J: You know that Pingping, I’ve been in China for several years. And I noticed that in the early mornings, one can always see in the park or small gardens or on the community squares, a lot of senior citizens and also young children walking, jogging, singing songs and operas, dancing, playing sword, walking with their birds in the cage, and playing Taichi—a traditional form of Chinese morning exercise.

P: Yes. For many Chinese, doing morning exercise is not only a way to keep fit, but also a habit.

J: Travel agencies in Beijing have promoted morning exercise tours in parks for visitors. Foreign visitors go the parks not just for sightseeing, but more to take a look at ordinary Chinese doing morning exercise. Visitors want to experience authentic Chinese culture, especially the lives of the ordinary people in Beijing.

P: Yes. In China, most residential districts and parks are equipped with exercising facilities. Ordinary people may work out downstairs or go to the parks close to their residential districts.

J: I can notice that Chinese have come to realize the importance of health, and their ways of doing exercise are becoming diverse.

P: You bet. People can choose the method of exercise in accordance with their own income and preference. The choices include jogging, walking, body building, weight-training (dumbbell, pulling-force machine etc.), swimming, Yoga, Taichi, golf, mountain-climbing, riding and rock-climbing and many others.

J: And once I ran into a guy who walked backward. That surprised me because in the West we seldom do in that way.
P: In China it’s said to be more efficient to walk backwards than forwards. But children and senior citizens better not to walk backwards, in case they would hurt themselves if they fall over.

J: Right. I see. Thanks for explaining all this. I’m well informed.

P: Pleasure.

J: Today we talked about exercise in China. If you've got any comments, suggestions or would like to suggest a topic or even tell us if asking about income is acceptable in your country - you can contact us at CRIEnglish.com or send us an email to

P: "Ask Pingping and Jules"@cri.com.cn

J: See you next time.

P: Bye.

(Many thanks to Duggy Day for production and audio-editing.)

Previous Episodes (Please click to listen):

Ask Pingping and Jules-Asking about Income

Ask Pingping and Jules--Greetings

Ask Pingping and Jules--Singles Day

Ask Pingping and Jules--Lucky numbers in China 

Ask Pingping and Jules--Chopsticks