What Chinese Senior Citizens Do in the Morning?
By admin on 2014-12-19

For senior citizens in China, nothing is of more importance than health, and exercise is definitely the best choice for many old people. What Chinese senior citizens do in the morning? Exercise.

It's 6 am, the sun is rising on the horizon and this second group has flocked to Ditan Park to take part in a range of health-enhancing activities, like taichi, sword-playing, shuttlecock-kicking and dancing.

"We old Beijingers prefer to exercise outside," says a 72-year-old man stringing his kite for a flight.

"The air is better out here. And look at all these trees. It’s great. "

Lu Meijun comes to the park each Wednesday with two Nordic walking sticks and sweats it out for two hours in an activity resembling cross-country skiing without the skis. The activity originated in Finland just 12 years ago and is said to work many more muscles and be far more intensive than walking without sticks. Sixty-three-year-old Lu took to it in 2005 when few in Beijing had even heard of it and she is also behind the Ditan Park group, which now numbers more than 100 and includes 11 mute men.

"Most of the people who join us suffer from chronic diseases and need a certain amount of exercise," says one 65-year-old man, who suffers from arthritis in his shoulders. "It isn't just for my shoulders - it also helps me recover from pain in my lower back and legs."

The elderly often prefer exercising in a public park to using treadmills in a gym because fitness centers are usually too expensive for them.