By Huang Dapeng

BEIJING, Sep. 6 (ChinaMil) -- Adolescent students are the future of the motherland. Their physical fitness plays a crucial role in the country's economic development and social progress, and also determines the future combat capability of the military. As a result, it is urgent to improve the overall physical fitness of Chinese students.

Some surveys show a continuous decline in the physical fitness of Chinese students in several aspects over the past two decades which has undermined the quality of the military recruits.

According to this year's conscription physical examination in a Chinese city, the proportion of candidates who were eliminated due to unqualified physical conditions is as high as 52.98 percent. Poor eyesight and obesity rank at the top two among the health risk factors.

It is reported that the failure rate of applicants for the conscription physical examination remains constantly high in recent years.

After going through the physical examination reports of conscription in many Chinese cities in recent years, we found out that more than half of the applicants couldn't fulfill their dreams to join the military because they failed to meet the recruitment standards due to their poor physical examination result.

Battlefield is an extremely hostile environment where the weak body will not be able to survive.

According to some data, the poor physical conditions of the soldiers affected the maintenance of the US military combat capabilities during the Second World War (WWII). As a result, it hindered their full potential to combat on the battlefield. This is because most of the American youths of the right age joining the army during WWII went through the Great Depression, and “lack of food and clothes” led to malnutrition and poor physical fitness of the teenagers of growing age.

Moreover, during the War in Afghanistan, overweight German soldiers were frustrated by their repeated failure to pursue and attack Taliban militants in Afghan mountains, because they were left far behind by the Taliban militants who were flexible and familiar with the terrain.

Therefore, what the future battlefield needs is not the obese or weak youngest, but the strong soldiers both physically and mentally fit!

At present, many countries are facing the embarrassing situation that they cannot complete the recruitment task due to the poor physical fitness of adolescents. In order to recruit enough soldiers, the US military has relaxed the standards of conscription and even drug addicts have been given the opportunity to join the military. In recent years, nearly one-third of the recruits by the Russian military have been sent home due to poor physical condition before they finished the intended military service time.

Therefore, we need to pay close attention to the adolescents’ physical fitness.

China has the largest population in the world which can satisfy the needs of national recruitment presently. However, the physical fitness of the nationals, especially that of Chinese students, will pressurize Chinese development and progress in the long run.

The reasons for the continuous decline of certain physical conditions of students, such as poor eyesight and obesity are varied. On the one hand, as a result of the people's rising living standards, nutritional imbalance and over-use in electronic products such as mobile phones and iPad contribute to obesity and poor eyesight. On the other hand, students are burdened with heavy homework and lack of time to take exercise, along with the “score-first” concept in schools and families, which also contributes to the above health risks.

The greatest wealth and strength of China lies in its youth! The physical health of Chinese students is not only concerned with their personal growth, but also with family happiness and the future of the nation. To improve the physical fitness of Chinese students should be a major concern of the family, the school, the society and the whole nation.