In the recent sweltering summer days, while many still choose to hide in air-conditioned rooms to escape the heat, there is a noticeable shift this year as a large group of young people have begun to embrace ancient fitness and health practices such as ‘Moxibustion’ and ‘Ba Duan Jin’. Contrary to the common perception of modern youth indulging in milk tea and coffee, feasting on takeout barbecues, binge-watching series through the night, or lazing in bed all weekend without leaving the house, reality shows an increasing number of young people finding themselves unable to endure the toll of staying up late.
They are now turning to their own unique ‘Chinese Fitness’ secrets to protect their fragile health. During the hottest days of summer, they practice sunbathing on their backs, soothing foot baths in wooden barrels that reach up to their calves, and they particularly favor the ‘Fist-Clenching and Angry Eye’ exercise, where each punch is a release of work stress. More and more young people are joining the trend of ‘Chinese Fitness’. They may choose to practice ‘Ba Duan Jin’ and ‘Wu Qin Xi’, or experience the soothing effects of ‘Acupuncture’ and ‘Massage’. On social media platforms, the ‘Chinese Fitness’ methods beloved by the older generation are gradually becoming hot topics among young people. Why are more post-2000s not going to the gym but starting to learn Ba Duan Jin? When the command ‘Raise hands to the sky and regulate the three jiaos’ is heard, people of different ages gather together to practice ‘Ba Duan Jin’. They refer to each other as ‘Jin Friends’ or ‘Dao Friends’, exploring the secrets of health and harmony, making Ba Duan Jin a hot topic for modern young people’s summer health regimen. On Bilibili, the ‘Ba Duan Jin’ video by the National Sports Bureau has tens of thousands of comments. Despite the video quality being reduced to an irreparable level, it has not stopped the enthusiasm of young people to check in daily, leaving comments like ‘Do it every day, live healthy and long’. At the same time, thanks to the active promotion by the National Sports Bureau, the follow-along videos that were mainly popular among the middle-aged and elderly have now emerged in various new versions such as ‘Muscle Man Edition’ and ‘Martial Arts Master Edition’. Even bloggers in the yoga and fitness shaping fields have joined the practice, providing in-depth analysis of the movements. Well-known fitness blogger Pamela also shared her video of practicing ‘Ba Duan Jin’, contributing to its popularity. With a history of 800 years, ‘Ba Duan Jin’, originating from the Song Dynasty, is an ancient and traditional Chinese fitness method. Although it only includes eight basic movements, these movements precisely target important parts of the human body such as the three jiaos, cardiopulmonary, spleen and stomach, and kidneys and waist, forming a comprehensive, holistic, and age-appropriate fitness and health method.After practice, not only is the muscle soreness significantly reduced, but even novice exercisers can experience a complete and well-rounded exercise process. From the perspective of traditional medicine, “Baduanjin” can soften tendons and bones, enhance physical strength, help the circulation of qi and blood, dredge meridians, make bones more flexible, and coordinate the functions of the five internal organs.
The philosophy of “Chinese health preservation” emphasizes the balance of yin and yang, which conforms to the natural movement law of life and can harmonize qi and blood and unblock meridians. “Baduanjin” can stand out among many traditional exercises and has been popular until now mainly because it brings practical physical and mental cultivation experience to practitioners. Compared with the pressure of daily fitness and muscle fatigue after strength training, “Baduanjin” gives people a relaxed and pleasant feeling. It not only alleviates the heavy burden that exercise itself may bring, but also provides a more flexible way of practice for office workers. At the same time, “Baduanjin” has also opened up a new direction for video follow-up practice and live fitness fields. For example, in online live broadcasts on the Douyin platform, in addition to traditional aerobics, shaping training and yoga courses, many accounts and live broadcast rooms related to “Chinese fitness” have emerged recently. These live broadcast contents not only include the practice of “Baduanjin”, but also cover many traditional “Chinese fitness” methods such as “Tai Chi”, “Five Animal Exercises”, and “Patting Eight Deficient Areas”. In addition to the wide spread of online live broadcasts, offline gyms also follow the trend and have successively opened group courses of “Chinese fitness” such as “Tai Chi” and “Baduanjin”. Media reports say that since this year, “Baduanjin” has gradually become an elective physical education course in colleges and universities such as Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ningxia University. Also in Shanghai, some Tai Chi gyms and martial arts gyms also offer “Baduanjin” experience courses. These courses are especially suitable for beginners without any foundation. They are characterized by health preservation and conditioning and traditional culture experience, and are mainly targeted at people with poor physical conditions and “three highs” problems. With the increasing popularity of the “Chinese fitness” trend, more and more young people are beginning to try related products or sign up for professional fitness and health preservation courses. This has also promoted the Chinese health preservation industry in the market to develop in a more complete and mature direction. Those young people who knew little about traditional Chinese martial arts in the past are now actively engaged in daily “Baduanjin” practice. Some people even praise “Baduanjin” as a fitness method more suitable for the Chinese physique and become the most popular sport among young people this summer. In addition to “Baduanjin”, young people are increasingly fond of other “Chinese fitness” methods, such as playing “Tai Chi” in the morning, “sunbathing the back”, “qigong martial arts”, and receiving “moxibustion physiotherapy”.The topic of ‘Renewing Skin by Sunbathing During the Dog Days’ has garnered millions of reads, attracting the attention and participation of a large number of netizens who have enthusiastically engaged in this sunbathing performance art. Whether in parks, on balconies, or on rooftops, people often see young individuals enjoying the pleasure of ‘sunbathing.’ It appears that traditional ‘Chinese Fitness’ methods, once forgotten by the public, are gradually being rediscovered and valued. We have reason to believe that ‘Chinese Fitness’ will become the mainstream trend in fitness and health preservation in the near future.
Young people’s creative health preservation subtly reveals their health anxiety. Today’s youth are gradually becoming the backbone of ‘Chinese Fitness’ consumption. Due to work and entertainment, young people often struggle to devote a significant amount of energy to health preservation in daily life. They seek freedom and also wish for good health, leading to the emergence of the so-called ‘compensatory health preservation’ phenomenon. However, this health preservation method, which consumes the body while replenishing, actually contradicts the original intention of health preservation. It is more based on psychological compensation after excessive consumption. Additionally, the seemingly contradictory concept of ‘punk health preservation’ also reveals the helplessness of young people in the face of life pressures and emotional release. Especially for the post-95s and post-00s generation, who are at a critical stage of career development and role transformation, the dual pressures lead to health issues, regardless of their magnitude. Because of this, young people’s emphasis on ‘health’ and ‘fitness’ is increasing day by day. Some young people who are keen on ‘fitness’ hold a fitness card, but often fail to persist due to various reasons. They desire to improve health through exercise but are constrained by time and energy limitations. However, ‘Baduanjin’, with its diverse characteristics, meets their fitness needs perfectly. Its simple and easy-to-learn features are particularly attractive. For beginners in fitness, ‘Baduanjin’ is easy to get started, allowing beginners to adjust the intensity and number of exercises according to their physical capacity, making it easy to get started; for fast-paced professionals, it does not require complicated venues and equipment, with balconies, next to desks, or even the grass downstairs, all serving as places for practice. This unparalleled convenience makes it easy to foresee that young people are becoming the main force in practicing ‘Baduanjin.’ However, the various effects widely circulated online, such as practicing ‘Baduanjin’ to grow hair, improve sleep, and significantly lose weight, actually vary from person to person. ‘Baduanjin’ mainly cultivates the practitioner’s focus and patience through precise movements and smooth breathing, enhances self-control ability, and guides people back to nature.Science has confirmed the numerous benefits of ‘Ba Duan Jin’, which can improve joint flexibility and stability, enhance the immune system, and positively impact cardiovascular health.
The rise of ‘Chinese-style fitness’ stems from the public’s eager desire for a healthy lifestyle. In today’s high-pressure modern society, more and more people are seeking harmony and balance between body and mind. Young people’s summer health list now includes moxibustion sticks and gua sha boards as new choices. This diverse approach to health inadvertently reveals young people’s ‘health anxieties’ and reflects new trends in social sentiment. The enthusiasm of young people for health preservation may hide an attitude of escaping from stress. In terms of ‘Chinese-style fitness’, young people have gone through a complete journey of ‘doubt, understanding, practice, and sublimation’. This trend, originally popular among the middle-aged and elderly, has now been embraced by energetic post-80s, post-90s, and even the vibrant post-00s, developing their own new health concepts. By abandoning consumerism, young people have found a balance in life. As young people gradually move away from traditional ‘gymnasiums’ and ‘yoga rooms’, choosing to bask in natural light under the sun and even accepting ‘Chinese-style fitness’ methods once considered exclusive to the elderly, this lifestyle change not only highlights new changes in young people’s consumption concepts and preferences. The ‘fast-paced’ lifestyle makes ‘traditional gyms’ unable to meet their needs. Coupled with the increasing rationality of modern young people’s consumption concepts, they also start to explore methods of ‘fitness consumption’ that can save costs and improve efficiency. Although the pace of ‘consumer upgrading’ never stops, the increase in personal disposable income has its limits. Today’s young people still hope to reduce expenses while pursuing ‘health’. From the initial ‘Buddhist attitude’ and ‘lying flat life’, to the later ‘rotting mentality’, interspersed with the rebellious and compromising ‘punk health’ approach, young people are increasingly investing their energy into real life, abandoning the shackles of consumerism. They seek inner peace through the method of ‘discarding and letting go’, thus presenting a mature and composed spirit, as if becoming spiritual elders. Whether it is practicing Zen and Buddhism or practicing Chinese health preservation, the phenomenon of young people with youthful appearances but elderly mindsets actually reflects their desire to break free from shackles and seek self-redemption, gradually leaning towards the leisurely life attitude of traditional ‘Chinese-style fitness’. In the process from doubt to joyful acceptance, they have gradually found the balance of life.Nowadays, young people’s love for ‘traditional Chinese ways to keep fit’ is like the obsession of the elderly with short videos. Both are seeking a new balance in the integration of their original life concepts with the background of the new era. No matter how ‘mature and stable’ the mentality of young people becomes, or how the elderly maintain ‘youthful vitality’, the needs of different groups still exist vigorously, and these needs will also give birth to new market opportunities as consumption concepts continue to evolve.
With young people paying increasing attention to health issues, ‘traditional Chinese fitness’ exercises represented by ‘Tai Chi’, ‘Baduanjin’, and ‘Wuqinxi’ have quickly become popular on short video platforms. We also see that some modern ‘fitness courses’ have begun to incorporate Chinese elements. For example, Les Mills’ BodyCombat aerobic combat course has added movements such as tiger claws and crane stance from Wuqinxi; LeFit has launched a Tai Chi FIT group course centered around the concept of yin and yang opposition in Tai Chi; and Supermonkey’s immersive drama curtain course also has its own self-developed Vitality Tai Chi course. The integration of ‘traditional Chinese fitness’ and the modern fitness industry is accelerating and is expected to become a new gold mine in the fitness industry. With vitamins in hand and health-preserving tea by the side, practicing Baduanjin after getting up in the morning and doing simple patting and relaxation before going to bed at night, more and more young people are beginning to regard physical health as a long-term investment. No matter what motives contemporary young people have for health preservation, behind it all reflects their optimistic attitude of still moving forward actively under pressure and their methods of self-regulation. At the same time, it also reflects their exploration of the integration and innovation of excellent traditional Chinese culture and modern lifestyle. The specific forms of ‘traditional Chinese fitness’ may continue to change, but when it comes back to the essence of health preservation, people’s desire for a healthy life is eternal. Whether it is through practicing Baduanjin, trying acupuncture and tuina to achieve physical conditioning, or in other ways, fitness sometimes more reflects a lifestyle. Perhaps a positive, enthusiastic, and dedicated heart to take care of oneself is the most important.