They are being urged on by a government shamed by the news that, for the first time in history, the Japanese now stand taller than the Chinese. There is constant pressure on Chinese adolescents to think tall. The government is encouraging them to drink milk as a way of promoting growth, while magazines and television are replete with the images of lanky supermodels and basketball stars.

For centuries, the Chinese have derisively referred to the Japanese as "dwarfs", which is why the news that the average Chinese person is now smaller than his Japanese counterpart caused such official consternation. The explanation is undoubtedly the better nutrition enjoyed by recent generations of Japanese, which is why Beijing has made it compulsory for every schoolchild from nursery school upwards to drink a quarter-pint of milk every day. Officials believe that the reason for China's physical shortfall is the fact that Japanese children drink 18 times as much milk a year as Chinese infants.