What do people get up to in Chinese parks?

This post would be much shorter and simpler if I were to ask the opposite question, what don’t people do in Chinese parks. Because the short answer to the question in the title, is in fact, everything. In Chinese culture, the park seems to be another one of the major hubs of social life, where people treat it as their local community centre. People come to parks whether it’s sunny or cold to do pretty much everything. Need to practice your Èrhú (二胡)? There is space for you here, and no one will mind the noise. Want to have an aerobics class with your friends? Bring your stereo and your friends and do it for free. Want to catch up with the guys over a game of mah-jong (májiàng 麻将) or cards? This is the place to go. Even when it gets dark in the evenings parks can still be quite busy, with ladies doing a dance routine to keep fit or other activities and people doing exercise. So nothing like the deserted, empty and ominous English parks at night, where secret exchanges occur or lovers meet up. So what do people mainly get up to? Well each of the following activities could probably have their own mini blog post, but I’m just intending to give a brief summary of the most common ones here, and most of my blog posts turn into essays anyway. To any Chinese people reading, I hope you are not offended by my comments, they are not meant to be patronising, I just find these kinds of things fascinating because they don't happen in the country where I'm from!

  1) Older ladies getting together with friends for a little exercise - Guangchangwu (广场舞)

Dancing with fans at the campus park early in the morning

Have you ever wondered how Chinese women manage to stay so slim through the years? Well wonder no more, because I'm about to tell you one of their secrets! Ladies dance together at the park or even in the street, all year round (yes, even in winter, when it’s cold) while a mini stereo is playing on the floor. I often wondered how they know the routine to do, but my Chinese friends assure me that one of them is the leader and all the others follow. These women are easily 40 + and more, so it seems cute that they still get together with their friends for some fun times, not to mention getting some good exercise which you so seldom see in the west.

They dance with a range of accessories including fans and scarves. One of my all-time-favourite dancing shots is this one of these ladies dancing on the Bund with fans, but unfortunately the photo quality is rather poor.

They also dance with scarves, which looks really beautiful, and I took many shots of these women dancing at Hangzhou, while my Chinese friend looked on, bored, wondering what the big deal was all about.

The range of accessories extends to many more items, some of which I’m not even sure what they are!

While we’re on the subject of exercise in parks, Western people are not averse to it either, as I once witnessed a group of white people running an aerobics class in the park, complete with instructor and boombox. The Chinese found this equally fascinating, and crowded round the group, cheering them on, as though it were a dance performance.

Chinese people crowded around some westerners running an aerobics class in Fuxing Park

While we're on the subject of Western hijacking of park space for their own crazy uses, allow me to show you the antics of what seems to be the local tight-rope walking society meeting:

Tight rope walking practice at SJTU campus park

This group seem to be at the university park every Sunday, and more Asian people seem to be joining in too, although the police didn't seem that keen on them attaching their ropes to the trees this week, and soon put a stop to them. 

2) Dancing lessons 

People also do full on dancing lessons in the park, as demonstrated by these couples at Fuxing Park:

Couples dancing lessons in Fuxing Park

Furthermore, they don’t seem to mind anyone stopping to stare at them or taking any photos. They just carry on, completely unfazed. I think it’s cute that older people do proper dancing like this. Who said that romance was dead!

3)  Card or board games

The park is also a place where older Chinese guys get together to play various games, about which they get very enthused. This, I guess is not so specific to China, because it’s common in other countries, as I’ve often seen men out, late, playing chess or some game in some European countries, particularly Greece. But here, the Chinese seem to be so enthusiastic about it, and apparently a little gambling over cards is very popular. It seems like some games get quite exciting, and it is hard to actually get near enough to see what they are playing, because there are so many people crowded round the players! But I know they play mah-jong, Chinese chequers and card games amongst others. Also, this seemed like a definitely men’s only territory, so I didn't want to stray too close for fear of crossing some cultural boundary of which I was unaware.

Card games at Renmin Park

An intense game of something. I'm not sure what, since there were too many people crowded round to see!

4) Water calligraphy on the pavement – Dìshū (地書)
This is very commonly seen in parks and on the street, apparently this art form first became popular in the 1990s in Beijing and then spread to other major cities. Basically, it involves writing on the pavement using only water as the ink with sticks and foam as brushes, allowing an ephemeral artistic expression. It’s a beautiful way of expressing oneself in a transient manner, as artist write poetry, quotes from literature and aphorisms in a cursive style of the traditional Chinese script. With characters requiring up to 20 or so strokes, each character is an art form in itself and people who can write such complex characters are regarded as highly skilled and attract awe and appreciation from passers by, foreign or locals alike. It’s very beautiful to watch the words being painted, then slowly disappear as the water evaporates. 

Dìshū at Fuxing Park

Dìshū at West Lake in Hangzhou

There are several really great posts out there on this topic, so I won't repeat them, but my favourite one is this one, because of its beautiful pictures that really give justice to this art form. 

5) Tai chi

You see older people doing tai chi at all hours of the day, and not just in the parks, but also in the street or car parks, and generally random places! They do tai chi, a very slow type of meditative exercise that’s loosely based on martial art moves in order to relax, and keep their muscle tone. It’s a really great way to stretch yourself, a bit like yoga or Pilates, and also to calm the mind. I tried it during my undergrad years, and it was great, so I thought I might be able to take it up here. However, when I mentioned this, my suggestion was met with laughter, and my lab mates just pointed to the people in the park and said that “maybe you can ask some of the old people over there to teach you”. For tai chi is pretty much as uncool as it gets now. (On another note, when I also expressed a love for orchids and boasted that I have three at home, this was also met with more laughter and dismissal, as another “old-fogey” type interest. I guess I am an old lady on the inside!). I think tai chi can be really cool though, and there are many versions, including ones with implements, such as swords!

However, young people prefer more fast paced kind of martial arts, like Wushu, or pretty much they have started adopting western sports. Basketball is by far the most popular sport here, having imported the NBA from America, and you see loads of Chinese guys playing it enthusiastically every day, or watching it on their computers in the lab. I think this might be partly due to some successes of the taller Chinese players who have made it really big in America. For example Shanghai-born Yao Ming, who unwittingly became a big internet meme for his “Bitch, please!” face during an interview.

Yao Ming - internaitonal basketball star, and current SJTU student

After playing for the Houston Rockets for several years, he decided to retire due to recurring foot injuries, and is now currently enrolled at a degree course at SJTU! The others tell me that this is quite common for Chinese sportsmen to focus on becoming a success in their athletic career while they are young, and then starting their undergraduate degree when they retire, in order to have a proper life for themselves afterwards. Unfortunately, he has mainly private tuition on the other campus, to avoid causing a distraction since he is a national hero, particularly here in his home town, both for his successes on the court and his humanitarian work. This means that I don’t really get the chance to see him!

6) Kite flying

This is a big one, since China is the land where kites originated from, as there were readily available materials that were ideal for making kites: silk, a lightweight but strong material to catch the wind; and bamboo for a sturdy, but lightweight framework. Young and old both like to fly kites in the park, and there are plenty of kite sellers hovering around the major touristy kite spots. I too succumbed into buying a kite, reliving my childhood days where I would spend a crazy amount of time flying my huge kite in the fields behind our house, and later sewed my own kite (I know, I was just the coolest kid at school, right?).

Flying my kite at Century Avenue

At only 100 m line, my kite was pretty tame in comparison to the pros who also frequent these kind of places. There are some guys, who can keep a kite going at what seems like above the levels of the tallest skyscrapers. Take for example this guy:

Serious kite flyer at Fuxing Park

You can see from his pretty serious-looking reel that he means business. And even at the highest magnification possible on my little compact, I could only get this image of his kite flying high as a tiny little speck:

There are also a string of mini kites that you can buy, which don’t travel so high, but look really cute:

Mini kites at Century Avenue

So, in short, kite flying is a big deal in China (although probably also an old-fogey thing!)

7) Singing
In addition to these other art forms, there is also plenty of singing going on. Sometimes people seem to be holding performances, with an amplifier playing a backing track. I think this is in a similar vein to people practising their instruments in the park, like the èrhús I mentioned at the beginning of this post.

However, this has now included me, since I was asked to perform some Christmas songs at the lab Chritmas party! (eek!) Since I had nowhere private to practise where I didn’t drive people insane, I had to resort to the park option! It was surprisingly good, because on account of the cold weather, there were few people in the park, but those that were there either didn't bat an eyelid, or they just took pictures of me. Some guys also came up to me and took pictures in so many different poses and even asked to pose with my guitar! I couldn't really refuse this, since I have been known to take a fair few photos of èrhú players too. It was actually a fairly liberating experience, and helped me to bring up my confidence prior to the big performance.

8) Marriage markets!

Yes, before match.com, there was the old fashioned paper version! Except this one is run by your parents! The famous Shanghai marriage market at People’s Park (人民公园) in Shanghai happens every weekend from 12 pm, where parents of marriageable aged children who are struggling to find a spouse come to chat with other parents who are in the same position in the hope of finding a good match. I don’t know what is displayed on these ads, but I imagine there’ll be much focus on age and profession and family background, which are very important considerations in Asian culture when choosing a partner with whom to settle down. This kind of system is quite out-dated in most parts, but used to be fairly common. Nowadays, children have much more choice over their partners, although parental approval is still very important for the Chinese, who are very family-orientated and are taught to respect their elders. Before the cultural revolution, it was legal for parents to break up a marriage if they didn't approve of their child's choice of partner!

A marriage arranger displaying his clients at Renmin Park

Looking for Miss Right for my son

People displaying their marriage adverts on umbrellas

Every weekend, people cram two tunnels like this in Renmin Park as part of the marriage market

9) Wedding photography 
Utilising the parks for marriages doesn't stop with planning a wedding! Wedding photography is huge in Asia, and in the warmer months, you’ll very likely see dozens of couples traipsing around through the town and parks with their photography entourage to take photos in a range of outfits and locations. This section already has many photos, so I've decided to dedicate its own post showing my favourite wedding photography moments.

One thing that is clear from all these activities is that just like how there is an absence of “personal space” in China (a concept held so dear to many Brits), there is also an absence of self-consciousness. It’s funny because for a culture that’s so obsessed with saving face and maintaining relationships through guanxi, it’s surprisingly hard to get a Chinese person to feel embarrassed in the way that we know in the UK. Their thresholds are just in completely different places. It’s so lovely that they are unburdened by any such social restrictions and are just free to enjoy themselves without worrying about what others think. If anything people are actively encouraged to express themselves artistically, which is something I love. 

Secondly, apart from the marriage related activities, most of my comments seem to be done by people who are middle aged or older. While my interest in these activities probably shows more about me than anything else, I love that this means that old people don't fade into the background here. In China, elders are not regarded as an inconvenience or a nuisance, but rather are respected and revered. Age equals wisdom in China and this means that as you get older, people listen to you more. I think of the situation in the UK, where old people are shipped off to homes as soon as possible, and the Salvation army runs adverts to ask for volunteers to keep old people company, and I know this kind of situation would be unthinkable in China.

What do you see in your local park? What do you think about the Chinese confidence and sense of freedom in parks?