it introduced me to the power I had over my own body and consumption. Now I am mocked for being very thin over here in the states. It’s honestly really crazy to think that if I went over there now, I’d still be considered chubby even though I am technically underweight here. Otherwise, China was a beautiful place with wonderful culture and scenery and I made many good friends.

my gf was in Korea before we met. She tried to lose weight by some extreme methods such as vomiting, no food, etc. I can feel her desperation when she talked about the story. I feel like that's some typical Asian way to define beauty even tho it's harmful to health. But thanks God now, we both started work out. Amazingly, our sense of beauty also changed a lot from skinny to fit.

As a girl whose mom is filipino (southeast asian) and Chinese (East Asian), these habits shows that my mom shows are crazy. Ever since I was younger she would push me into loosing weight and encourages me to it aswell, I understand the body standards. My mom had an eating disorder building up. She and I did this diet together, we skipped breakfast, ate a boiled egg for lunch then for dinner it would be a salad but for my sake she would give me a small bowl of rice and vegetables. Not only was I not eating well I also had activities, ballet, dance, kumon, instruments and more. I was at the edge of fainting, o top of that they would over work me in ballet, such as pushing me to the limits and all of that. As for now my mom has somewhat recovered although I still think about how I look, my weight and all of that. My mom isn't at full fault at this, her family encouraged her on loosing weight and making sure she is fit. I hope that in the future no one experiences this problem. Im a teenager who has a problem on looks and the judgement of others, for people they see me as someone so skinny but in my eyes Im not good enough.

Wanting to lose weight and be healthy is perfectly okay, if it's for yourself. The problem begins when you don't know when to stop. That's how it is for me at least.

I know this is an easy thing to say for an old guy such as me (57 years), but I also had struggles in my youth. Now when I'm old I'd like to say to the younger version of myself as well as to you young ladies out here struggeling with accepting yourselfs; First of all, if you don't accept yourself the way you look and the way you are, then no one else will. Secondly, don't be so upset about your physical appearance but rather evolve yourself on a personal level, we all grow old and with that we grow uglier (and fatter in some cases, don't ask me how I know). And lastly; Forget about what others think and might say about your appearance, enjoy your life to the full extent, cause despite what some people think, life is not going to repeat itself (on a personal level). It's here and now, not tomorrow or another time and another place. Enjoy yourself guys, and if you enjoy to eat good food, then eat !!! Best wishes and regards; Mr. T

this inspires me to come out with my own story on the topic.. thank you very much

Now you understand, we Asian women are not born to be skinny but are forced to be since we're young. I was 110 pounds at 13 years old and they called me fatty but in fact I was just around 5 kg overweight. Teachers and classmates thought I was a glutton and lazy so they teased you every time you eat and run. Then I did crash diet, lost 5 kg during semester holiday, the whole class was shocked when new term begin ok no more bullying but at the expense of my health I was sick and weak, couldn't join any PE class and scared the hell out of my parents. Learn the hard lesson so I pay more attention on proper diet and exercise. now my weight is 50 kg, normal bmi, you ask me if I wanna be fat again? Well, not necessarily stick thin but definitely don't wanna be fat either.

I genuinely have lots of respect for Chinese culture and society, but I find this trend of infantilisation of women's bodies very weird and disgusting

Chinese celebrities play a role in encouraging this too. And there’s a saying in Chinese that a girl should not weigh more than 50kg (around 100 lbs in Chinese measurement - not the same as actual lbs). Imagine celebrities posting picture of their scale measurement and calling themselves fat at 50kg.

Great video it’s too many things in this topic to discuss but beauty standards for women are just so over the top no matter where u go I lived both in the Latin community where I’m from the beauty standard is slim thick but when I lived the USA the standards where to b as thin as possible no butt no hips now the beauty standard in the USA is to b as curvy as possible but only in the right places the point is you can’t win for losing so as she said just love yourself as you are and in someone’s eyes you are the beauty standard but we spend so much time trying to be someone else isn’t it ironic that somebody somewhere looks at you and says wow I wish I had her body her skin her hair her eyes while your wishing u looked like someone else it’s ok to admire other ppls beauty but don’t be so hard on yourselves ladies it took me a long time to realize this too and I’m the happier now the truth is even in countries where u don’t fit the beauty ideal there’s someone who’s not into that specific ideal be your own beauty standard shout out to the ladies in the video for sharing their stories

When i was young, i told a nurse i thought i had an eating disorder (i had Binge Eating Disorder, not something known to the general public in 2005). She looked at me, laughed, and said "honey, you're skinny. Theres no way you have a problem with eating". I am glad people have come to see the variety of ways in which eating disorders can present. I'll never forget that "professional"'s lack of knowledge. It still maddens me when i remember it. 😑

I was in this situation I lost 50 pounds in seven to eight months and I almost died in my sleep It was really scary I hope everything finds the courage to get help who is suffering from an eating disorder It’s a constant battle and I choose to live every single day Thank you for spreading awareness on this topic

This is so interesting I always thought Asian women were just lucky to be naturally skinny I never realised that there was so much pressure and expectation for them to be that way. I hope the body positivity movement starts to gain traction in China and elsewhere because obsessing over your weight, restricting food, feeling like you are not good enough is a painful state of mind. Body positivity has helped me to start overcoming my own eating disorder that I’ve suffered from for thirty years. I’ve only very recently been able to start learning to love and accept my body and feed and nourish it instead of punishing myself constantly and that’s because of body positivity messaging. Edit to original message: Since I left this comment I’ve watched a lot of “body positivity” content to where I think I need to stress that when I said “body positivity” I’m more talking about trying to stop hating your body when you’re actually a perfectly healthy weight because you are not a model 0 and trying to stop being dysmorphic in how you view yourself I.e. seeing yourself as fat when you are not but it’s how your mind has been conditioned. I’m not in the least talking about very overweight or obese people suggesting that it wouldn’t be healthier for them to lose weight, that dieting itself is “fat phobia”, that people who are not attracted to obese people are bigots and fat phobic, or that very overweight people can continue to gain weight and it’s all good etc etc. I think that is the “health at any size” and “ fat phobia” ideology. I’m just talking about trying to have a healthier mindset after years of chasing extreme thinness and that some of the ideas that have changed in society have helped me to change this in myself. I used the wrong phraseology unintentionally.

Thank you for this lovely video. I'm a white woman and I live in Texas. I've put on quite a bit of weight the past few years and am struggling to lose it and tone up. I wanted to say, that I started started shopping at the online Chinese market in 2015 and I loved the clothing. However, I wanted to sell women's lingerie and undergarments and I had several conversations by chat, about the fact that even your largest clothes were not to be worn by plus sized females in America or other places where women can get quite large. Eventually, I left the idea of the plus sized lingerie and undergarments and started selling jewelry. When I was young, I was very small and could always fit into the tiny clothes, but now I cannot. I remember thinking how tiny the women of your culture are. I did not realize that your Country was also experiencing this now. With all of the fast food and isolation we have faced, it's no wonder. I'm happy that you ladies are working so hard to put the word out about eating disorders and mental illness. I wish you a long and happy future and thank you for caring!

Even though I'm asian I feel great that I never had to go through this . In India our elders will scold us if we don't eat well, being underweight is beautiful is not at all a thing here . I never realised our neighbouring countries have such a thing . God I'm grateful to be an INDIAN, these skinny trends are scary🤯😳😵

As an Asian, elder women telling me all my life to loose weight until the time I was underweight for years made me go through a mental breakdown because I didn't even like being so skinny. I didn't even care how "ugly" I looked to other people, I just lost weight because I thought it was what was expected of me.

The emphasis on being skinny and beautiful is really extreme in China. The English vs Chinese social media/Internet space really highlight this difference. I got a glimpse of this when browsing through both English forums vs. Chinese forums. For example, people on English forums/blogs (international fans) discussing a Chinese actress are full of praises for her beauty/acting skills, while people on Chinese forums/blogs can be very critical of the figure of the same actress, picking apart every single flaw. For course, this is just an example. I am sure there are still Chinese fans who are very supportive, but this is a general impression I have on English vs. Chinese sides of the Internet.

It's so sad that just the word 'fat' can have such a negative impact, and I really felt it as a European working in China. I could never and would never want to fit the Chinese beauty standards - I'm proud of my curves! The primary school kids I taught would openly call me fat though, or poke my belly, and seemed to think it was perfectly okay to treat an adult like that. Other foreign co-workers had very similar stories. I always tried to teach the kids about respect but when the 'uncles' and 'aunties' are setting bad examples by approaching perfectly healthy strangers in the street with such awful comments about losing weight, then it's no wonder the younger generations think it's okay to body shame too. :(

Very well directed, this was super insightful

Meanwhile in India, some old people feel like being fat is a symbol of prosperity 😂 Because we were always skinny due to famines and poverty created by the colonialists..... Except the youth thinks the opposite ofc now....

As an Indian, I can understand some of the comments saying this culture is seeping into India but I'm glad that for the most part, our elders advice us to eat or feed when we feel like we need to be thinner. And people are generally more accepting of figures. As someone who would probably look fat in East Asia, I'm glad here I'm considered the ideal body sizing just based on being healthy. Let's Love whatever we look like!

my sister destroyed her body with her eating disorder growing up, she ruined her kidneys and my family fell apart when all this happened, we all focused on helping her get better because she was killing herself. i don’t understand how a whole country could be so lost in disordered eating to not even see the way they’re all destroying their lives and bodies

I’m Hispanic and An Asian guy who was trying to date me mentioned something about weight while we were eating (I ordered food, he ordered chips and salsa) he spoke about how he doesn’t like eating a lot and how he doesn’t like having fat on him as I sat there eating a huge meal 😂 I kinda felt that he was directing things at me but then I had to tell him that in my culture, it’s not good to be skinny and that if I get skinny it’s not attractive. He was shocked lol I said “yeah they call skinny girls ‘seca ‘ which means dry. Lol I said “if I were skinny I wouldn’t have my curves” lol and he said “oh.. yeah I like your curves” showed him a new world 😉

My respect to Cindy and all other members of the girl group named "SunShine", they really delivered a message to the Chinese public and criticized the standard definition of "beauty".

I had experienced an eating disorder when I was around 10 -14 years old. I'm not sure until now if it ever goes under the word on 'disorder' itself. But I was secretly not eating my lunch at school and I barely ate a proper breakfast and dinner, using a saucer to measure the amount of rice and side dishes I could fit in to eat. There were several 'snack time' at school where even though at first my body was craving for the routine of eating something. I simply took that as a good sign to starve myself. Sometimes when the hunger was unbearable, I simple bought bread and a hot beverage or sugary snacks to subside the growling of my stomach. It went on for months until rashes started showing up on my skin, little red dots where I found out to be a mild case of yeast infection. Yes, my body immune system was at the weak point where even a yeast infection could affect me. My body also became dependent on sugar because I was not eating on a balanced diet and I was often tired and sluggish if I were not to eat one. But, I got what I wanted, I was really thin around 33 kg for my height. My BMI says underweight but my naivety screams great! I don't remember merely one particular reason as to why I did it. There were several, I think. My peers were doing it, some had already shed their 'baby fat', insecurity and hormonal teens mocked 'jiggly girls', the things I saw on social media etc. etc. Social media did brought a heavier weight for that determination to be thin. It was around the popularity of the Hallyu wave in k-pop. Now, I wasn't an extreme fan of k-pop even before, I wasn't a fanatic to even one idol. But their popularity and 'image' of thin girls were admired and followed which indirectly caused me to be insecure of my 'fats'. I can't tell you how haunted I was of my belly fat whenever we did PE and it 'jiggles' somewhat. It's just not a healthy outlook overall. My take on this video is that I closely relate to the chinese trend of being thin, as I call it, "BONE THIN" or the 'tim burton thin' because it's the extreme kind that is not only unhealthy but horrifying to look at as well. This mentality or preference is scary. Especially for the cause of 'mass validation'. It will scar you. And for what means? I can't end this (long) comment with a positive note. Just that this problem affects all of us, like a mentality plague that is hard to shake off. Women will still fall under this trap, just as how 'fat activism' goes on the west. Recognizing it is just the start of this 'far on the horizon' cure.

I’m japanese but moved to usa as a kid then moved back as a late teen. I had been obese as a child (300lbs - 137kg) then lost weight before going back to japan and was about 180lbs / 82kg. I developed anorexia then bulimia and got down (the last i checked so maybe lower) to 98lbs / 44.5kg. I’m 5’5” (168cm). Everyone said I was so skinny and pale and his jealous they were of me. Only my close friends were worried with how pale i had gotten and how much they could see my veins. Where everyone was so jealous, only a few people genuinely worried about me. I started getting better by myself (because hospitals were not interested in helping mental health patients) and weight and have a fairly healthy relationship with good, but it’s still so hard to not go back to that lifestyle of wanting to be skinny. It was like my personality. My entire life revolved around it. It seems almost empty without it, but i know i am healthier now than i was.

I didn't have an eating disorder but rapidly lost weight due to bullying at work. I lost 40 lbs (18 kg) in two months. My body looked like a skeleton. I was shocked when people suddenly told me I was beautiful. Yes, my new, small clothes looked great on me. But I was ill. My doctor sent me for cancer tests at the hospital. Finally, he diagnosed anxiety and depression from my work situation. I left that work place and it took three years, but I'm well now. Identify your stress--why you stop eating--and deal with it, if you can. Seek medical help, too. You deserve to be healthy. One more thing: As I began gaining weight to a normal, healthy body, I suddenly wondered: Wait, when (at what weight) did I pass the "perfect" weight? I must have passed it at some point. But I realized, women are never allowed to feel we are "perfect".

I live in Hong Kong now for work, and I get self conscious every single day. I was around 100lb (I'm 5'0") when I first started working, but I frequently get stressed from work and would stress eat. This would continue until I stress-ate myself to 118lb within one year and I felt so depressed. One day, an old coworker who knew me when I first started working at my company (when I was 100lb) saw me at the office when I was at 118lb. The first thing he commented was not "long time no see" or "how are you". It was "whoa, you got super fat. You literally look like a ball". I was appalled. How could someone say that blatantly to my face.

13:56 her idea and definition of acceptance is perfect. You don't need to see yourself as perfect to love yourself. Just embrace your strengths, acknowledge your weaknesses and either strive to improve these weaknesses (if it's possible and that is what makes you happy) or just learn to move past things that you simply cannot change.

While I didn't have a severe eating disorder it was enough to the point till I didn't recognize it until a few minutes ago. During covid, More like when it first started. I was skinny you know ideal body type. I took dance classes and also did gymnastics etc. It kept me in shape and I never really cared to work out and eat healthily. So now I'm in the middle of covid eating junk food and eating out almost every week. After a while, I notice I'm gaining weight. Every single day since I noticed even now, I squeezed and poked at my fat just thinking about how embarrassing it is. I kept eating so much I wouldn't get hungry till dinner time then the next morning I would be starving then overeat again. This summer I have been making the effort to lose weight. For a few months, I kept looping around, losing and regaining the weight. I had to learn discipline. My highest weight is 153 pounds and now I'm at 144.8 on an empty stomach. It isn't easy but I'm happy with my results so far, it does take time so to the other people out there reading my comment and also trying to lose weight, don't rush it. I used to do extreme workouts and other stuff to lose weight but it didn't work. I try my best to eat properly so I won't get super hungry later than overeat. I found a website similar to this: www.medicinenet.com/8_ways_to_think_like_a_thin_person/article.htm It does help and small tip: Green tea helps break down food.

I am in US. I will never forget that Chinese boy laughed at me in front of everyone, “Look how big and fat you are, look at how slim she is (another girl).” It really destroyed a 13 year old girl. I was very normal in terms of weight at that age. Well many people thought it’s stupid to care about their criticism, but a young girl… just… Sign. Idk, just that one sentence really altered my life as a teenager.

I definitely noticed that being very thin is 'in' right now for Gen Z everywhere not just in Asia and I am scared for them 😢. I am a younger millennial and I remember that awful time in the mid-2000s where all woman in the magazines were extremely thin like Nicole Richie, Paris Hilton, and Lindsey Lohan. I was an extremely impressionable 14 year old and I became obsessed with having a thigh gap. I dieted hard core, barely ate, everyone was saying I lost so much weight and I even reached my target weight.. but sadly no thigh gap. So, I kept going until one day I realized what I was doing was very dangerous and I managed to stop. I was lucky because I already knew about eating disorders and body dysmorphia so I knew I was going down a dangerous path. ED are no joke... some people literally take decades to recover. ☹️My weight has flunctated since then but mostly due to just living life. I no longer believe in dieting. I only eat in a way that I know I can sustain for the rest of my life. That means no counting calories, no restricting food groups, no skipping meals. The best thing that always works for me is to cook my own food as much as possible, eat lots of veggies and fruits, not eating unhealthy snacks regularly (I don't buy them to consume everyday but I will have them at parties or the movies etc) and drink a lot of water. This is a diet that I can easily follow for the rest of my life and it's not really restrictive. Anyways, let's all learn how to be kinder to our bodies. ❤️🙏🏾

I currently live in China and it's been almost 10 years. Back in my country, my body is definitely not a beauty standard (I'm 178cm/55kg), I've always been laughed at and I heard all the mean comparisons, therefore I developed a body dysmorphia. I tried to gain weight but couldn't because it's hereditary. When I came to China, I always get praise because of my body, and everyone tells me they wish they had my body, and I couldn't see that because I feel I'm underweight and I struggle with low self-esteem. But the only message I send to my Chinese friends: your body is so beautiful, it keeps you alive, so don't listen to what others say because it will affect you in the long run.

Loved it! Well done thank you

I find that even Asian men in the entertainment industry like actors are soo thin. Really very different from western actors. Wang Yibo literally said he likes to be thin because it's "more photogenic".

as a person who has ed, & now in a "normal" cycle, eating it's the only thing that i can control into my life. people should also know & be aware that eating disorders are very extensive and it's just not about being thin.

Eating disorders absolutely are addictions. They might start as a diet or an exercise regimen, but it soon becomes an addiction, a way to have something to think abt that makes you feel like you're being "good" and distracts you from wverything else in your life that feels overwhelming, upsetting, etc

It's all over Asia, I am not Chinese, I left Asia, but I am still suffering from this body image issue. I did not see my mother for almost 3 years the first thing she mentioned when she saw me was my weight, and she didn't even think that's a problem. A lot of asian women talk about diet like it's normal when in reality their so-called diet is full on eating disorder, but I shit you not, they think it's GREAT, they think it shows great discipline and determination, they admire that, and if you eat just normally, you are frown upon.

Growing up in Florida I was made fun of for my pale skin. People often told me I should “go to the beach Casper” or “you should try tanning beds.” - I didn’t even know I was pale before high school. It never crossed my mind to wonder about my skin color. Then I moved to Japan at 25 and girls asked me how I got my skin so white. 😮 I had to laugh. I have a somewhat larger, (US size 10) frame and larger feet (10US) and 34D bra and I could never find shoes or bras in Japan that fit me unless I squeezed painfully into them. I’m kinda curvy and i’ll likely never be skinny or tan, but that’s ok. I’ll be the curvy-ish pale girl wearing Asian fashion. Maybe i’m easier to spot this way. 😛 🎉Ps. I’m about to be 40 and I love my pale skin so much now because it makes me stand out in America. 😉

-Being skinny in China(Asia) is beauty standard(Leads to starving oneself and eating disorders) -Being slim thick is the beauty standard in the western world. (Leads to BBL, and other surgeries)

I am so proud of all these women here! Accepting yourself in a society that tells you, that you are never enough is a milestone and shows how strong they are. I'm so happy for them!

6:50 this made me tear up 😢😢

I really hope perspectives will change. Glad there are videos about this problem.

Im SE asian and struggling with beauty standard in asia too. Im not fair-skinned, so the only thing i can do is to lose weight. I went from 58kg to 42kg in just a few months during quarantine. Everyone was surprised when they see me for the first time and thought i was sick. Im worried that i might start developing some sort of ED. Thank you for reminding me that being skinny isnt everything.

I remember watching Cindy and her group during their short time on Produce 101, makes me feel so sad hearing that she was going through so much during that time. They were a really talented group and I wanted them to stay.

I was hospitalized in Shanghai due to anorexia as well. I'm literally about to cry watching this.

The “WHAT!” at the beginning made me spit my drink out 😂😂😂

The last statement about being beautiful is being comfortable with yourself hits me hard. From elementary school I always feel fat and develop some kind of diet, even tho I was still 8 yo. At junior high school I keep feeling that I'm the fattest and always looking at my body on the mirror, pinching my flabby parts and imagining that it will be gone. At high school it was the same, I feel so fat. Then now, in last year of college, I look back my photos from all of those years. I was skinny, skinnier enough comparing to my current state. Then I remember that a few people told me that I had athletic body, yet I didn't believe it. And now I'm just slapped with how the reality works. I wasn't fat, I just didn't accept myself at all, and that made me feel dissatisfied all the time no matter how much I eat or how much I workout. Now, I'm being chubbier yet I feel contempt, as long as I'm physically active and healthy. It's really rooting from yourself mentally before doing something physically, to acknowledge your body positively.

To be honest, it's becoming a struggle for me as well. I'm not yet on that path, but I want to wear clothes and usually they look better on slimmer bodies. I'm practical and active enough that I know it won't benefit me ( and I love eating lol). Also, I want to pursue Muay Thai but reluctant bc I might become short and bulky and that really doesn't look good. In the end, it's best to be healthy that you're functional rather than look good in clothes but have difficulty doing yhings

I love the energy of the dance teacher lady, you can really feel it how much she loves what she does and that kinda energy is so invigorating and inspiring! She makes me wanna dance too

I needed this

This is all about the environment, whenever I'm with my family in Colombia I feel beautiful with my curvy body, whenever I'm back in England, I feel fat and ugly and cover-up as many body parts as possible. In Colombia I'm happy to wear shorts and short-sleeved shirts, in England I hate my legs and arms the most. It sucks, but realising that it's not my issue but society's issue helps me just to focus on my health and a good diet and be happy with the results as long as I'm at a healthy weight/BMI.

I personally love to train my muscles and I'm naturally on the curvier side... I always felt like I wasn't good enough for the Asian countries. Always felt really fat. But when I moved to Canada.. the attention I received was surprising to say the least. It's not about you, just about the stupid beauty standards of different places. On the other side of things, I've seen so many skinny girls being made fun of on western social media, things like they have no butt and stuff. We girls just can't catch a break sheesh. Just learn to love yourself and as long as you're healthy, you are good 👍🏻

Im from Russia and suffering from the disorder. From childhood i was shamed by People and now I even can't watch myself in the mirror. It's sad that People Who ashamed me Will never apologize or understand that I was hurt a lot and end with depression and suicide stuff. Glad, that other Girls starts to share their unperfect stories - I feel better to watch or hear it. I wish to future be kind and free from stereotypes. P.S actually, when was a moment that People call Girls band ugly - I was in shock. Girls was so cute and so cool and stay being that!

It's nice to see they've recovered. I lose my appetite from stress and know how it can make you fatigued; I can't imagine from this. Glad to see them doing well.

In school i was always considered as fat girl.. TBH yes i weighed more than others but my BMI was completely normal(nearly 23).. I was taller than others but little chubby.. Students used to tease me calling names like bulldozer, bull etc🙂. My sister was the one who said you are completely normal and healthy.. After getting into college i somehow lost my all weight, to the point i was literally skin and bones.. i never went to gym and went to diet in my whole life but it was because of stress and studies.. when i met my school mates they said you looked much more better in school.. like there was no end.. but at that point I realised even you loose your weight you can't satisfy anyone.. I knew my weight is not at all unhealthy but still i do have insecurities about my body.. but slowly i am starting to feel more confident and doing some experiments with my fashion ❤❤