Locals dressed as donkeys for morning dances

Beautiful tulips in park

I think this was one of my favorite things from our entire trip to China. Our tour awoke early, ate, then headed to Xingqing Park where we watched locals exercise and joined in! Everyone in the entire park was doing something to exercise their mind or body. Some things we saw:

• Water Calligraphy – locals wrote on the sidewalk using water and a large brush to scroll ancient poems.
• Jianzi – kind of like hacky sack but with feathers. Great souvenir!
• Dancing – locals danced with fans and people dressed as donkeys.
• Tai Chi – slow moving martial arts moves.
• Spinning wooden tops – locals cracked rope along side of wooden top to keep it spinning.
• Chinese two step – couples dancing in large group of people doing the two step.

And yes, we tried all of these things and saw even more! We exercised for about an hour before we headed off, however I really wanted to stay for more. Make sure you add this on your to do list to really get a feel for the Chinese lifestyle.