The most important thing is to eat well and exercise, but many diabetics Hu knows do not follow this advice.

Although the Chinese Diabetes Society has done lots of work to raise public awareness of the disease, and to improve diagnosis and medical care for diabetics, there is a huge difference in accessing such medical services from area to area and an increase in diabetes in rural areas is likely if the status quo continues, Xu adds.

With people's livelihoods improving quickly in rural areas, unhealthy diets, unsafe food, less exercise and poor prevention awareness have led to rising rates of obesity and higher blood lipid levels, all of which can be triggers for diabetes.

"Diabetes has become a major challenge for China's public health," Xu says, adding the treatment for diabetic complications is expensive, and some medications are not covered by health insurance.

"More work is required to raise public awareness on the issue. Prevention is always better than treatment, especially for diabetic complications."