China's Wellness Industry Booming Among Young People Post-COVID
As young workers in China struggle to find a place in a slowing economy, a new trend has emerged blending ancient practices with modern influences.
Transcript
00:00Plastering the streets of Shanghai.
00:02Ads for vitamins, probiotics and mushroom supplements.
00:06Part of a boom in China's wellness industry.
00:09Chinese medicine practitioner Zhang Jinhua is teaching adults about reproductive health.
00:14She says she's filling a gap in knowledge about general health.
00:31China's Gen Z and millennials are turning their focus towards their health.
00:35And the concept of yangsheng, cultivating one's life force,
00:39is appealing to overworked urbanites.
00:42One of Zhang's students says the traditional medicine classes
00:46are revealing new ways to look after herself.
01:01With growing economic woes and sky-high housing prices,
01:05young workers are feeling squeezed.
01:08Combined with lingering anxieties from years of battling COVID in China,
01:13the younger generation is turning toward their health
01:16as a way to maintain their own sense of balance and control.
01:31But these kinds of health solutions are nothing new.
01:34China has the world's second largest health and wellness industry,
01:38worth more than 680 billion U.S. dollars.
01:42And the first Chinese medicine practices date back to 200 BCE.
01:47But the rise of online influencers is fueling a new type of demand within the industry.
02:01Whether a trend or a traditional way of life,
02:04China's young people face an uncertain economic future.
02:07But they're refocusing on what they feel may be their best investment—
02:11their health and longevity.
02:14Scott Huang and Jonathan Kaplan for Taiwan Plus.