Fitness challenge: Chinese netizens show off their #A4Waist

Chinese women display their ‘paper-thin’ waist for the #A4WaistChallenge. Screen grab from Instagram user @asn_online.

Move over “Belly Button Challenge,” there is a new social media fitness craze in town.

Chinese women—including a few men—are taking selfies while holding a piece of A4 size paper in front of their bodies and uploading it with the hashtag #A4Waist or #A4WaistChallenge.

Hundreds of photos from challengers first came out on Chinese social media platforms like Weibo and WeChat, which soon made its way to Twitter and Instagram.

To qualify, participants’ mid sections must be entirely hidden by the paper to determine if they are thin enough to be fully covered by it.

According to reports from The New York Times, the idea behind the challenge is that if your body is “fat” and spilling out of the paper’s dimensions, you could be at risk of developing health issues like obesity, high blood, heart disease and diabetes.

A piece of A4 paper, meanwhile, measures 21 cm by 29.7 cm.

‘Body shaming’

Despite its recent surge in online popularity, other netizens were irked by the challenge’s “shallow” approach towards promoting an unrealistic body image for women.

Some even took the #A4waist challenge just to express their disgust for the craze.

SCREENGRAB from Instagram user @be_being_be

Another Instagram user @sashasalsmocked the challenge by flaunting her college diploma instead.

SCREENGRAB from @sachasals

Her caption read: “This kinda stuff is ridiculous. Essentially measuring your body worth based on whether your waist is smaller than a piece of paper. I used my graduation certificate because actually I’m worth more than a measurement against a piece of paper, that piece of paper is an achievement in itself.”