Elephant Diet: the March 2026 Edition
- 6 days ago
- 8 min read
Lily’s dish-
By 网易数读
According to recent studies, constipation and the shame associated with using school toilets are emerging as a widely overlooked yet serious health concern among China’s middle school students.
In Shanghai’s Chongming District, nearly 14% of middle school students have been diagnosed with constipation, while in Henan province the percentage is around 10.5%. That means in a typical class of 40 students, 4 to 6 are grappling with difficult bowel movements. These figures even surpass the prevalence of constipation among Chinese adults, which ranges from 6.5% to 8.1%.
The high incidence of constipation among middle school students is closely tied to their daily habits. Studies show a positive correlation between the frequency of spicy food consumption and the occurrence of constipation. Students who eat vegetables every day are significantly less likely to experience it. Physical inactivity also plays an important role. With long hours spent sitting and limited time for exercise, many students struggle to maintain healthy intestinal motility.
Besides, academic stress is another key contributor. A demanding school schedule often forces students to suppress their physiological needs. Mornings are supposed to be the optimal time for bowel movements, while they are always consumed by reading sessions in actual practice. During the short 10-minute class break, toilet facilities are usually crowded, and students using stalls without doors have to face ridicule from peers. Moreover, in boarding schools, strict dormitory regulations mean students must use restrooms discreetly late at night to avoid public criticism.
Constipation brings more than physical discomfort. Research indicates that students with depression or anxiety face 1.65 and 1.64 times higher risks of constipation respectively, while study in Henan province further revealed that 60.5% of students with constipation experienced mental health issues, compared to 26% of those with normal bowel function. This vicious cycle leaves affected students coping with social anxiety, shame, and pressure, which may ultimately undermine their self-esteem and academic performance.
Lily’s photo of the month-
Kat’s dish-
By 极昼工作室
When we think of “scams,” our minds often jump to phone fraud or “pig-butchering” schemes targeting the youth. However, this story shifts the lens to a very different demographic in Shanghai: a group of dignified, middle-class seniors, mostly in their 70s and 80s, with significant life savings.
It began with a company called Changsong Home, a “migratory” retirement service provider. They used aggressive sales tactics and high-pressure charm, selling “prepaid retirement memberships” (or “bed cards”) ranging from tens of thousands to over a million RMB. These cards were marketed with investment-linked perks, promising guaranteed “cash-back” returns and access to the retirement hotels across China. Seeking a “dignified and independent” old age—one where they wouldn’t have to rely on or burden their children—these seniors emptied their savings accounts.
Then, the company imploded.
Almost overnight, these seniors were transformed into “refugees” in their city. They are now stranded in a derelict, abandoned hotel on the outskirts of Shanghai. The facility is like a ghost town: no internet, minimal food, and the constant threat of eviction.
When they tried to seek justice, they were met with a classic bureaucratic runaround. The Shanghai police told them to file reports in Guangzhou, where the company is headquartered; the Guangzhou authorities, in turn, claimed they had no jurisdiction over cases in Shanghai. Trapped in legal limbo and with their money vanished, many seniors have retreated into a state of “self-denial.” They suffer in silence, terrified that if they speak out or cause trouble, they will lose even this final, crumbling roof over their heads.
To understand how these highly educated, affluent seniors were so easily misled, I would like to give you some context, to look at the unique pressures of modern Chinese society:
These victims belong to the generation whose children are now facing immense pressure in the workforce and as parents themselves—many are even living abroad. The traditional Chinese concept of Yang Er Fang Lao养儿防老 (”raising children to provide for old age”) is disintegrating. The fear of “becoming a burden” is a profound psychological pain point, which the scammers exploited with surgical precision.
In China, many seniors view traditional nursing homes as “places where you go to wait for death,” with frequent headlines on media about caregiver abuse. Private in-home care is super expensive and suffers from a lack of quality control. These seniors weren’t just looking for a bed; they were desperate for dignity, social connection, and an escape from loneliness.
Further, the “migratory” retirement trend has exploded in China, but the industry remains a regulatory “Wild West.” Many companies are retirement providers in name only; in reality, they package “bed cards” as high-yield financial products. It is a classic Ponzi scheme—using the money from new members to cover the costs of the old ones. Once the cash flow stops, the victims are left with nothing.
The most heartbreaking part of this report isn’t the cunning of the scammers, but the intersection of dignity and despair maintained by the seniors. Even in a derelict hotel without internet or reliable meals, these elderly still put on their best red coats and high heels every evening at 7:00 PM for a ballroom dance in the dim lobby. They are trying to hold onto the life they thought they had bought.
The article ends with a haunting warning from one of the grandfathers, a sentiment that cuts to the core of China’s aging crisis:
“You young people need to make the most of your time and be happy while you can. Because once you get to this age... there’s nothing left.”
Kat’s photo of the month-
Joyce’s dish-
Meta software engineers waiting to be laid off: How I lost to AI over the past year (等待裁员的Meta程序员：过去一年我是怎么败给AI的)
By Daily Portrait (每日人物）
Artificial intelligence (AI) is evolving so fast it’s starting to edge out the people who built it.
Bro Jiu worked his way from China’s brutal gaokao race to a manager’s desk at one of the world’s biggest tech companies in the U.S. Now he’s one of many technical workers who wake up to the odd and unsettling reality that the tool they helped create could replace them soon.
He used an AI agent to evaluate his team’s performance, and over time he kept spotting roles that the system could handle just as well—or even better—than a human. Add a fresh round of layoffs at Meta into the mix, and anxiety spread through his group like wildfire.
“We thought at first we were only using a tool. Then we realized the tool had grown stronger than we were — and that someday we ourselves might become the tool. And there was nothing we could do to stop it.”
In the Daily Portrait’s piece, Bro Jiu describes the split reality he lives in: the instant he walks into the office he’s thrown into a fast‑moving, cyberpunk‑style machine—somewhere out of sight a massive engine is learning and evolving by the second, and every so often another cluster of people gets replaced by AI. After work, when he’s driving home or passes a family camping on the beach, time slows down and the world feels undeniably real. He moves between those two worlds every day.
Apart from concerns about losing his own job, what worries him even more is how AI is going to change his daughter’s generation — the one that grows up with AI. The old bargain—work hard now, enjoy the payoff later—no longer feels guaranteed. It’s starting to look more like: work your tail off now, and there may not be a job left when you finish.
This story offers an intimate look at people who arguably know AI best. What they’re feeling probably won’t soothe your AI anxiety but it might help: knowing we’re all in the same uneasy boat, heading toward an uncertain shore, is its own kind of company.
Joyce’s photo of the month-
Biyi’s dish-
By 南方周末
According to the Chinese Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Allergic Rhinitis (2022 Revised Edition), the prevalence of adult allergic rhinitis in China increased from 11.1% to 17.6% between 2005 and 2011. Additionally, statistics from Tsinghua University Hospital show that the incidence of spring pollen allergies in northern Chinese cities ranges from 10% to 25%, reaching as high as 18.7% in the Beijing area. A survey conducted by Wang Xueyan and her team at the Allergy Center of Shijitan Hospital found that the prevalence of hay fever in Inner Mongolia is also as high as 18.5%.
On March 16, 2026, a citizen taking a walk in Beijing’s Temple of Heaven Park captured a video showing how, with the wind, Chinese juniper pollen scattered through the air like “yellow dust,” with “pollen visibly bursting out.” Data from the National Climate Center indicates that the flowering period in 2026 arrived earlier, and the pollen season started sooner than in previous years in many regions. A report from Beijing Daily in March 2025 noted that the peak spring pollen season in 2025 began 4 to 7 days earlier than in 2024.
The primary cause is the increasingly warm winter. Affected by the warm winter effect, the spring pollen allergy season of 2026 arrived early. Hong Ying, Director of the Saihan District Meteorological Station in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, explained to Southern Weekly that according to National Climate Center data, the winter from late 2025 to early 2026 was the second warmest winter since complete records began in 1961. “Higher temperatures led to an earlier phenological period for plants (referring to the timing of plant growth, development, and activity in response to seasonal climate), accelerating flower bud differentiation and pollen maturation, which caused the overall earlier start of the pollen season.”
The windblown pollen seeps through windows and clings to clothing, making “every breath a challenge” for allergy sufferers. Wang Xueyan, Director of the Allergy Center at Beijing Shijitan Hospital affiliated with Capital Medical University, told Southern Weekly that Beijing is currently in a peak pollen period, with a notable increase in patients compared to the same time last year.
To reduce exposure to allergens, many people’s first thought is to “once and for all replace all allergenic tree species.” Every pollen season, calls to “eliminate allergenic pollen” and “cut down all allergenic trees” flood social media and mayor hotlines in cities with high pollen counts. However, Yao Yanan, a senior researcher at the China Architecture Design & Research Group who has long focused on urban pollen issues in China, points out that many allergenic tree species are common landscape trees, and the cost of removing them all would be too high, potentially triggering a series of chain reactions. Using poplar trees as an example, she noted: “They cause both pollen allergies and poplar fluff issues, but look at how many birds’ nests are in the poplar trees along the roadside? They are homes for magpies, azure-winged magpies, and tree sparrows, and also provide food and shelter for other animals. Humans aren’t the only ones living in cities; many other creatures live there too.”
Biyi’s photo of the month-
Hope you had a wonderful March and see you in April!
The Elephant Room team
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