More Chinese have the stomach to face life-changing gastric surgery

According to a leading doctor, more than 30,000 cases of metabolic and bariatric surgery, or MBS, which helps to reduce food consumption and aids weight loss by reducing stomach size and, in some cases, by rerouting part of the patient's digestive system, were performed in China last year.

The rise in the number of patients resorting to surgery not only reflects a better understanding of these medical procedures among the public, but perhaps more importantly, highlights the country's increasing rate of obesity, says Wang Bing, a chief surgeon at Shanghai No 9 People's Hospital, which is affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.

His team started performing weight-loss surgeries 15 years ago, and was among the first in the country to do so. The number performed by his team has leapt from a dozen a year initially, to around 300 currently.