According to the Duchess of Windsor, "A woman can't be too rich or too thin".

I beg to differ, at least about being skinny. I thought I'd left behind females obsessing about their weight back in Glasgow.

To speak plainly, many Scottish women have every right to worry about their weight.

Our flat is in the East End of Glasgow. On Saturdays I would stroll along Duke Street to the butcher's. I was always amazed at the number of morbidly obese young women I encountered.

Why?

Poverty, unemployment, poor diet, lack of exercise, lack of hope, lack of self-respect.

So when we came to China I was struck by how slender young Chinese women are.

Typically they have small, high waists, curvy hips and shapely bottoms.

I should say at this point that this is not a male chauvinist viewpoint. My wife would add that they have great legs.

So it came as a surprise when I met a female colleague and I complimented her on her new black jeans. "Oh, they're not new. They make my bottom look big and my thighs look fat."

I begged to differ, but she dismissed my protestations.

As far as she was concerned she was a large woman with thunder thighs.

In reality, she has a willowy, but shapely figure.

So it set me thinking. If young Chinese women, who are charming, lissome creatures, think they are overweight, where are they getting their ideas from?

I suspect women's magazines and the advertising industry. Flick through women's magazines and you'll see sickly anorexic models who look like moons on sticks.

In the interests of scientific research I forwarded a study to another colleague. I reckoned her reaction to the findings might help to flesh out this column, so to speak.

Almost one-third of young women would trade at least a year of their lives to have a perfect body, according to a new survey of British undergraduates.

(And probably one-third of young men would give a year of their lives if their girlfriends could have perfect figures).

But to return to the survey: it found that 16 percent of young women said they'd trade a year of their lives for their ideal body weight and shape. Ten percent were willing to trade two to five years. The idea of trading years of your life to be more beautiful is simply absurd.

What's more interesting is that most women are dissatisfied with how they look (even the pretty ones). This strikes me as plain crazy, but then I'm a mere man.

About 320 women, average age 25, were surveyed on university campuses around the United Kingdom. The survey was done by the University of the West of England and the UK eating disorder charity, the Succeed Foundation.

Researcher Phillipa Diedrichs said: "The findings highlight that body image is an issue for all women, and not just for adolescent girls as is often thought."

The majority of the women surveyed were dissatisfied with their looks, that is, they weren't thin enough. Although 78 percent of the women sampled were normal weight - or even underweight - 79 percent of the survey group said they wanted to lose weight.

Negative thoughts about body image were almost universal: 93 percent of the women said they had had negative thoughts about their appearance within the past week. Chinese women seem to be no different.

Excuse me for asking. But does having a perfect figure matter so much?

Would you rather be pretty than have brains?

It's a serious question. But here's a story. It may be apocryphal.

When Marilyn Monroe, the Hollywood actress and beauty met Albert Einstein, the brilliant but crumple-faced physicist, she told him: "If we were to marry with my looks and your brain - what wonderful children we would have." Einstein replied: "Yes, but what if they have my looks and your brain?"

Monroe once admitted: "No one told me I was pretty when I was a little girl. All little girls should be told they are pretty, even if they aren't."

Now there's a lesson for all men. Build your girlfriend, wife or daughter's self esteem, tell her she's beautiful and special. Aren't all women, in their own way?

China Daily