Size matters

I recently asked to Brett whether I looked taller than other people here as I often felt as though I was looking out over people's heads when walking around with Sebastien. I've done some searching online, but haven't come up with a definitive answer about what is the average height of men and women in China. My observations would be that it's a good head shorter than me for women and somewhat less than that for most men - though I have read that Chinese tend to be shorter in the south and taller in the north. Interestingly I have found reports of leg-lengthening operations being used in the past to gain height (see an example here) as well as firms discriminating hiring practices based on height.

On the other hand, I know that I am larger (rounder/fatter) than the vast majority of people here (hmm, just like in europe...). I don't even bother to try on clothes and am going to head to the cloth market and tailers to have some clothes made once I get back from Australia.


My foot is on the larger side of average too now (thanks to two pregnancies) though I can still find shoes occasionally. I suspect that I'll enjoy shopping more for Sebastien and Alex's clothes - heh.