Chinese Strong Body Houses

Imagine a place with people smoking cigarettes, a baby being pushed around in a shopping cart, teenagers playing billiards, and a dog not on its leash. If the women aren’t sporting high heels, then they’re wearing pajamas. If the men aren’t in dress clothes, then it’s obscenely tight shorts that are covering their obscenely skinny bodies. Strobe lights are pulsating and bad music is sputtering from wall-mounted speakers. Add some over-obliging staff and voila!... you have a real Chinese gym.

While my experience the other day in a gym on the third floor of a Walmart shopping center in Nanchang wasn’t necessarily remarkable by Chinese standards, any person of Western-tuned senses can’t help but take note. The scene described above is exactly what I saw the other day. I honestly had to step over a tiny little Pomeranian to grab some weights! Now while this dog might be cute as all hell, it does not belong in a gym 10 inches from my feet. Also, when I’m breathing hard from exercise I don’t want to inhale two lungs full of smoke. And on top of that, I’m sorry to say, it’s a bit hard to perform at my peak when a women is pushing around a shopping cart and her baby, who is resting comfortably inside, is yelling, “Look Mom! Foreigner! Foreigner!!” Unfortunately, I don’t have any photographic evidence of this insanity, but I’m sure my fellow Chinese expats would be more than happy to at least vouch for the veracity of this type of story. I do, however, have one photo to share, which was taken during a hike up a mountain outside of Yangshuo, Guilin, Guangxi Province a few years back:


This is the all-terrain, all-purpose shoe. In China, no matter where you are, or what you’re doing, you will see this shoe. Whether climbing mountains, on The Bund in Shanghai, in Jiangxi’s countryside, or at spinning class (as I was the other day), you will bear witness to this great equalizer. In China’s gyms, however, it is not only the sights and sounds that will amaze you, but the general behavior and etiquette of those “working out.” The concept of Western style physical fitness hasn’t totally hit China yet. Here, if you have the disposable income to afford a gym membership, then you want to be seen. Generally speaking, you’re the same type of person who goes to stupidly over-priced bars to drink fake whiskey and have groups of identically dressed women do dance routines in front of you. Going to the gym in China is still a sign of status. And as a westerner going there, expect stares. Also, expect that people think you are there only in part to exercise; in between sets you are there to teach English, of course! In more cosmopolitan cities such as Beijing, the scene is a bit tamer. But as we all know, Beijing does not represent most of China. However, no matter where in this great country you are, something that all Chinese know – and know very well – is that 身体是革命的本钱. And for this, they deserve applause and the entire world’s approval.