Enjoying life through exercise

By Wu Jiao (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-10-08 09:11

Gao Ning, a mid-level manager in a machinery company, says stress caused by work and the hours spent on Beijing's clogged roads forced him to join Hosa Gym, which has 28 branches in the capital's business district. "I feel relaxed and sort of reborn after a work-out," he says. "Without it my days are gloomy and I feel tired."

Gao Ning and Huang Xiaoying make about $30,000 a year, and pay $200 each annually for their gym membership to get personal trainers for an hour a day.

"It's money well spent," Huang says. "After you get all the necessities, money, job and a house, you realize how important health is. Without health, nothing is meaningful."

On most weekday nights, the gym is packed with young professionals sweating it out on stationary bicycles, swimming or practicing yoga. The gym has been doing good business, says a manager surnamed Zhou.

About 1,000 new gyms have been opening in China every year during the past few years. With 30 new gyms and fitness clubs coming up every year, Beijing has seen a boom in the fitness business. And then there are people who visit spas for full-body or foot massage, or aromatherapy. These spas are run by hotel chains, other organizations and even mom-and-pop establishments.

But despite all this, the modern idea of fitness remains an urban, middle-class craze. A survey, conducted by a team of the Tianjin Institute of Physical Education, led by researcher Shao Xuemei, shows the awareness and willingness of taking to sports and exercise varies among people of different social strata. Government officials, factory workers and professionals are the three groups most frequently engaged in sports, according to the survey that covered more than 5,000 people in nine cities across the country.

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