Chinese

The Chinese statures were calculated from data supplied by Professor L. Lim of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (ref 82) and reported by Li (ref 10). The Singapore data is for workers, chiefly in manufacturing, and the Taiwanese study is of civilians from unspecified occupations. They are an estimate of urban Chinese (rural Chinese are smaller and thinner). Also used were data by Yu-Cheng Lin, Mao-Jiun J. Wang, Eric M. Wang, of Taiwanese and Chinese adults (refs 92, 93).

These data are from 1999/2000, and it is quite likely that the population has continued to increase in stature and weight since then. Also it should be borne in mind that there are very great differences between the wealthier and poorer parts of the population. The rural population is probably not represented by this dataset, and the wealthier sections may not be either.