YINCHUAN, April 9 (Xinhua) -- With the coronavirus getting under control in China, Qiu Shuying, in her 70s, has finally been back to her riverside "base" to do Tai Chi, an important genre of Chinese Kung Fu, with her old friends.
"We do miss each other. During the social-distancing period, we chatted frequently through our WeChat group. Some of them have moved to other districts, but they still take bus here around 8 a.m. each morning," said Qiu, adding that one of her friends in his 80s has been playing Tai Chi here for over 40 years.
The riverside Tai Chi "base" lies in Zhongshan Park, a large-area green space in Yinchuan City, capital of northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, is a low-risk place. From late March, group activities such as Tai Chi, square-dancing and roller skating in the park have been back on track as usual.
Like many elderly people, Qiu lives alone in most of the time, and exercising becomes a way for them to make friends. "We are all over 70 years old, so we have a lot to talk about, and I feel happy and healthy after doing Tai Chi with them," Qiu said, "It has greatly relieved my legache and makes me more energetic than before."
At 8 a.m. in the morning, the slow and peaceful Tai Chi group and the loud and alive square-dancing "army" form a harmonious scene aside the willow-lined river. Most of people still retain face masks while exercising, but Jiang Zhengying, a 69-year-old grandpa in the middle of the square-dancing "army", can't help removing his masks, and his smile makes him conspicuous.
"I'm a little lazy, and the advantage of joining this group is to have many friends reminding you of the importance of exercising every day," Jiang said. He used to be a driver. In the early years of retirement, he had nothing to do but sleeping, which led to a sore back and headache. After joining the square-dancing group, inspired by these friends, he has formed a habit of getting up at 7 a.m. every day.
For many people, fitness means more than getting stronger and healthier. It's an important way for them to get more social contact. The boom of social media and fitness apps has better satisfied people's needs for having someone to exercise together with them.
"Many of our customers exercise 10 minutes but spend over one hour in taking selfie and sharing them online to attract their friends' attention. They think it cool and fashionable," said Ma Kai, manager of a fitness club in Yinchuan.
At present, group sports activities usually launched by companies or schools in the past are now more organized by grassroots fitness enthusiasts through WeChat Group, which binds people of different ages from all walks of life together based on the same hobby.
WeChat, QQ, Alipay and many other Apps include the function of recording users' step numbers each day, pushing users to walk more to top their friend lists. On fitness Apps like KEEP, one can see the exercising duration of oneself and one's friends, and can give a like to people who are following the same exercising video.
Through a WeChat group made up of skiing enthusiasts, 28-year-old Sheng Menglong, 27-year-old Si Jiang and 29-year-old Sai Bin become good friends despite of different occupations.
"We not just talk about skiing skills or do practicing together. We talk about everything and drive together to other cities for a long journey. Friends based on the same interest are wonderful!" Sheng said, joking that he hopes to find a girlfriend through skiing.
According to Ma, many of his customers are white-collars with limited social circle, and fitness gives them more chance to make new friends. "Last year, three pair of lovers took their wedding photographs in our club, because this place is where they knew each other," said Ma. Enditem
