A body-building coach guides community residents to do gymnastics on the Big Windmill Square in Beijing. Since the advent of SARS, Beijing residents have realized the importance of enhancing their immune systems through sports, in order to prevent the contraction of infectious diseases.

In China, the large majority of young and middle-aged people are experiencing job-related stress and living at an irregular pace of life due to intense competition. They tend to neglect physical exercise, and as a result, many are being pulled into a sub-healthy state. Some people choose to take part in leisure amusement instead of physical exercise to relax. According to a recent survey, the largest proportion of SARS patients was made up of young and middle-aged people.

Now that SARS has been defeated, the Chinese people, especially the young people, have reinforced their awareness of physical fitness. Youngsters have ousted the elders as the major group of physical exercisers.
On beautiful days, youngsters appear in parks and squares, and either kick shuttlecocks, fly kites, play volleyball, or play soccer. When night falls, the Cultural Square in front of the People's Fitness Center in Changchun, the capital of Jilin Province, is crowded with young people enjoying themselves as they play badminton.

A survey by the Changchun Sports Bureau shows that before SARS 70 percent of the city's outdoor exercisers were elderly. At present, the number of outdoor exercisers has doubled, and more than 60 percent are young and middle-aged.

In Beijing, there are a large number of gym-goers. The Dongdan Sports Center, for example, used to be popular only during the winter and summer school breaks, but after SARS, it has become popular all the time.

Since June 7, when the Beijing Chaoyang District Gymnasium was reopened after SARS, it has enjoyed great popularity. According to its staff, prime-time visitors need to make reservations a week in advance. At a badminton ground, I met Mr. Xu, who was eagerly waiting to have a go as he watched his colleagues play. "I used to play badminton two or three times a week for a couple of years until all the gyms were closed during the SARS period," he said. "Now that the gyms are open again, I want to relive my old habit." Some of his colleagues have joined him. "They were originally reluctant, but SARS aroused their consciousness of taking care of their physical well-being," said Xu. "Now, they come to the gym on their own initiatives."

Li Chunlin, 67, started flying kites seven years ago. In the past, most of the kite lovers were elders, but today, more and more youngsters have appeared on public squares to fly kites. "I have become an instructor to the young people," said Li. Every day, he teaches more than ten people the skills involved in flying kites.

According to Zhang Shudong, an experienced doctor and expert in sports medicine from Jilin Province, the appearance of young people on playgrounds and in gymnasiums shows their awareness of the crisis in health as well as their increasing awareness of body-building.

Zhu Feng, 29, has been learning tai chi for a month. As a college teacher of Chinese history, Zhu used to indulge himself in books and papers, and was seldom engaged in physical exercise. Now, though, he has realized the importance of doing exercises.

The condition of young people's health has become an alarming problem. A large number of Chinese people have become sub-healthy, and the large majority of these people are youngsters. Their health is in danger to a varied extent: Some of them are highly prone to diseases, and some are subject to sub-healthy symptoms, such as unstable moods and loss of spirit.

According to Zhang Shudong, young people are vigorous, but they have to struggle against the stress from study and work, and few of them spend time resting and doing exercise. As a result, their health is failing. SARS has stirred their awareness of enhancing health by taking an active part in outdoor workouts.

Wan Zhuping, a tutor for Master's degree candidates in the field of sports humanities at the Northeast Normal University, has suggested that Chinese youngsters' concept of health is experiencing a pleasing transformation: The concept of saving health has replaced the previous one of consuming health, and their ways of achieving physical fitness have also diversified. He also pointed out that after SARS an increasing number of Chinese young people have become regular physical exercisers, and that in the long run they will compose the major population of those partaking in physical fitness.

(China Pictorial September 30, 2003)