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.