Study Buddy (Challenger): Plus-size Chinese influencer spreads body positivity
This page is for students who want to take their reading comprehension to the next level with difficult vocabulary and questions to test their inference skills.
Brand owner and influencer Amanda Yao inspects clothes in her office in Guangzhou. Photo: AFPContent provided by British Council
Read the following text, and answer questions 1-9 below:
[1] Surrounded by colourful clothes in her Guangzhou showroom, Amanda Yao is on a mission to promote body positivity. The mainland China-based brand owner and influencer is part of a small but growing group. She and other women on the mainland are challenging restrictive beauty standards such as thinness, pale skin and childlike features. Yao makes fashionable, high-end clothing for larger women. Her offerings contrast the poorly cut ones normally available in “slimming” dark colours. “I want my customers to have clothes that express who they are inside, rather than soulless pieces that exist only to make them look thinner,” the 35-year-old told Agence France-Presse.
[2] When it comes to clothing, most Chinese retailers focus on smaller sizes, Yao said. “[They] think that larger people don’t need fashion and don’t need beautiful clothes”, she said. “But we have work, we have families, we have respectable lives, and we also need fancy clothes sometimes.” Yao began selling plus-size clothes online four years ago after returning to the mainland from the United Kingdom, where she had worked for several years. “I found it especially hard to buy clothing here,” she said. Items ordered online often failed to match sellers’ photos, and Yao grew sick of always finding “very ugly clothes”.
[3] In her Guangzhou office and showroom, Yao showed off a Chinese-style pink silk jacket from her brand Yue Design. She also modelled a bright green cardigan and skirt set. “I never post photos of myself wearing black online,” Yao said. By avoiding the colour typically recommended for larger women, she has also helped some clients embrace brighter, more cheerful designs.
[4] While clothing options for plus-size shoppers remain limited, some Chinese brands have taken steps to be more inclusive. Lingerie brand Neiwai and loungewear company An Action A Day have featured larger models in their ads. Still, most of their items only cater to women up to 70kg (154lbs) in weight.
[5] Aside from Yao, other influencers on the mainland have found an audience eager for their posts about self-acceptance. On Xiaohongshu, the hashtag “reject body anxiety” appears in nearly 200,000 posts. But this is still very different from most body image content on Chinese social media.
[6] With constant exposure to idealised body types, people “start to conflate the meaning of their worth with what they look like,” said Stephanie Ng, who runs Hong Kong-based mental health organisation Body Banter. She said this had dangerous consequences, including extreme dieting and eating disorders.
[7] There is little official data on eating disorders on the mainland. But the Shanghai Mental Health Centre reported an increase from eight such patients in 2002 to 3,000 in 2021, according to state broadcaster CGTN. Even though Yao has built a loyal following, her posts can also attract cruel comments. “Daring to post an ugly photo showing your ring-shaped torso fat doesn’t equal confidence,” one commenter wrote under one of Yao’s workout posts. She told Agence France-Presse that the criticism had only made her more determined. “I want to help women who are feeling self-hatred to look at themselves in a new way,” she said.
Source: Agence France-Presse, December 3
Questions
1. How is Amanda Yao’s brand different from others providing clothes for larger women in mainland China, according to paragraph 1?
2. In paragraph 2, the quality of the mainland’s plus-size clothing is ...
A. generally of high quality and fashionable.
B. often poorly made and not stylish.
C. comparable to the quality of other clothing.
D. specifically designed to accommodate and enhance curves.
3. Paragraph 2 says plus-size clothes bought online ...
A. rarely resemble the advertised images.
B. often lag behind trends.
C. are not always made from sustainable materials.
D. are usually imported from overseas.
4. Also in paragraph 2, what assumption do mainstream Chinese clothing retailers have about larger women?
5. What is one impact described in paragraph 3 that Amanda Yao has had on her customers?
6. What is the limitation to inclusivity efforts of the brands mentioned in paragraph 4?
7. What does the large number of posts about body positivity on Xiaohongshu in paragraph 5 indicate?
8. Find a word in paragraph 6 that means to “put two or more ideas together to make one idea, especially in a way that is not accurate or could be harmful”.
9. What was the criticism mentioned in paragraph 7 directed at?
A. Yao’s workout routine
B. her social media followers
C. her online shop
D. none of the above
Answers
1. Yao makes fashionable, high-end clothing for larger women. Her offerings are in contrast to the poorly cut ones normally available in “slimming” dark colours.
2. B
3. A
4. that they are not interested in fashion or stylish clothing (accept all similar answers)
5. She has also helped some clients embrace brighter, more cheerful designs.
6. Most of their items only cater to women up to 70kg (154lbs) in weight.
7. It suggests a shift in attitudes towards body image positivity, with more people embracing diversity and self-acceptance. (accept all similar answers)
8. conflate
9. D