Traditional Chinese exercises find increasing favor

A student at Huazhong Agricultural University in Wuhan, Hubei province, used to consider tai chi and other traditional Chinese exercises to be sports for elderly retirees.

"Tai chi practitioners struck me as moving at a very slow pace and their activities looked dull," said the student, surnamed Zhou.

But after surgery in the summer of 2022, Zhou cannot participate in vigorous sports on campus and now earns school credits in tai chi and baduanjin — an ancient Chinese discipline combining breathing exercises with physical movements.