AN online spat between Chinese producer Yu Zheng and actress Xu Jiao quickly piqued netizens’ interest last week, after Xu publicly called out Yu, and questioned his suggestion that another actress, who is 172 centimeters tall and 46 kilograms, will “look better if she can shed a few more pounds.”

Although Yu later apologized on Weibo and said that his “original intentions” were to encourage people to “lose weight by science-backed methods,” his vision has drawn attention to the sick paranoid belief of many Chinese that “being thin is beautiful, and the thinner the better.”

The ultra thin actresses and models that frequently appear on big or small screens, ads and commercials, serve as a strong influence on people’s outlooks.

One popular belief among Chinese young women is that “a good-looking one should weigh less than 50 kilograms,” which causes many healthy individuals to go on diets and exercise in pursuit of an unattainable “perfect” body.

In May last year, a 15-year-old girl in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, died of anorexia after going on a lengthy diet. When she was rushed to Shenzhen Children’s Hospital for emergency treatment, the poor girl, at 165 centimeters tall, only weighed 24.8 kilograms.

Many individuals, particularly young women, obsessively monitor food intake under the escalating pressure to be thin. According to a 2016 survey by The Lancet, approximately 20 million people in the European Union suffer from eating disorders, with one in six to seven young women affected.

Such a tendency is also rising in China, as statistics from the Shanghai Mental Health Center show a tripling in the number of people seeking treatment over the past five years.

It’s time to stop stigmatizing “being fat,” and to educate the public that staying healthy and maintaining a healthy weight should be a priority. And remember: Beauty is only skin deep.

Yolanda via email