Thin, beautiful, refined? In China, weight-loss camps promise all three

Taking her place next to some gym equipment, Yang Chi’ao waits to be called by an instructor at a weight-loss camp in China, where over half of adults are overweight.

These facilities – boasting strict daily exercise regimens, mandatory trips to the scales and rigid surveillance to guard against snacking – have popped up across China as it grapples with a growing obesity crisis.

Yang, 23, quit her teaching job earlier this year and signed up for a weight-loss camp on the outskirts of southwestern megacity Chengdu.

She has since followed a rigorous regime of diet and exercise.

She was one of around 60 people who turned out early to train, a large poster looming overhead extolling their goal: “Become thin! Become beautiful! Become refined!”