A 21-year-old girl has died in a weight-loss camp in China, sparking outrage on the country’s social media against prevailing beauty ideals, the official Global Times newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The young woman, identified as Cuihua, told social networks about the process of losing weight, which began last September, when she weighed about 155 kilograms.
Cuihua explained that the goal was to “lose 100 kilos.” He went to specialized centers in the provinces of Guangdong (southeast) and Shaanxi (center), where he lost 20 and 10 kg, respectively.
The Global Times said that Cuihua was initially the one paying for the weight-loss treatments, but that the institutions ended up covering the costs in exchange for the visibility that Cuihua offered through social media.
Camp staff found the woman dead on May 27, after she wrote on Wechat that she was not feeling well.
The incident drew the attention of Chinese netizens, who criticized conventions that equate thinness with beauty.
“Are weight loss methods scientific? Are they harmful to health? Should weight loss camps be subject to scientific supervision and a warning system?” asked the official Beijing News.
Source: TSF
