Pursuits
China's Chubbier Soldiers Need Bigger Tanks
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After two decades of more meat and dairy, China’s soldiers are getting heftier.
A new study finds China’s soldiers are, on average, two centimeters taller and have waistlines five centimeters broader than their counterparts 20 years ago, according to a report in the PLA Daily. The official paper of China’s 2.3 million-strong People’s Liberation Army cited a survey of 20,000 soldiers that started in 2009 by a research institute under the General Armament Department. The survey looked at 28 different features of the human body, not just height and girth.