Artists mark World Hunger Day with fasting

Beijing artists participated in a World Food Programme event on Oct 16 to remind the public of the millions of people worldwide who go hungry every day.

Since the first World Food Day, on Oct 16, 1981, many nations have marked the annual event to highlight the ongoing issue of worldwide hunger.

Gao Yu, one of the two artists chosen by the UN agency to promote the event, fasted for 24 hours beginning the morning of Oct 16. While fasting, he painted a huge red frog and a man handing over an empty plate. Gao made the painting on the white wall of a studio of Creativity Square in the 798 Art Zone.

"Hunger is not far away from us," said the young artist, who had painted a bowl of rice titled God Bless the Artists Who Are Not Hungry while a university student.

"I have suffered starvation due to inadequate nutrition in my youth, but compared to the real issue of hunger, I believe that was just a small case."

According to the World Food Programme, the number of hungry and malnourished people in the world this year is 842 million, down from 868 million last year. Five million children died of hunger.

Brett Rierson, director of the WFP's China Liason Office, lauded China's success in combating hunger.

In 1979, when the WFP established its office in China, the hungry population in China was one-third of the world's total. Now it is only 10 percent.

"It is an opportunity to take in what has been successfully done here," he said.

As Gao created his artistic work in the 798 Art Zone, actress Ni Ni interviewed 12 opinion leaders before 9:30 pm, in the society about "what hunger tells us".

"The only hunger memory I hold is that once I ate no breakfast and lunch. Till the evening, I had no strength and only tended to fall asleep to save the energy left inside me," she said.

Ni fasted for eight hours on World Hunger Day. "Before I ate something, I felt helpless," she said.

During her eight-hour fast, Ni also paid a visit to the local market, asking the vendors what kind of food she could buy with only 1.5 yuan (25 US cents). She found she could get only two eggs, a half-gram of vegetables or a piece of tofu.

Hunger volunteers in IT sections around the Zhongguancun area also participated in the eight-hour experiment. "Hunger is the biggest solvable issue in the world," Rierson said.

"I think the days when fighting hunger is only the responsibility of the government or international organizations are over. The role of artists could introduce the issue to every part of society."

The WFP is aiming to completely eliminate world hunger in a project it terms the Zero Hunger Challenge. According to WFP, one in eight people do not get enough food to be healthy and lead an active life. Hunger and malnutrition are the No 1 risk to health worldwide?- greater than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.