Here’s what the China Daily reports (hat tip, CDT):
The high-living, high-pressure lifestyles of China’s wealthy are
catching up with their health, according to a recent survey that shows
many are paying a high cost for their affluence.The survey of medical checks of 183 middle-aged company owners
showed they were suffering from disproportionate diets and a lack of
exercise.The checks of 123 men and 60 women from Beijing, Shanghai and
Guangzhou showed all had at least one health problem. Each of the
entrepreneurs surveyed owns assets worth more than 10 million yuan
(US$1.31 million).
Which, of course, brings Confucius to mind:
The Master said: "Poor food and water for dinner, a bent arm for a pillow – that is where joy resides. For me, wealth and renown without honor are nothing but drifting clouds (7.16)
A little more attention to duty and ritual might just lower that cholesterol and blood sugar. A new Confucius diet! I bet his most favored disciple, Yen Hui, was fit and trim:
The Master said: "How noble Yen Hui is! To live in a meager lane with nothing but some rice in a split-bamboo bowl and some water in a gourd – no one else could bear such misery. But it doesn’t even both Hui. His joy never wavers. O, how noble Hui is!" (6.10)
Notice the coincidence in both passages of modest material circumstances, poverty even, honor, nobility and joy. All those fat, nouveaux-riches are neither noble or happy…. at least by Confucian lights.
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