The young woman’s goal was to “lose 100 kilos”. The incident called out the conventions that equate slimming with beauty.
A 21-year-old woman has died at 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 on social media about the slimming process, which began last September, when she weighed about 155 kilograms.
Cuihua explained that the goal was to “lose 100 kilos”. She went to specialised centres in Guangdong (south-eastern) and Shaanxi (central) provinces, where she lost 20 and 10 kilos respectively.
The Global Times reported that Cuihua initially paid for the weight loss treatments, but the institutions ended up covering the costs in exchange for the visibility that Cuihua offered through social networks.
Staff at the camp found the woman lifeless on May 27 after she wrote on the social network Wechat that she was not feeling well.
The incident caught the attention of Chinese internet users, who criticised the conventions that equate slimness with beauty.
“Are weight loss methods scientific? Are they harmful to health? Should weight-loss camps be subject to scientific supervision and warning system?” questioned the official Beijing News newspaper.
