Beijing is resurrecting the decades-old practice of broadcasting calisthenics routines over the radio, as part of a 10-year plan to combat the growing problem with obesity.
Only five per cent of China's huge population are considered obese, a low figure by Western standards. But the ranks of the overweight are expanding quickly as China's economy develops. They're expected to double in the next five years.
Many affluent Western countries have struggled to rein in their own obesity "epidemics." In the case of the United States, an estimated two-thirds of Americans are now overweight.
In the hopes that Beijing's population will fare better as the country grows richer, the government has come up with a plan to combat obesity -- including the callisthenics radio show.
While some companies now ask their employees to take part in the callisthenics routine each day, many others have yet to sign on.
If it grows in popularity, the government hopes that four million Beijing residents could soon start each work day with a little exercise.
"I feel I have a clearer mind after doing this," says one woman after finishing the latest radio callisthenics routine with her coworkers in the Beijing department store where they work. "It's been really good to do the exercise again."
Radio exercise regimens actually originated in China in the early 1950s under Mao Zedong, when they were practiced by millions of workers in state-owned factories.
But the drills became less popular over the years as China's economy moved towards free-market capitalism and companies became privately owned. The radio transmission went off the air altogether after the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Now Zhang Zhonglin, the former elite gymnast who has been reading out the exercise broadcasts since 1972, is elated that they're back.
"There is an old saying here that running water is never stale," he says. "People now sit the whole day -- I think it's the right time to promote group exercise."
With a report from CTV's Beijing Bureau Chief Ben Ohara-Byrne
