ABSTRACT
China's rapid economic rise in recent decades has been won at the cost of an epidemic of unhealthy lifestyles, an epidemic of obesity and related chronic diseases, and the institution of a system of market governance of health that, far from alleviating these problems, has worsened them. In China's market system of governance of the (un)healthy body, three parties—the state, the (mostly Western) food industry, and chronic disease scientists—formed an invisible nexus of power, a mutually beneficial collaboration based on shared interests in advancing industry ends. Starting around 2000, a corporate-funded scientific organization took the lead; food-industry interests shaped the science and policy of chronic disease; and Big Food partnered with the government to market its products to the public as promoting “healthy lifestyles.” Market governance has been a win–win for everyone—except China's people. China's economic ascent has been won at the cost of a system of health governance that has not only undermined the health and well-being of the majority of citizens, but has also made the individual responsible for their own health, getting the government and industry off the hook.
