Beijing - China

Recharge your batteries

A bit further on, a group of people are practicing Tai Chi, some with, some without a sword. Liu has been training this amateur team for 10 years. "Everyday, we gather here. Mostly, the people in the group are under 60 years-old. Most of them are retired. The youngest is 40, the oldest, 76," says this 61 year old retiree who's been practicing Tai Chi for 20 years. This sport requires a lot of discipline. Liu insists: "It's necessary to concentrate well and to coordinate hand movement with the eyes." Besides those physical virtues, Tai Chi is also good for the mind. "Tai Chi helps to keep the mind at peace and to remain optimistic," he assures.

In a corner of the park, we can hear the distant notes of a jinghu and erhu, two traditional Chinese string instruments, often used in Beijing Opera. Curious onlookers gather around this little orchestra. A woman in her forties is singing. Next to her, 76 year old Sun and Li, 72, sing the male roles with obvious delight. At first sight, anyone would think that they were professional Beijing Opera singers. But they're not. "We used to be workers. Back then, life was hard. We had neither radio nor any pastimes," they confess. "By going everyday to listen to some opera, we learned how to sing," they explain. Since then, the two friends go early in the morning to the Temple of Heaven to show what they've learnt. "As soon as the jinghu starts playing, we start to sing whatever we want. Singing out aloud allows us to recharge our batteries for the rest of the day," they smile.

On top of the traditional morning exercises, a few people have even created their own combination activities such as "Tai Chi Rouli" or "Qiankun". The former consists of, throwing a soft ball towards the opponent, using two rackets, whilst using the Tai Chi moves to catch the ball. For the latter, you throw soft hoops towards your opponent who has to catch them with his head only. For Qiankun's founder Li Chunman, this game helped him to get rid of his "spine and clavicle problems". For some players of the game who are particularly keen to celebrate the Olympic Games, they have decorated their hoops in the same colours as the Olympic rings.            

Text: Eloise Tian
Photos : Wang Zhuo
November 2007