Let the games begin

The last of the Gongti night-clubbers are still on their way home but another energetic assembly is already about to start around the corner.

It's 6 am, the sun is rising on the horizon and this second group has flocked to Ditan Park to take part in a range of health-enhancing activities, like taichi, sword-playing, shuttlecock-kicking and dancing.

"We old Beijingers prefer to exercise outside," says a 72-year-old man stringing his kite for a flight. "The air is better out here. And look at all these trees. It's great."