About 40 percent of Tokyo children usually eat fried food such as potato chips and high-sugar junk food, while almost 20 percent of Beijing and Seoul children often have unhealthy snack food such as instant noodles, says a survey on the lifestyles of primary school students in the three capitals, which was released on May 28, 2007 by the China Youth and Children Research Center (CYCRC).
Almost 60 percent of respondents "have meals while watching TV," the survey shows.
The survey says 70 percent of Beijing students "study and read books at home" or "do homework at school" after school hours, compared with 43 percent of children in Tokyo and 34 percent in Seoul .
Less than 20 percent of Beijing primary school students attend summer camps or community activities, says the survey.
Only 20 percent of Beijing children can play games or watch TV at home and another 10 percent play outdoors with classmates, says the survey which covers more than 1,500 children each in Beijing and Tokyo and more than 2,000 students in Seoul .
The survey, jointly conducted by the CYCRC, the Japan Youth Research Institute and the Korea Institute for Youth Development, found most Beijing primary school children were accompanied by parents to school and their school trips were the longest. Less than three percent of Tokyo and Seoul students were accompanied by parents to school because most traveled with their classmates, while only nine percent of Beijing students went to school with friends. |