SHANGHAI – Taking supplements, drinking herbal teas and signing up for lifestyle classes, China’s youth are now turning to the health industry as work pressures and the impact of the pandemic drive a growing interest in health.
The new habit is part of a global health boom, but the traditional concept of yangsheng, which means nurturing one’s life force, gives the trend a unique cultural twist in China.
In Shanghai, Annie Huang sat in a cafe-like shop selling traditional herbal tea, sipping a bitter concoction said to protect the body from the summer heat.
“Young people these days often go out all night… so they want to drink something that they feel is good for their bodies,” Huang, in his 30s, told AFP.
Rooted in Taoism and traditional Chinese medicine, the benefits of yangsheng include habits such as avoiding foods that are thought to cool the body and specific massages that are believed to treat various ailments.
Capitalizing on the trend, state-run traditional Chinese medicine companies such as Beijing Tongrentang have opened stylishly decorated shops offering products such as ‘night watch water’ and goji berry lattes alongside traditional health-enhancing ingredients such as bird’s nest and ginseng.
Thousands of yangsheng influencers have filled Chinese social media with posts offering tips on ‘dehydration’, how to incorporate ginger juice into your daily diet and finger exercises that are said to improve blood circulation.
Interest in yangsheng has even spilled over into the tourism sector, with youths flocking to desert areas to lie on the sand in the belief that the practice removes unhealthy moisture from the body.
READY TO INVEST
The world’s second-largest economy is struggling with a weak consumer market due to the property crisis and high youth unemployment.
However, spending on health and wellness, especially among millennials and Gen Z, continues to be a focus.
Purchases of health products are ‘definitely increasing more than other categories’ even as many young people start saving, said Jason Yu, senior managing director for China at consumer research firm Kantar Worldpanel.
“Taking supplements is one of the categories they prioritize and are willing to spend on,” said Yu AFP.
Health craze can be categorized into several types including proven medicine to pseudoscience.
Chinese startups sell everything from a variety of products, from vitamin candies to probiotic powders, competing for attention with traditionally more trusted imported brands.
HEALTH CONCERNS
The trend is closely linked to widespread concern about the negative impact of modern, high-stress work culture on health.
Reports of youths dying from overwork have prompted consumers to buy ‘sudden death prevention packs’, a combination of nutritional supplements intended to counteract the ill effects of daily food intake and long working hours.
“You think you’re just working, but actually you’re reducing your life expectancy,” said one post by a yangsheng worker influencer in a post on the Xiaohongshu platform.
Young women struggling with demanding careers and the stress of having children are now turning to classes that teach them how to optimize their reproductive health.
At a night school in Shanghai, traditional Chinese medicine practitioner Zhang Qinhai showed diagrams of the uterus and ovaries as he warned his class of young women about the diminishing chances of a healthy birth at an older age.
“People are too stressed, so they are in worse health,” a 33-year-old student told AFP.
Meanwhile, health concerns triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic are still lingering.
People feel that their immunity has decreased due to COVID-19 and ‘they are more prone to colds and fevers,’ said Tommy Qin, owner of the herbal tea cafe.
Kantar Worldpanel’s Yu said he believes perception plays a big role in young consumers rushing to protect their health.
“Higher awareness of various health issues, especially aided by social media, is very helpful (driving consumption), because everyone feels they are not healthy enough.” – AFP
