Shanghai and area~July 2019: August 2019

We arrived in Shanghai on Friday July 5th, which was a short stop prior to our visit to Japan--check out my blog posts https://tipsfromtheclumsyguy.blogspot.com/2019/08/arrival-in-shiga-prefectore.html
We wanted to see family and drop off heavier luggage in Mom's house so that we could travel light to Japan. So just a couple of days for now in China before returning for a longer visit. During our visit to Beijing last summer, I loved going to the parks to see the retired people doing mostly group activity, all of it very cool and fun to watch.

We also returned on our last Saturday in Shanghai, so this time I could use a real camera and telephoto lens to get some nice photos.

accordion player accompanist for singers

The choral group that we watched had around 50 singers and one of the conductors told us the group has been coming to this park for the past 17 years.

one of the conductors who has come here for 17 years

While most come to participate, some also come to just take in and observe the many groups of people practicing Tai Ji, playing jazz, playing badminton. The weather was gorgeous as was the landscaping. Even though it was a Saturday, a crew of city workers did some serious pruning on the 100 foot trees. A very positive vibe in the air and lots of good energy.

Really, it was refreshing to see such a positive flow--hundreds of people out for exercise, re-creation. Many of the participants are so-called elders, meaning late 50's and upward--plenty of people in their 70's and probably 80's. The weather was not too hot either--as Shaghai gets to the 100º weather a bit later in July.

Some of the groups had what appeared to be a teacher or leader, other groups brought boom boxes for music. There was ballroom dancing and all sorts of drills to watch people practicing.

I have so many more wonderful pictures and video so I'll be making a video one of these days from that source material~will be sure to loop back here and put the link in.