In recent weeks and months, Shanghai residents have been receiving an unusual present in their mailboxes. The elongated blue packages contain a small self-help manual and a dinky little measuring tape - surely just the thing discerning citizens of China's biggest city have been waiting for。

　　But these "Healthy expo, healthy Shanghai" gifts from the local government are part of a citywide push to promote fitness and battle obesity. The tape measure has a dial to calculate the user's body mass index, and the tape turns from green to red at 80 centimeters, apparently the point at which a woman's body fat can start to become a health issue。

　　It's hardly the most tactful way to suggest residents may need to pay more attention to their diet and weight, but it demonstrates the degree of concern among officials over an issue shaping up to be a major social and political headache. Girths are growing fast, particularly among the affluent - and even just the mildly well-off. Everywhere you look in Shanghai, rotund bellies and thunder thighs are on show。

　　The most recent estimates suggest that as many as 120 million mainlanders are obese. The first culprit that springs to mind is the explosion of Western fast food chains, plus their domestic imitators, which now stand on virtually every downtown intersection. The reality is that people are simply eating more - prosperity means bigger portions of everything。

　　That is where this recent campaign comes into focus, quirky measuring tape and all. But there is one glaring omission from the government's arsenal to trim the city: sport。

　　The Shanghai government does little to highlight the importance of exercise for all-round physical fitness. At a recent long-winded Shanghai government press conference on the current health drive, exercise warranted only two passing mentions。

　　The truth is, Shanghai is not, by a long shot, a particularly active city. Apart from the occasional groups of men and women gathering in the park to waltz or practice their fan-dance routines, it is pretty rare to see someone exercising for the sake of it. Urbane young Shanghaiers seem to baulk at the thought of breaking a sweat - not just due to a strange revulsion for discomfort, but because they tend to view it as a wholly alien concept。

　　The city government deserves credit for tackling obesity head-on. But in the eyes of this observer at least, it will have only limited progress until it makes a concerted effort to shake off this aversion to keeping fit. Watching what you eat is only half the battle - a sedentary youth culture will only store up more problems for the future。

　　香港《南华早报》9月25日文章，原题：城市派送健康礼物却忽视体育锻炼 

　　最近一段时期以来，上海市居民的邮箱里陆续收到一件非同寻常的礼包：一份自助手册和一个小卷尺———这肯定是眼界不低的上海市民所盼望的。

　　当地政府派送的这些“健康世博、健康上海”礼包，是全市开展保持健康和抵制肥胖运动的一部分。卷尺上标有计算体重指数的刻度，其中从80厘米处由绿色变为红色，表明如果女性的腰围大于这个刻度就会开始出现健康问题。

　　在提醒居民可能需要更多关注饮食和体重方面，这还算不上最费尽心思的举措，但它的确显示出当地官员对这个即将成为一个困扰社会政治的主要问题的关注度。人们的腰围迅速变粗，尤其在富人中，甚至小康之家亦不例外。圆滚滚的肚子和粗胖的大腿在上海随处可见。北美地区街头经常走来一群大胖子的景象在上海仍不多见———但这种极端状况也不再是闻所未闻。

　　据最新预测，大陆有1.2亿肥胖人口。最先映入脑海的罪魁祸首是洋快餐连锁店的爆炸式发展以及街头巷尾的国内模仿者。现实是人们确实比以前吃得更多，繁荣意味着一切都要膨胀。

　　这就是最近包括离奇古怪的卷尺在内的运动之所以令人瞩目的原因。但政府在改善居民健康的各种行动中显然有所疏漏：体育。

　　上海市政府在宣传锻炼对全方位身体健康的重要性方面乏善可陈。在市政府最近一次有关改善健康的冗长新闻发布会上，对体育锻炼的问题只是一带而过。

　　问题是上海从来就不是一个很喜欢运动的城市。除公园内偶尔跳交谊舞或练习扇子舞的人群外，很难看到有人锻炼身体。彬彬有礼的上海年轻人似乎对流汗非常抵触———并不仅仅出于厌恶(锻炼所带来的)身体不适，而是他们通常认为这完全是一种格格不入的观念。

　　市政府应当担负起解决肥胖的责任。但至少在观察家看来，在齐心协力促使人们摆脱厌恶健身的观念之前，所能取得的成就将非常有限。关注你的饮食只是这场战役的一半———年轻人久坐不动的文化只能为今后积攒更多问题。