The corners of the park filled, even the shady spots deep among the tight rows of cypress trees that date back 800 years. Over there, a man performed the slow-motion dance of tai chi. Over here, a woman scratched her back against a tree. Everywhere, people gave themselves pat-downs to loosen their muscles.
Kites were launched into the sky. A perky melody floated through the air — Could that really be “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town?” — for the scores of line dancers who fill the plazas. Haunting chants came from unseen people in the trees.
Here came a woman walking backward. There went a man furiously rubbing his head. Everyone made room for the man crawling down the sidewalk on his toes and hands.
“I have seen people do headstands, with their whole body leaned against the tree. That’s strange,” said Ye Shi An, 62, a fit man with a crew cut who rides his bike 20 minutes every day — not as for exercise, but as transportation to the park to exercise.
He parks the bike in the orderly stall outside the gate with all the rest, because there are no bikes allowed inside. He will jog a bit, he said, then find a quiet spot to do tai chi. He can be found alone in the trees for an hour or two every morning.
Others told of people who hang upside down from the trees by their feet, or people who crack long whips. But it all seemed quite normal on Tuesday morning.
Most of the people come seven days a week, often to the same spot.
Equipment is optional, but creativity is not. Some people carry bags with paddles inside, or maybe wood swords with long tassels, or leather batons that are tossed in the air or to a partner with two sticks, or soft rings the size of a basketball hoop to toss over someone else’s head.
There are no basketball or tennis courts, although some people bring rackets and balls and tie up a string between trees. There are not a lot of joggers, and fewer people with music plugged into their ears.
This is exercise to connect with the world around, not tune it out. This is exercise done to feel good on the inside, not to impress anyone on the outside.
“It’s hard to say why I like walking backwards,” said Yang De Fu, 60, who does it for an hour in the morning and again in the evening. “It can exercise muscles you don’t use when you walk forward. And it just makes me comfortable. I’ve been doing it 20 years.”
He explained that walking backward forces the tummy in and the back straight. Then he walked away, backward. He did not have to turn around to wave.
At Sanzou Gate, on the west side of the park, six women who meet daily formed a circle, ably keeping a feather-and-rubber object aloft with their feet. Ti jian zi is like Hacky Sack with a large shuttlecock, bigger than those used for badminton. Sometimes people play it alone, sometimes in large groups.
Wood paddles leaned against a wall. Ye Xiu Fen, 48, pulled out a small box with several small, homemade shuttlecocks used to play san mao, or three feathers.
“It is quite economical,” she said.
She used a hollow, white rubber tip, like those put on the spring-type doorstops to avoid scratching the door or wall. A small square of rubber from a bicycle tire was glued on the tip, and a small piece of a wide rubber band glued on top of that.
To give it its gliding aerodynamics, and its name, three feathers stuck out the hollow end of the tip.
“I bought a hen and cooked it, and used the feathers for these,” Ye said, holding the box open. She laughed. “People want to buy the white hen because it looks good. But sometimes, you can’t find a white hen.”
She pulled a brown-feathered sample from the box and shrugged.
“Superpowers around you!” she shouted, and everyone shouted it back. “Your whole body is healthy, through mind communication of the super power!”
She had the group rock on their toes and swing their arms. She had them entwine their fingers and pull them back out, quickly, many times. Nearby, about 100 people with lyric books sang patriotic songs.
At the north end of the park, near the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, people stood and watched a large screen tuned to Olympics highlights. It was nearing 10 a.m., and the serenity of the dawn was gone.
For the Olympics, he decided to make the rings in five colors: red, blue, yellow, black and green, just like the Olympic rings. And his product has a motto, which he proudly shared: “Learn how to keep fit in three minutes.”
Funny. Looks like the Chinese have been at it for years.
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