"Sweat and Sparkle"

When Tom doesn't have meetings with the US in the mornings we go out walking at 6:00 a.m. Right now the temperature at that time of day is between 85-90॰ + humidity (so far, it's always above 60%).  It's a sauna experience for sure.

So when we saw a man exercising in a t-shirt that said "Sweat and Sparkle" I knew that was the perfect title for a blog post about the exercise here in China.  With these conditions, even a slow stroll is a sweat-and-sparkle experience.  I usually give myself bonus points for walking in a sauna. (Heh. Are we keeping track of bonus points?)  

But the extra bonus exercise points is not why I like the morning walk so much. (I definitely prefer my Utah temperatures to this...)  For one, I love it so much for the entertainment value I get from it.  We can walk anywhere and find very interesting things to see--cars, people, shops, animals....  But if we go to the park, we get unbelievable amusement.  It is a hopping place!  It is not exaggerating to say we see more than 1000 other people exercising in our half hour morning walk.  We have people-counted some mornings for 1 minute and the handful of times we've done it, we have counted 35-50 people per minute.  It is pretty amazing to see that many people out exercising--and they are mostly older people.  (The younger people exercise at night.  The number of people out exercising at that time is easily doubled or triple of what it is in the morning. See note #1.)

So what kind of exercising do we see?  Let's go on a little tour to see how they sweat and sparkle here in China:

1)  Running, walking, jogging. I know you've all seen pictures with people running; these are just to show the sheer number of people out exercising. Remember this is 6:00 a.m. when it feels like 100+॰ You will see one picture with a wheelchair; more often we see the people pushing their wheelchairs.  Sometimes they run in large organized groups (25+), other times in smaller groups (<10) or pairs or solo. Maybe those who have spent time in other big cities can tell me if this number of early morning exercisers is common elsewhere; but on my 6:00 a.m. walks in Utah I could count on one hand the number of people I saw. (I know! I know! The population is SO much denser here, and that must be taken into account; but it still is astounding to see so many people at that time of day in that type of weather!)

2)  Organized dancing groups.  I asked someone what they were called and the translation was "square dancing."  I chuckled, but she meant the dancing taking place in a city square, not a hoedown.  These groups are *every where.*  They are outside of malls, grocery stores, parks...any where there is a large enough square that scooters can't go.  They happen every morning and every evening.  Often the groups are small 5-30 people.  Others are 100+ and everything in between.  They always have music; some have clear designated leaders wearing a microphone, others it appears they have no leader (but probably do).  And often they have matching outfits.  From what we understand, it does not cost to join; I suppose one day we will try it!  

3)  Similar, to the dancing groups are what Tom and I call the slapping group.  These are all older people and Jacky explained to Tom that they are trying to get blood circulating by slapping.  The leader of this group slaps a part of the body and calls "one, two, three, four"  The group slaps and calls out "five, six, seven, eight".  This is repeated over and over with different areas being slapped--lower arm, upper arm, neck, head, legs, backs. Tom wants to join this group one day.  I probably should; I could learn to count better in Chinese!

The back slapping segment.

4)  We see solo Tai Chi-ers.

5) People stretching:

6)  Walking on raised pebbles in bare feet.  (Just leave your shoes.)

7) Playing Chinese yo yos.

8) Badminton

9) People doing a type of crawl.

10)  The 'exercise playground' is especially entertaining!

An observation:  wear what you want.  It doesn't matter.  We've seen everything from traditional Chinese dresses and night gowns to grown men in capri length pajama pants with long socks and church shoes walking the rounds.  We've even seen women in high heels. Just come as you are!  And if you wear a face mask to exercise, I'll mark you down for triple bonus points.

Then...

If the sweating and sparkling is not enough of a reward for your morning walk. you also get entertainment as an added bonus: 

You get serenaded by people doing karaoke.  6:00 a.m., soloists with microphones, speakers and their phone on a tall tripod scrolling their music?  Why yes. (This picture is in the evening, but it happens equally in the mornings.  See note #2)

  

You get to see kite flyers.  On an average day there are 5-6 kites up. 

(The man's shirt in the picture above says "Design and Tom". Love it!)

Birders. Men bring their birds in cages and hang them in the trees or set them out on a sidewalk while they chat.  We're not sure why they do this, but they are there every morning. 

People playing instruments. 

People feeding fish big chunks of dry ramen noodles blocks.

Workers.  They pull weeds in the flowerbeds and the lawn, pick up garbage, sweep,  and dust.  What at the park needs to be dusted, you ask?  benches, power boxes garbage cans...  

This whole exercise atmosphere leaves me feeling that there is a very strong connection to their community.  Even if you are doing solo Tai Chi, you are there in the park with everyone else exercising.  It would be easier to do it at home or in the lobby of your apartment building (and there are some of those), but there they are in large numbers every morning and evening sweating and sparking together. It is one thing that is really so amazing to me.  And very endearing. (I found this video so you don't just have to take my word that this is what exercising looks like in China.)

Having said all of this about enjoying the entertainment of our walks and the endearing feeling of community, I haven't touched on my most favorite thing about the 6:00 a.m. sweat and sparkle experience.  My favorite thing is that it is a wonderful time to do the only missionary work that I can do:  smile, wave and say hello.  Like I've said many times before that we attract so much attention, so making eye contact is often easy. We smile and say hello.  But when they don't look away and I wave at them, they light up. It's like they are beyond thrilled that I would wave at them.  It really is fun; and one thing that we can do to make a difference for these wonderful people of China!  So while the heat is a killer, I truly go because it is so joyous to spread hope and the light of Jesus Christ!  I hope it makes as big of a difference for them as it does for me!

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Note 1:  In addition to the exercise we see at the park, we know there are many gyms that people go to. Jacky's wife said many people her age go to gyms. This is likely a large reason Chinese people are on the thinner side because they do eat a heck of a lot of fatty meat and oil + rice several times a day. 

This image is inside the train.  It translates to: "Four cornerstones of health"  "Moderate exercise"  "People enter everyday.  The row accumulation is equivalent to 6. Physical activity over 6000 steps." You will have to translate the translation, but you can tell that exercise is encouraged.

Note #2:  China is all in the same time zone.  I don't know where in China it matches up best with the sun, but when we were in quarantine, it was fully light at 4:30 a.m.; now we're over our jet lag, we don't notice the broad daylight so early.  But it does get dark at 7:30 p.m.  So what we're used to daylight-wise, especially in the summer, feels a little mixed up!  The above pictures that look darkened are from 7:00 p.m. ish, the lighter ones were all in the morning.