Special Coverage: Good Morning Exercises

Jogging, Kung fu, Tai Chi, Tai Chi sword or Tai Chi fan practices, Qigong, badminton, dancing, meditation, howling and some exercises I even can’t find a name for.

At 6:30 am in Yuandadu Relics Park in Beijing, you find nothing about relics in the 9-kilometer long band-shaped park. What you see and hear are people from all walks of life playing sport, unfortunately, most are middle aged. Maybe young people are too busy to care about their health.

Some exercise individually, some in three or four, and some are in groups with dozens of members. Middle-aged women seem to prefer dancing with colorful fans in tune to remixed old music, and those over sixties are more interested in the slow and peaceful Tai Chi.

Please don’t get surprised if you find a white-haired grandma shrugging her shoulders and curling up her fists like an ape, part of Wuqinxi (Five-animal exercise, tiger, deer, bear, ape and bird). But I still feel curious about why some leaning on the tree suddenly make a long howl, this being a kind of breath exercise to my best guess.

Yuandadu means capital of Yuan Dynasty, and the park is built on the basis of city wall of Yuan Dynasty’s capital, called Yanjing at that time. More than a scenery site and a center to understand China’s diversified folk exercises, the park also functions as an emergency center with a landing ground for helicopter.

 A man stretches himself after playing badminton as a dog lies nearby. Unfortunately, next to the badminton racket is a box of cigarette.