(this is a continuation of my previous post below, so you might want to read that first if you want to get with what I'm saying here)
Okay, so the lights on buildings are bright. No big deal, eh? Well, that's true. The point of my last post, if it wasn't clear, is that things are in fact different here in Shanghai. Their passion for lighting things up is really just the beginning.
Let's talk about exercise. Where I come from, exercise tends to be practiced by youngish people. Sure, older people can be seen trying to get back in shape, but the vast majority of people doing sports out there are kids (cheered on by their parents) and 20/30 something young people (trying to look good for the opposite sex). This is a _gross_ generalisation. But I'm all about generalising at the moment - realise that there will always be many exceptions to what I'm saying. Anyway, once people hit their late 30s or 40s, many seem to say "well, I've got a family, kids, job... I don't have time, nor the motivation, to excercise".
In Shanghai, it seems like the opposite is true. I can't speak for kids - my assumption is that they do around as much in school sports as Western kids do - but 20/30 somethings seem to have the attitude "I already have a great body" (and many of them do) "why should I exercise?". Young people, it seems, only excercise with sports that are "cool" - skateboarding, rollerblading, basketball, soccer - but those that practice these sports are few and far between. The Chinese my age that I have asked all say "nah - I used to do that when I was a kid, but I don't have time anymore". So what's the secret to their svelte figures? They don't eat much! Their lunches are consistently 1/2 to 1/3 the size of ours, and they consist mostly of rice with some fatty stuff on top.
But when I go to work in the morning, who do I see _in droves_ doing physical activities in the parks, on the sidewalks, even in front of malls? Older people. 50s, 60s, 70s. But what's most amazing about all this isn't only the difference in age, it's the actual activity itself. Whoever thought that lots of backwards walking would be a viable excercise? Not me! Well, I lie. I do know that walking backwards is great for the quads. At any rate loads of 50-60 year old women can be seen walking backwards through parks. Quite frankly, it looks silly. But I keep my mouth shut.
Tai Chi is an obvious one, but Ballroom dancing is 10 times more popular, and you also see sword fighting (actually, more like Tai Chi with swords) and some kind of group aerobics with a ball that they throw up and catch and stuff. All this happens in the middle of a park, eary in the morning. But the best of them all are the elderly people who use the childrens playgrounds as their own personal aerobics gym. It's hard to describe, because the playgrounds look quite different from ours (I'll post a picture one of these days), but imagine a bunch of elderly people pumping see saws up and down to work on their leg muscles, and pushing swings back and forth to work on the arms. Now you've got the right image.
Anyway, I think it's great. Not only are they active, but it's extremely social as well.
Back when I was travelling in Spain, I saw something that warmed my heart and made me very envious - every night, from around 7pm to 9pm, everybody would go out for a walk. This was calld "La Marcha" (I hope I spelled that right). It comes from the 70's: when Spain's dictator Franco's died in the mid-70s, all his draconian laws came into question by the Spanish people. Franco's cronies tried to hold on to power, but were ousted a few years later... One of the ways the Spanish demonstrated their rebellion against Franco's rules was to go on La Marcha as a direct defiance of the 8pm curfew that was in force all over Spain at the time. This tradition has now lasted to this day, even though Franco's rule ended 30 years ago. What I found great about La Marcha was that it was literally everybody who walks around - from the youngest children all the way to the oldest grandparents. It's more than a rebellion, it's a unanimous societal rejection. And now it's a tradition.
In North America, with our cars, TVs and Malls, people just don't go out for walks . Well, they do, but it's only to "get some air". There is very little social aspect to it. I just loved the fact that all these people would get out every night and mingle on the streets.
The same sort of thing happens here in Shanghai. While it's not as formal as in Spain, people of all ages go out walking around socialising with their neighbours, especially in the early evening. It's gratifying to see so many people simply spending time outside, whether it's for exercise, walking backwards, or just to hang out with friends. When the streets are alive with people, there is a buzz in the air. A buzz that is much too rare back home (though Montreal has this buzz to a degree, especially in the summer).
Anyway, enough rambling for now. Until next time!
Okay, so the lights on buildings are bright. No big deal, eh? Well, that's true. The point of my last post, if it wasn't clear, is that things are in fact different here in Shanghai. Their passion for lighting things up is really just the beginning.
Let's talk about exercise. Where I come from, exercise tends to be practiced by youngish people. Sure, older people can be seen trying to get back in shape, but the vast majority of people doing sports out there are kids (cheered on by their parents) and 20/30 something young people (trying to look good for the opposite sex). This is a _gross_ generalisation. But I'm all about generalising at the moment - realise that there will always be many exceptions to what I'm saying. Anyway, once people hit their late 30s or 40s, many seem to say "well, I've got a family, kids, job... I don't have time, nor the motivation, to excercise".
In Shanghai, it seems like the opposite is true. I can't speak for kids - my assumption is that they do around as much in school sports as Western kids do - but 20/30 somethings seem to have the attitude "I already have a great body" (and many of them do) "why should I exercise?". Young people, it seems, only excercise with sports that are "cool" - skateboarding, rollerblading, basketball, soccer - but those that practice these sports are few and far between. The Chinese my age that I have asked all say "nah - I used to do that when I was a kid, but I don't have time anymore". So what's the secret to their svelte figures? They don't eat much! Their lunches are consistently 1/2 to 1/3 the size of ours, and they consist mostly of rice with some fatty stuff on top.
But when I go to work in the morning, who do I see _in droves_ doing physical activities in the parks, on the sidewalks, even in front of malls? Older people. 50s, 60s, 70s. But what's most amazing about all this isn't only the difference in age, it's the actual activity itself. Whoever thought that lots of backwards walking would be a viable excercise? Not me! Well, I lie. I do know that walking backwards is great for the quads. At any rate loads of 50-60 year old women can be seen walking backwards through parks. Quite frankly, it looks silly. But I keep my mouth shut.
Tai Chi is an obvious one, but Ballroom dancing is 10 times more popular, and you also see sword fighting (actually, more like Tai Chi with swords) and some kind of group aerobics with a ball that they throw up and catch and stuff. All this happens in the middle of a park, eary in the morning. But the best of them all are the elderly people who use the childrens playgrounds as their own personal aerobics gym. It's hard to describe, because the playgrounds look quite different from ours (I'll post a picture one of these days), but imagine a bunch of elderly people pumping see saws up and down to work on their leg muscles, and pushing swings back and forth to work on the arms. Now you've got the right image.
Anyway, I think it's great. Not only are they active, but it's extremely social as well.
Back when I was travelling in Spain, I saw something that warmed my heart and made me very envious - every night, from around 7pm to 9pm, everybody would go out for a walk. This was calld "La Marcha" (I hope I spelled that right). It comes from the 70's: when Spain's dictator Franco's died in the mid-70s, all his draconian laws came into question by the Spanish people. Franco's cronies tried to hold on to power, but were ousted a few years later... One of the ways the Spanish demonstrated their rebellion against Franco's rules was to go on La Marcha as a direct defiance of the 8pm curfew that was in force all over Spain at the time. This tradition has now lasted to this day, even though Franco's rule ended 30 years ago. What I found great about La Marcha was that it was literally everybody who walks around - from the youngest children all the way to the oldest grandparents. It's more than a rebellion, it's a unanimous societal rejection. And now it's a tradition.
In North America, with our cars, TVs and Malls, people just don't go out for walks . Well, they do, but it's only to "get some air". There is very little social aspect to it. I just loved the fact that all these people would get out every night and mingle on the streets.
The same sort of thing happens here in Shanghai. While it's not as formal as in Spain, people of all ages go out walking around socialising with their neighbours, especially in the early evening. It's gratifying to see so many people simply spending time outside, whether it's for exercise, walking backwards, or just to hang out with friends. When the streets are alive with people, there is a buzz in the air. A buzz that is much too rare back home (though Montreal has this buzz to a degree, especially in the summer).
Anyway, enough rambling for now. Until next time!
posted by Falko at 3:05 PM
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