Say you had to live in a country crammed to the brim with 1.3 billion citizens. How on earth would you express your individuality?
The ever-resourceful Chinese have discovered that a walk in the park can be so much more.
Take Shanghai's city parks, for example. Past the groups of line dancers, the ladies twirling parasols, and the slow-moving, white-clad tai chi "atheletes." Beyond the kite-fliers, the babies in their open-crotch pants and the ballroom dancers, you'll find a field of grass, bordered by a running track.
It is here where the magic happens, and it's as if the entire scene were expertly choreographed. Paths cross, with ne'er a collision, nor even a slight adjustment in pace. Creativity abounds. For, here, in ones and twos, these people are practicing their very own unique form of exercise, as different as their fingerprints and as crazy as...well, now that isn't being very nice, is it? Let's just say, visit one of these truly fascinating parks and you may witness:
- A man briskly walking backwards around the track
- A man with one foot on a chair, swinging the chair back and forth
- A man moving his upper body like he is running, but remains stationary--legs together and knees bent
- A man spinning in circles, arms out
- A woman drawing a big "O" in the air in front of her with one arm
- A man walking backwards in circles, while knocking one fist on top of the other
- Two ladies walking diagonally across the grass, slow-clapping in sync
- A man, bent over, swinging his arms like an ape
- A man standing by a tree, repeatedly leaning back slowly and grabbing the tree as he's about to fall
- A lady swinging her arms around and hitting herself on her shoulder and back
- An old couple scissor-stepping sideways, mere inches apart, but never touching
