This study measured 5,733 boys and 5,703 girls recruited from Chinese children attending a Maternal and Child Health Centre (Harcourt) and 16 schools between 1961 and 1964.
This study generated the first local weight-for-age and length/height-for-age charts for growth monitoring in Hong Kong. The growth data also revealed a unique growth pattern among Hong Kong Chinese children. When compared to British and American infants, Hong Kong infants in the 1960s were lighter at birth and heavier at 6 months, indicating a “catch-up” growth phenomenon during the first 6 months of life. Nevertheless, Hong Kong children were in general slimmer from birth to maturity. The researchers postulated the slimmer body shape among our children might reflect a morphological adaptation to the generally warm and humid climate of South China, suggestive of a moderate Bergmann effect.
Reference
Chang KSF, Lee Marjorie M.C., Low W.D. Standards of
Height and Weight of Southern Chinese Children. Far
East Medical Journal. 1, July 1965
This is the first longitudinal study on the growth,
development and child rearing pattern of Hong Kong
Chinese children, carried out by Prof. Elaine Field
and Dr. Flora Baber.
They recruited 782 children born during the period
from 24 February to 1 April 1967 in Kwong Wah
Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital and followed
them from birth to 5 years.
This study documented the diet of Hong Kong children born in the 1960s – the breastfeeding rate at the time was higher than that nowadays. In the first 6 months, 34% of babies were wholly breast-fed and 24% were partially breast-fed. However, about half of the remainder were given sweetened condensed milk at some time in the first ten months.
Reference
Field C. Elaine & Baber Flora M. Growing up in Hong
Kong. A preliminary report on a study of the growth,
development and rearing of Chinese children in Hong
Kong. 1973. Hong Kong University Press.