Myopia: Losing focus

UK Only Article: 
standard article

Issue: 

Welcome back to Washington

Fly Title: 

Myopia

Rubric: 

Why so many Chinese children wear glasses

Location: 

BEIJING

Main image: 

Read that outside

SPARKLY, spotted or Hello Kitty: every colour, theme, shape and size of frame is available at Eyeglass City in Beijing, a four-storey mall crammed only with spectacle shops. Within half an hour a pair of prescription eyeglasses is ready. That is impressive, but then the number of Chinese wearing glasses is rising. Most new adoptees are children.
In 1970 fewer than a third of 16- to 18-year-olds were deemed to be short-sighted (meaning that distant objects are blurred). Now nearly four-fifths are, and even more in some urban areas. A fifth of these have “high” myopia, that is, anything beyond 16 centimetres (just over six inches) is unclear. The fastest increase is among primaryschoolchildren, over 40% of whom are short-sighted, double the rate in …

Link to article: www.economist.com/news/china/21631113-why-so-many-chinese-children-wear-glasses-losing-focus?fsrc=rss