Trendy News Client Reporter Liu Xiaoqing Liu Qiaoyan Editor Zhang Yu Drawing Yan Dong
The first hit at the beginning of 2024 is undoubtedly the hot search contestant - "Southern Little Potato". Across the latitude and longitude, crop after crop of "little potatoes" who "wear light-colored down jackets, plush little hats, and marvel at the sight of snowflakes" have become the catchphrase of "Erbin" resounding throughout the country. Behind the popularity of
, many friends from the south also expressed dissatisfaction: Is the height gap between southerners and northerners really that big? There are obviously more and more tall people around us, are "little potatoes" really that small?
To find a correct answer, we selected the average height data of young people aged 19-24 in each province for comparison. First, they are the most active group in society, and they are also the main participants and "atmosphere group" in creating the phenomenon of "Southern Little Potatoes"; secondly, this age group happens to be in the final stage of height development, and they represent the present, It also points to the future.
Are "Southern Little Potatoes" really "small"?
On social media, many people compared the northern and southern people in this craze to "155 southern small potatoes and 185 northern green onions." Some people even came forward to say, don't tell Shandong people, "Who are you?" , because "any onion may be taller than you."
What is the height gap between different provinces and regions? Let’s let data speak.
According to the "2019 Chinese Student Physique and Health Survey Report" published in 2022, among boys aged 19-22, Heilongjiang Province ranks first with an average height of 178.17 cm, followed by Liaoning Province with an average height of 176.72 cm. , while Shandong Province ranked third with 176.38 centimeters, both above 175 centimeters.
Not only were the top three "rounded out" by the northern provinces, but even among the top ten, only Jiangsu, a "little independent seedling" in the south - Jiangsu boys climbed to the "Top of the South" with a height of 175.48 centimeters, ranking 9th in the country; Followed closely by Hubei Province and Anhui Province, the average height of boys is 174.17 cm and 174 cm respectively, ranking 14th and 15th in the country respectively.
If we look at the geographical divisions, among the top 20 provinces, the ratio between north and south is only 3:7, with a clear gap.
Judging from the rankings, northerners are indeed generally taller than southerners, but are southern potatoes really that "small"? Not really.
The author selected the top three male heights in the southern and northern provinces and calculated that the average difference between the north and the south is 2.54 cm;
The difference in male height between Heilongjiang, the "highest in the north", and Jiangsu, the "tallest in the south", is only 2.69 cm ; The difference between Henan Province and Guizhou Province, the "deputy squad leaders" in the north and south, is 3.52 centimeters;
The results of the comparison between cities may be even more unexpected. A study focused on 18-year-old teenagers in 30 provincial capital cities in China. The data showed that in northern cities, the average height of boys in Shenyang is 175.68 cm and the average height of boys in Changchun is 175.16 cm. This is more in line with the public impression; surprisingly Yes, the average height of Shanghai boys has also entered the "175 club", reaching 175.01 centimeters.
It can be seen that the height difference between the north and the south is not as big as some people imagine. At least the north in statistics is not the "180+ per capita" created on social media, and the south is not a "baby bus" full of "little potatoes".
So, is height really closely linked to region?
Ma Liguang, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and others found in the "Study on the Correlation between Height and Geographic Environment of 102 Population Groups in China" that as the geographical latitude increases, height will also show a gradual increase trend. As the total solar radiation in the region increases, the height level of the group will also show an increasing trend; as the rainfall and humidity increase, the height level of the group will show a decreasing trend; even the regional average wind speed will also Affects height.
Height anxiety is not just a problem for southerners.
The reason why "Little Potato" quickly became a meme is because when it comes to the differences between the north and the south, height is always a topic that cannot be avoided. “Before, in Shandong, we called short people ‘Little Potato’, always with their backs on their backs."Mr. Jiang from Qingdao told reporters that in the final analysis, he is still afraid of hurting other people's self-esteem. After all, "height anxiety" can only be relieved after adulthood. During adolescence, both parents and children are always concerned about it. .
This can be seen from the increasingly popular children’s growth and development clinics in recent years.
“From community hospitals to provincial and tertiary hospitals, growth and development clinics have been added one after another, and 80% of them come for treatment. % depends on height. " said Xu Fang, deputy chief physician of the Pediatric Clinic of Hangzhou First People's Hospital.
Isn't the "growth" of Hangzhou teenagers unsatisfactory?
The answer is no. According to the "2022 Hangzhou Citizen National Physical Analysis and Exercise Prescription Research Report", In 2021, the height of men aged 20-24 in Hangzhou has reached 174.29 cm, and that of women is 162.73 cm.
Height evolution data of youth aged 20-24 in Hangzhou
At the same time, the "Fifth National Physique Monitoring" released by the National National Physique Monitoring Center The Bulletin also shows that the average height of Chinese men aged 20-24 is 172.6 cm, and that of women is 160.6 cm.
It can be seen that the height of Hangzhou teenagers is actually higher than the national average. Moreover, it is steadily improving. Between 2016 and 2021, the height of both men and women in Hangzhou increased by 1.77 centimeters, and the "up" momentum is obvious.
However, in the past three years, the number of visits to growth and development clinics has not fallen but has increased. "I visit the clinic one and a half days a week, no. The children are almost fully booked, and parents get up early to sign up on weekends. "Xu Fang said that parents always have the illusion that other people's children are getting taller and their own children are not "elevation" enough, fearing that it will affect future employment and marriage.
Xu Fang said frankly that she has met many children She has reached the average height, but she still wants to take growth hormone "one more jump", and she has to be patient and persuade her to give up one by one. Because currently, growth hormone is the only drug recognized by the medical community for the treatment of dwarfism, but the use of There are strict regulations and must be used to treat patients with real "dwarfism".
"I insisted on getting the injection." Outside the growth and development clinic, Zhao Yunhui (pseudonym) was one of the people who was "dissuaded" by the doctor, " 13 years old, only 1.6 meters tall, shorter than most of the students in the class. "Zhao Yunhui scratched his head and said, "I want to be a basketball player in the future. "The reporter noticed that the mother who accompanied Zhao Yunhui was less than 1.6 meters tall. She felt that she did not inherit good genes to her children.
Anxiety is passed on between generations and breaks through provincial and geographical restrictions.
According to Baidu search Big data shows that in the five provinces of Sichuan, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Beijing, and Hunan, questions such as "Will you be discriminated against if you are short?" are the most commonly searched questions. But this kind of height anxiety is not unique to the South. In the Northeast, height is the problem for most women. One of the rigid indicators for choosing a mate, this will actually aggravate some people’s height anxiety. The growth and development clinics of tertiary hospitals in Jilin and other places are also popular. “When it comes to the pursuit of growing taller, it can be said that all of China has similar ideas. "Xu Fang said with a smile.
Don't panic. Chinese young people have been working hard to "go up"
In fact, we don't need to be so anxious.
In people's stereotypes, Chinese people are generally shorter than Europeans and Americans, but Looking around the world, it is an indisputable fact that Chinese people are getting taller and taller.
A study in the famous scientific magazine "The Lancet" involving 65 million people and a summary analysis of 2,181 studies showed that: from 1985 to 2019, China The average height of 19-year-old men and women increased by 8.1 cm and 6.1 cm over the same period. More importantly, this increase took less than two generations.
Year-on-year, the average height of 19-year-old men and women around the world increased by only 2.8 cm and 2.1 cm, the average height increase of Chinese men ranks first among nearly 200 countries and regions, and the average height increase of women ranks third. It can be said that Chinese teenagers deserve the title of "the fastest growing height in the world in the past 35 years" group".
"Height is affected by genetics, but acquired factors are also critical. Dr. Xu Xu, a doctor of endocrinology at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, emphasized that height is seven-tenths determined by nature and three-cents determined by hard work. Parents jointly determine about 70% of their children's height.In addition to genetics, eating well, sleeping enough, and exercising more are the direction of efforts.
An American study on male height in 105 countries showed that protein intake, including eggs, milk, red meat, white meat, etc., has a certain positive correlation with height. As a part of agriculture and animal husbandry, meat, eggs and milk are obviously closely related to the economic and industrial level.
Wu Xian, a famous chemist in modern times, publicly proposed the "Nutrition Science Theory of National Salvation" as early as 1932: "The reason why our diet is inferior to that of Westerners is that the diet is lighter due to the lack of meat, and the diet is heavier due to the lack of milk and eggs. "He concluded that Chinese people's diet is generally high in carbohydrates, low in protein, and low in vitamins. To put it bluntly, the meat, eggs and milk just can’t keep up.
Japan's teenagers ushered in a "boom period" after the war, which was inseparable from the national milk plan they implemented after the war. At that time, the slogan "a glass of milk revitalizes a nation" was quite popular.
After the reform and opening up, the pursuit of Chinese people began to change from "eating full" to "eating well", and the catering structure has undergone fundamental changes. In 1985, my country proposed the "Vegetable Basket Project". A few years later, China's total fruit production ranked first in the world. The average person can eat 240 eggs a year. The Chinese people's intake of meat, eggs and milk has increased rapidly. By 2020, China's per capita consumption of eggs, milk, and aquatic products has increased by about eight times compared with 1980, and meat has also increased by nearly four times.
The average height of Chinese people has experienced a gratifying increase in the past 35 years.
There is obvious agreement between the trend of China's economic growth and the changing trend of Chinese people's height growth. At the same time, improvements in water quality, sanitation facilities, medical standards and other aspects have objectively promoted the growth of Chinese people's height.
So over the past few decades, China has been committed to eradicating poverty. As of the end of 2020, nutrition improvement plans have been implemented in 1,732 counties in 28 provinces across the country, covering 131,600 rural compulsory education schools and benefiting 37.9783 million students.
According to the 2021 evaluation report of the Ministry of Education, the average height of 15-year-old boys in rural areas of underdeveloped areas has increased by 10.3 centimeters in the past ten years, and the gap with the national standard height of boys has narrowed significantly. Girls also show the same trend.
If young people are strong, then the country will be strong.
The rapid growth of the average height of Chinese teenagers is a good thing. Through data, we can see the leap in national power over the past few decades, and at the micro level, we can see the increasingly prosperous days of thousands of families.
Height is not the only thing about the body mass index of adolescents. There is also a more important thing.
Compared with height anxiety, what we should actually pay more attention to is our physical index.
The "Fifth National Physical Fitness Monitoring Bulletin" released in 2022 shows that the physical fitness of our children and adults has declined. Compared with the 2014 monitoring, in 2020, male and female children jumped continuously with both feet, sat forward and bent forward. The average level of standing long jump has decreased, and the average level of male adults' lung capacity, grip strength, back strength, push-ups, seated forward bends, standing on one foot with eyes closed, and choice reaction has decreased.
Another meme that became popular this year along with "Southern Little Potato" is called "Crispy College Student", which refers to the problem that college students are prone to getting sick and have poor physical fitness. "40% of the boys in our school failed to score in the pull-up event in the physical test, and many boys could not do any of them." The person in charge of the sports department of a university in Shandong once reported to the media that the root cause of this phenomenon may be that among teenagers There was a lack of attention to physical fitness during the period.
lacks outdoor activities and cannot fully enjoy the sunshine and fresh air. At the same time, the consumption of convenience foods and foods high in sugar and fat has increased significantly, leading to the spread of obesity and other health problems among teenagers.
Just yesterday, the Ministry of Education's "National School Health Education Video Course" and the National Health Commission's "Evaluation of Physical Activity Levels of Children and Adolescents Aged 7-18" were officially released in order to promote the healthy growth of adolescents and children. The standards recommend that children and adolescents engage in at least 70 minutes of moderate-to-high-intensity physical activity based on aerobic exercise per day, resistance exercise at least 3 times per week, and no more than 2 hours of screen time per day.
The charm of a person is not limited to his height, but the strength of a country lies in its core.To improve people's health quality, teenagers are the golden period. Instead of worrying about those few centimeters, it is better to work more on physical fitness and refuse to be "skinny" starting from me.
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