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Measure of man

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-07 07:53

How big would a desk be the most suitable for students? How high should the handrails be in subway trains for passengers? A large-scale measurement of the human body will set new standards for the manufacture of these products. Which will make life easier and even more comfortable.

The current standards were laid down more than 20 years ago on the basis of the measurement of thousands of human bodies. They were welcomed at the time and widely applied in various fields. However, those standards are now outdated and the general physical stature of the Chinese shows some changes, according to the measurement of about 3,000 people in four major cities. However, such standards for children are still lacking.

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With more and more people attaching importance to minor details in their life that affect the degree of comfort they enjoy, such standards have proved to be something that cannot be dispensed with.

Say, a desk that is not high enough or big enough will affect a student's eyesight and the overall growth of his body. A seat properly designed according to the right stature of an adult or child will make it more comfortable for a passenger to sit in.

The Chinese people once experienced a time, when comfort in life was despised as decadence apt only for the bourgeois. In the days of the "cultural revolution" (1966-76), even skirts and shoes with high heels were banned. It seemed as if the proletarians were destined to lead a simple life with just about enough to eat and wear.

In the past three decades, living standards have greatly improved. The central government has made it a goal to let as many people as possible have their living standards improve continuously.

In the early 1980s, the Chinese were taken aback by the attention which developed countries paid to the details of all public facilities that made people's life easier and comfortable. Now when China is much better off than before, the central authorities have also proposed the people-first concept: whatever the government does must proceed from the fundamental interest of the general public; and, people's needs must be taken into consideration for whatever small things need to be done.

In this move to set new standards for the human body, 25,000 people will be measured as samples with modern three-dimensional scan technology. This technology will provide more detailed data about human body. And the samples scanned will be kept in a computer for possible future use.

The standards based on the data can be applied in a number of fields. Say caps or helmets made with new standards for Chinese people's heads will be more suitable and comfortable for them to wear.

And last, but not the least, the new standards should apply only when new products are made. They should never be an excuse to replace old products that are sound in quality with new ones. That would be a terrible, and entirely avoidable, waste of money and resources.

(China Daily 09/07/2009 page4)