Morning Exercise and Square Dancing · 41 entries · 6 regions
The two ends of the day belong to whoever turns up. Taiji and shuttlecock at dawn, dance lines at dusk, and in both cases the way in is to stand at the back and copy.
41 of these, grouped by region. The first line of each entry says whether you can take part or only watch; the last column gives the hours, the cost where there is one, and how much Chinese it takes. Or see all seven kinds.
4 entries
North China (华北)
| What | Where | When and what it takes |
|---|---|---|
| You can join inBeijing Square Dancing (北京广场舞)Beijing’s squares run to ballroom and folk styles as well, and the sailor dance at Taoranting park, done in couples, has its own following. | Beijing | All year, 6:30 to 8:30pm Free; some teams collect 5 to 10 yuan a month No Chinese needed |
| WatchingGround Calligraphy (Di Shu) (地书（公园毛笔水写）)A metre-long brush with a sponge head, dipped in water and written on the paving. It dries as it goes, which is the point: the ground is the paper and nothing is kept. | Beijing | All year, early morning, busiest in summer Free; a ground brush is 20 to 50 yuan No Chinese needed |
| You can join inTemple of Heaven Morning Exercise (天坛公园晨练（踢毽子/抖空竹/太极/地书/京剧票友）)Tens of thousands come through Tiantan on a good morning, many on annual passes, treating the park as an outdoor living room. Shuttlecock circles, taiji groups, choirs and fan dancing all have their spots. | Beijing | All year, 6 to 9am, a little later in winter Park entry 15 yuan; annual pass 100 No Chinese needed |
| You can join inTianjin Square Dance & Yangge (天津广场舞/秧歌)Tianjin dances along the Haihe in large groups, with folk and ballroom sets mixed in, and stilt yangge teams out on festival days. | Tianjin | All year, 6:30 to 8:30pm Free No Chinese needed |
8 entries
Northeast China (东北)
| What | Where | When and what it takes |
|---|---|---|
| WatchingDiabolo (Chinese Yo-Yo) (抖空竹)A two-headed spool spun on a string until it hums, then thrown, caught, passed around a leg and flipped. The park regulars will show you the basic spin. | Heilongjiang | All year, early morning, busiest in summer Free; a diabolo costs 20 to 100 yuan No Chinese needed |
| You can join inJianzi (Shuttlecock Kicking) (踢毽子)A feathered shuttlecock kept off the ground with the feet, in a circle that will open up to let you in. It takes about a minute to learn badly and years to do well. | Heilongjiang | All year, morning and early evening Free; a shuttlecock is 5 to 20 yuan No Chinese needed |
| You can join inNortheast Yangge Dance (Park Version) (东北大秧歌（公园版）)Yangge is danced to a shawm and drums, with fans, silk streamers or parasols, and the northeastern version is deliberately broad and hot-blooded. The hardcore teams do it on metre-high stilts. | Heilongjiang | All year, 6 to 8am and 6 to 8pm; indoors or out of the wind in winter Free; a team costume runs 50 to 100 yuan No Chinese needed |
| You can join inSquare Dancing (广场舞)Rows of women dancing in step to pop music on any open square, anything from a dozen to a hundred of them. The northeastern version mixes yangge steps in with the aerobics. | Heilongjiang | All year, 6:30 to 8:30pm Free; some teams collect 5 to 10 yuan a month for the speakers No Chinese needed |
| WatchingChangchun Culture Square Yangge (长春文化广场秧歌)Changchun’s Culture Square fills at half past six every evening when the shawm starts and a team of sixty-odd take the ground with fans going. | Jilin | All year in dry weather, 6:30 to 8pm Free No Chinese needed |
| You can join inSiping/Tonghua Yangge & Folk Customs (四平/通化秧歌与民俗)The smaller Jilin cities keep it up as strongly. Tonghua runs a winter yangge show with 21 teams from around the region, stilt teams included. | Jilin | All year, morning and early evening Free No Chinese needed |
| You can join inSquare Dancing (Jilin) (广场舞（吉林）)The same across Jilin’s cities: bigger movements and a quicker beat than further south, because the yangge steps are in there. | Jilin | All year, 6:30 to 8:30pm Free No Chinese needed |
| You can join inShenyang Park Yangge (沈阳公园秧歌)Beiling park, built around a Qing imperial tomb, has teams out every morning and evening, and puts a hundred dancers on the ground at the lantern festival. | Liaoning | All year, morning and evening; large events at the lantern festival Free No Chinese needed |
8 entries
East China (华东)
| What | Where | When and what it takes |
|---|---|---|
| You can join inMorning Exercise in Hefei Parks (合肥公园晨练—太极与广场舞)Hefei’s central parks open at half past five and fill immediately. Some taiji groups have a teacher; ask before joining those. | Anhui | 5:30 to 8am, and from 5pm Free No Chinese needed |
| You can join inMorning Exercise & Square Dancing (江苏公园晨练与广场舞)Every big Jiangsu park splits the same way at dawn and dusk: taiji here, dancing there, badminton over the other side, brisk walking round the outside. Ask politely before joining a taiji group. | Jiangsu | 5:30 to 8am, and 6:30 to 8:30pm Free No Chinese needed |
| You can join inShandong Square Dance & Yangge (山东广场舞/秧歌)Shandong has two yangge forms on the national heritage list: the drum yangge of Shanghe, danced broad and hard, and the Jiaozhou style, described by its three bends and eighteen attitudes. | Shandong | All year, 6:30 to 8:30pm; yangge at festivals Free No Chinese needed |
| You can join inJing’an Park Xinjiang Dance (静安公园新疆舞)A group of Shanghai retirees dance Xinjiang dances in Jing’an park, hand drums out and skirts on, carrying decades of memory of the northwest with them. | Shanghai | Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 9am to 3pm Free No Chinese needed |
| You can join inSquare & Ballroom Dancing (上海广场舞/交谊舞)Shanghai’s squares and green corners run both, and the route in is the same: stand at the back, copy, and after a week someone will talk to you. | Shanghai | 6 to 9am for ballroom, 6:30 to 8:30pm for square dancing Free No Chinese needed |
| You can join inBallroom & Square Dancing (杭州公园交谊舞与广场舞)Hangzhou’s lakeside parks belong to the ballroom dancers in the morning, wave after wave from before six until nearly midday. A partner is needed, and asking is allowed. | Zhejiang | 5:30 to 11am for ballroom, 6:30 to 8:30pm for square dancing Free No Chinese needed |
| WatchingWenzhou Basketball Night Market (温州篮球夜市)A floodlit court in a Wenzhou village, lit every night for 28 years, with barbecue and snack stalls round the edge and the whole village watching. Playing means joining a village team. | Zhejiang | Summer evenings after 7, weekends and holidays Free to watch No Chinese needed |
| You can join inWushan Morning Exercise (杭州吴山（城隍山）晨练)Wushan is under a hundred metres and the only hill that reaches into central Hangzhou, which makes it the city’s exercise ground. Expect walking backwards, overhead clapping and waist swinging. | Zhejiang | 5:30 to 9am, every day including rain Free No Chinese needed |
12 entries
Central China (华中)
| What | Where | When and what it takes |
|---|---|---|
| You can join inDiabolo / Chinese Yo-yo (抖空竹（扯铃）)Luoyang’s riverside park has a diabolo ground set aside for it, and the province runs a New Year competition with team, two-wheel and one-wheel categories. | Henan | Mostly 6 to 9am, some practise in the afternoon Free to join; a diabolo is 30 to 100 yuan Some Chinese helps |
| WatchingGround Calligraphy (地书（公园书法）)Water on paving, written with an oversized brush and gone within minutes. Endlessly repeatable, which suits the people who practise it daily. | Henan | 6:30 to 9am Free Some Chinese helps |
| You can join inMorning Practice (陈家沟”六点半”晨练)Chen Village is where taiji started, and the village still practises at dawn. Street sweepers put the broom down and join in. Foreign students turn up in numbers over the summer. | Henan | From 6:30am daily Free outdoors; a course at a school costs No Chinese needed |
| WatchingShaolin Kung Fu Experience (少林功夫体验)The performances inside the Shaolin scenic area are a tourist product. What is closer to ordinary life is the martial school students training at dawn, which you can watch free if you get up. | Henan | Training at dawn, classes during the day Free to watch; a day’s class is 200 to 500 yuan Some Chinese helps |
| You can join inSquare Dance (广场舞)Stand at the back and copy. There is a leader at the front and a speaker on the ground, and nobody minds. | Henan | Every evening 7:30 to 9pm Free No Chinese needed |
| You can join inTai Chi Morning Practice (太极拳晨练)Stand at the back and follow. A fixed group of seventy or eighty works through taiji forms, sword, fan and health qigong on the square at Xingyang; the parks in Zhengzhou have their own. | Henan | 6 to 8am, every day of the year Free in the park; a school course is 100 to 300 yuan No Chinese needed |
| WatchingWhip Top (鞭陀)A heavy top driven by a whip, which is as loud as it sounds. Not one to try without someone showing you first. | Henan | Early morning, before work or after the school run Free to watch Some Chinese helps |
| You can join inEast Lake Tai Chi Morning Practice (东湖晨练太极)Taiji on the shore of East Lake, now packaged locally with the city’s breakfast habit so that the practice and the morning meal come together. | Hubei | 6 to 8am Free; a paid session is 100 to 200 yuan No Chinese needed |
| You can join inHankou Jiangtan “Hundred-Person Dance Troupe (汉口江滩百人舞团)The riverfront at Hankou fills with a dance line of a hundred or more, leader at the front, speakers turned up, and a back row that anyone can walk into. | Hubei | Every evening at 7:30 sharp Free No Chinese needed |
| You can join inMorning Exercise in Zhongshan/Jiefang Park (中山公园/解放公园晨练)Wuhan’s two big central parks, with the usual set of self-organised circles: taiji, badminton, singing, walking. | Hubei | 6 to 9am Free No Chinese needed |
| You can join inYichang Fitness (宜昌全民健身)Yichang has put exercise grounds into the leftover corners of the city, close enough that everyone has one within a quarter of an hour. | Hubei | Early morning and early evening Free No Chinese needed |
| You can join inHengyang Park Morning Exercise (衡阳平湖公园/蒸水风光带晨练)Hengyang’s lakeside park is open around the clock and has a suspension bridge and a running track; the taiji and dance lines gather along the river instead. | Hunan | 6 to 9am Free No Chinese needed |
8 entries
South China (华南)
| What | Where | When and what it takes |
|---|---|---|
| You can join inCommunity Square Dance (社区广场舞与健身操)Guangzhou’s park squares fill twice a day, and the back of the line is where a visitor can stand without anyone minding. | Guangdong | Mostly 7 to 9pm, with taiji and aerobics in the morning Free No Chinese needed |
| WatchingFoshan Wing Chun Practice (佛山咏春拳日常练习)Foshan has more than sixty thousand people doing martial arts. The hall classes are paid, but the dawn practice in the parks is open to watch. | Guangdong | School classes at fixed times; park practice at dawn Free to watch; classes charge Some Chinese helps |
| You can join inLiuhua Lake Park Fitness (流花湖公园蒲林广场健身)Taiji, ballroom and aerobics groups form on their own here, and there are 47 sets of exercise equipment for everyone else. | Guangdong | Early morning into late morning, and again at dusk Free No Chinese needed |
| You can join inPeople’s Park Morning Exercise (广州人民公园晨练与社交)The park runs three shifts a day, and the taiji groups will let you stand in without any Chinese. | Guangdong | 6 to 9am; Chinese chess after lunch; dancing and shuttlecock at dusk Free, open 6am to 10pm No Chinese needed |
| You can join inLi River Rouli Ball Tai Chi Ball (桂林漓江畔柔力球)Rouli ball is played with a racket that carries the ball rather than striking it, borrowing taiji’s logic of yielding. The Guilin team has been on the same riverbank for more than ten years. | Guangxi | Every morning Free to watch, free to join No Chinese needed |
| You can join inNanning Senior Sports (南宁”邕城长者运动乐”)Nanning runs organised sport for older residents across the city, more than ten thousand attendances a year. Taiji groups take anyone; gateball needs learning first. | Guangxi | Mostly early morning, some in the evening Free or cheap Some Chinese helps |
| You can join inBailu Park Night Fitness (三亚白鹭公园夜间健身)Sanya lights its park for the evening instead of the morning: a rubber running loop, outdoor table tennis, instrumented exercise machines and a dance line, all within a quarter-hour walk of home. | Hainan | After dark Free No Chinese needed |
| You can join inBaishamen Park Tai Chi Square (海口白沙门公园太极广场)A taiji square by the sea in Haikou in the morning, and by evening the same lawn is tents and kites. Camping is allowed within the park rules. | Hainan | Taiji at dawn; tents and kites on the lawn at dusk Free No Chinese needed |
1 entry
Northwest China (西北)
| What | Where | When and what it takes |
|---|---|---|
| WatchingYan’an Yangge & Red Culture (延安秧歌/红色文化)Yan’an was the Communist Party’s base from 1935 to 1948, and its leisure runs on that plus northern Shaanxi folk custom: yangge, waist drums, cave guesthouses and the local long-song. | Shaanxi | All year, day and evening Pagoda hill 60 yuan; the revolutionary sites are free with booking Some Chinese helps |
Being There on the Right Evening
Most of this costs nothing and needs no booking. What it needs is being in the right district at half past six rather than in a restaurant across town. Tell our local team which city and which week, and they will say what is on and where people actually go.