To actualize potential, Chinese pay many yuan

At PlanBee Combat Training Club in Shanghai, participants aged under 10 to above 50 are punching sandbags and breathing heavily as sweat oozes out of their shiny bodies in all-wet sportswear, despite the late January chilly weather.

The club's members have increased manifold since its start in August 2016. Gao Lijun, 34, the first Chinese woman to win an international title in boxing, founded the club.

"More than 100 members have joined our community of combat and boxing, among which 60 percent are women and girls. We have girls under the age of 10, and grandmas-to-be. Here at the club, everyone can shrug off the stereotypes of who you are supposed to be, and achieve what you want to be through the punches," she said.