Megan Hall, Spacing Toronto’s correspondent in Beijing this summer, wrote a very interesting post on public exercise equipment in Beijing’s parks and playgrounds. Back in April, I stayed in Beijing for two weeks, and also had the opportunity to discover how Beijingers invested the public spaces to keep in shape. Megan’s post inspired me to do a quick search of my own through my photo collection.
For instance, one common activity (seen in the previous picture), often played just at a street corner or a public square with a large-enough flat surface, would be the kicking of shuttlecocks (just like how people play footbag here). It looked like the people that I encountered playing on most instances were office or shop workers taking a break.
Since ping-pong is such a popular sport in China, maybe it is not surprising to find tables to play the game outside, as seen on this picture, taken at a public square near a residential complex.
In this other park, just a few hundred meters from the main Olympic site, senior citizens were playing croquet amongst themselves. By the look of it, this playground may have been built or revamped recently.
One comment
That is wonderful to have such spaces – often not very large ones – so people of all ages can keep fit in a huge, densely-populated city. I do hope the Olympics will be a spur to improving Beijing air quality!