Thing That Chinese People Like...

老人很喜欢锻炼身体，在公园里， 路旁边，那里都。。。
虽然，最奇怪的爱好是 backwards 走路。。。

The old people seriously love doing exercises. Anytime you go to a park, people are doing group exercises. Group dancing is also very popular…with speakers blaring 90’s Seniorita music, old bittys struggle to keep up. But they do it with a smile on their face, and they are all in really good shape because of it. Old couples will be spontaneously dancing in any given clearing, anywhere there is a big enough space for fifty old women, fifty old women will be. They are all doing the exercises (which are similar to Tae-Bo, dancing, and pilates) in unison! I have watched this, and there is no leader. I don’t know how they know what to do. It’s neat.
Probably the most bizarre form of exercise is backwards walking. Old men especially love to walk backwards. The Chinese have crazy theories; like you are supposed to eat the part of any animal that corresponds to pain you are having. Leg cramps, eat some chicken leg, back problems, munch on some bacon, brain pain, shovel out a skull. I’m not sure if they think backwards walking will make them younger? Go back in time…walk backwards, duh.
Somehow Hall & Oates of Hall & Oates fame, together with ‘LifeTime’, have a total monopoly over CD’s shipped into China. You know when you watch TV late enough and those infomercials for schfifty CD’s of your favorite 80’s ballads start to come on?? That’s all China knows. These people LOVE them some ballads. Usually not epic ballads though, sappy Celine-y ballads are preferred. Chick ballads mostly.


This morning I moved into a hostel in a really traditional hutong area. I absolutely love it, it feels really quaint and seedy. I think I will jump on a train to Chengdu in two days, I’m just too lazy to buy a ticket right now. It’s four in the afternoon and I’ve just been reading, eating candy, and making this blog. I hope you enjoy it.