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Sport and culture in China

Tai-chi is a Chinese martial art often practiced with the aim of promoting health and longevity. Tai chi's training forms are well known as the slow motion routines that groups of people practice together every morning in parks around the world, particularly in China. Medical studies of tai chi support its effectiveness as an alternative exercise and a form of martial arts therapy. Tai chi is considered a soft style martial art — an art applied with internal power — to distinguish its theory and application from that of the hard martial art styles.

There are 56 different Chinese local races in China, and each of them have different cultures including food, costumes and arts. Each traditional culture dance (also known as folk dance) has their own characteristics, which can also tell how the people’s daily lives are. For example, the Mongolian culture dance symbolizes their daily lives of riding horses; and some other will dance around the campfire as their common social activities. The most common Chinese dances known by other countries are Lion Dance, dragon dance, ribbon dance, silk/feather fan dance, that are practiced by the largest local race in China - “Han” race (about 97per cent of Chinese are Han).

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