Wednesday
Aug132008
Chinese public exercise spaces and the elderly
Wednesday, August 13, 2008 at 10:34AM
I think it is worth reading this article from Marina Hyde in the Guardian:
My sister lives in Macau, a SAR near Hong Kong. When I visit her I often wander up the hill behind her apartment where there is a park with exercise machines and a running track at the top. Striking, there, is the age of the athletes, it is really great to see the older folks walking to the top of the hill in order to do more exercise.
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Link to slide show
Every morning, shortly after sunrise, this former factory worker and up to two thousand mostly retired Chinese descend on Ditan Park in the city's Dongcheng district, where they spend between one and three hours exercising amongst the trees. "No absence," says Jiao, "no matter the weather." The ritual - frankly astonishing to Western eyes - is replicated all over town, as some participate in dance, or the traditional game of ti jian, where a sort of shuttlecock is kicked around like a hacky sack. Others stick to the Chinese tradition of tai chi, and the rest use the simple public exercise contraptions that positively litter Beijing, spread through the parks or fixed in trails down the quieter streets.
My sister lives in Macau, a SAR near Hong Kong. When I visit her I often wander up the hill behind her apartment where there is a park with exercise machines and a running track at the top. Striking, there, is the age of the athletes, it is really great to see the older folks walking to the top of the hill in order to do more exercise.
"I can't say that you Westerners are wrong," one Ditan regular explained recently, "but you pursue a different objective. Whereas we aspire to health, you aspire to size, speed and strength."
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Link to slide show
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Reader Comments (6)
Fantastic article - thanks for bringing it here!
Yes, yes our Western culture and its pitfalls... It is so inspiring to see what these people are doing and how they are living.
What I noticed too though is that when the Western world tries to imitate something "good" from other cultures they somehow always mess it up by putting their own spin on it. This normally would be good but not in this case as the Western spin is all about "more", "big", "speed", etc... and other such attributes as the author says.
What an inspiriation!
Fitness for The People in China....
This is from the Guardian via Smarter Fitter
Every morning, shortly after sunrise, this former factory worker and up to two thousand mostly retired Chinese descend on Ditan Park in the city’s Dongcheng district, where they spend between one a...
That slide show is amazing. I have a lot of complaints about China but you've got to give it to them - they are incredible. Did you see how even the older ladies seem to have incredibly strong abs? (there I go again... being western...)
Very inspirational. Thanks for pointing it out.
The picture of the guy hanging onto a bar with one hand and holding his knees up to his chest with the others was inspiring. I don't think I could do that now with the same kind of grace.
watching them do those slow tai chi moves is totally mesmerizing...I could watch for hours! I would love to try it. My mom has MS and her PT has her incorporating some moves now for balance!
This article brought back some very happy memories for me. I used to go to Ditan park on Saturday mornings in 1981, and I remember seeing just what was described, as well as some of the most amazing demonstrations of martial arts I've ever seen, performed by young people under the tutelage of a stereotypical 'master'. Then I'd go over to a different corner of the park and watch/listen to amateur musicians, mostly retired workers, perform excerpts from Chinese operas.