“After struggling for thousands of years to feed its population, China, with the world’s fastest growing major economy, faces the opposite problem: overeating. Losing extra weight and a “desire for a more healthy lifestyle” are also attracting customers for Zhongti Beili Health Club Co. Ltd., the joint venture between Bally and Beijing-based China Sports Industry Group Co., said deputy general manager Derek Xue in a telephone interview from Beijing. The company plans to double its chain of gyms to 28 by year-end, he said. China has about 3,000 health clubs, with about 3 million active members, estimates Marco Treggiari, managing director of the Chinese unit for Gambettola, Italy-based Technogym SpA. The equipment maker supplies about 400 gyms and 210 five-star hotels, and its sales will grow as much as 30 percent this year to $18 million, he said. Corporate clients are becoming an important source of that growth. Midland, Michigan-based Dow Chemical Co. has equipped a 2,600 square-meter sports facility in its Shanghai headquarters with the latest Technogym treadmills and step and weight machines, said Fiona Bao, medical director for North Asia Pacific at Dow.”
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-24/chinese-fight-growing-girth-with-weight-watchers-soyjoy-bars.html
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