First, I would categorize Hao Zhang as more "built" than "overweight". Tho that's not necessarily a good thing either. David Pelletier at one point bulked up a fair amount but found he wasn't skating as well, tho he did allow that he "looked good at the beach" 
Secondly, I'm not necessarily sure that with the men, extra weight would be as much of a jumping issue as a speed issue. When women gain weight, it tends to be in the hip & butt area, which can definitely throw the jumps off (Tonya Harding being a prime example of this); men usually gain it in the gut which I'm not sure throws the jumps off as much. But from a speed perspective -- it seems to me that if you've got some oversized lug out there skating with a lady who weighs about as much as a box of Kleenex (Qing Pang??), he's going to be hard-pressed to keep up. And who wants to be lifted by a dude who's gasping for breath about 3:15 into the long program?
Thirdly, there's also an aesthetic aspect. Lloyd Eisler, a pretty big guy, was usually around 5-11, 180 at peak competition shape. He said that he could actually carry 200 pretty well and not have it effect his skating, but he said that the "look" of him and Isabelle Brasseur on the ice when he weighed that much just didn't have the same effect as when he was 20 pounds lighter; as a unit, they just looked better that way.
Regarding the "Chinese diet" (or lack thereof): Well, by several accounts, the Chinese team is not exactly being taken out to Old Country Buffet every night; they seem to be underfed in general, so I'm sure Zhao is used to getting by on less food than is probably safe. Which doesn't make it a good idea in the long run; this kind of thing can throw off your metabolism big time when you stop becoming as active, so about 15, 20 years after his career is over he might actually end up getting fairly fat.
Secondly, I'm not necessarily sure that with the men, extra weight would be as much of a jumping issue as a speed issue. When women gain weight, it tends to be in the hip & butt area, which can definitely throw the jumps off (Tonya Harding being a prime example of this); men usually gain it in the gut which I'm not sure throws the jumps off as much. But from a speed perspective -- it seems to me that if you've got some oversized lug out there skating with a lady who weighs about as much as a box of Kleenex (Qing Pang??), he's going to be hard-pressed to keep up. And who wants to be lifted by a dude who's gasping for breath about 3:15 into the long program?
Thirdly, there's also an aesthetic aspect. Lloyd Eisler, a pretty big guy, was usually around 5-11, 180 at peak competition shape. He said that he could actually carry 200 pretty well and not have it effect his skating, but he said that the "look" of him and Isabelle Brasseur on the ice when he weighed that much just didn't have the same effect as when he was 20 pounds lighter; as a unit, they just looked better that way.
Regarding the "Chinese diet" (or lack thereof): Well, by several accounts, the Chinese team is not exactly being taken out to Old Country Buffet every night; they seem to be underfed in general, so I'm sure Zhao is used to getting by on less food than is probably safe. Which doesn't make it a good idea in the long run; this kind of thing can throw off your metabolism big time when you stop becoming as active, so about 15, 20 years after his career is over he might actually end up getting fairly fat.
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