As April arrives, World Leisure Day (WLD) 2022, scheduled for April 16, is approaching. So far, several relative activities have been held or will be held soon around the world.

World Leisure Center of Excellence at Zhejiang University (ZJU), the member of  World Leisure Center of Excellence (WLCE), is the only official representative of WLD activities in China this year, which will be responsible for assisting World Leisure Organization (WLO) to promote and carry out the WLD series activities throughout China.

To celebrate the day, students in Martial Arts and Traditional Sports at ZJU choose to demonstrate health qigong Baduanjin Performance - an excellent part of traditional cultural heritage, providing more leisure fitness choices for the public in their spare time.

Established in 2006, Martial Arts and Traditional Sports of ZJU is committed to cultivating health-oriented interdisciplinary talents, integrating theory and practice of physical education and health education.

Baduanjin Performance, combined with the traditional Chinese medicine theory of health fitness, is one of distinct qigong exercises with a long history. As one of leisure sports with Chinese characteristics, it is suitable for all, since there’s no limit to equipment or venue, easy to learn and possible for broad adoption. The ancients originally used “jin” as a metaphor to describe this set of movements, which means colorful, beautiful and luxurious in Chinese. Its movements are extended and  graceful, credited for excellent effects on dispelling disease and keeping fit, exquisitechoreography with perfect movement. The whole performance is divided into eight sections (one action for each), so it gained its name as Baduanjin. The character jin can also be understood as a collection of single guiding techniques, as continuous as doskin, referring to a complete set of fitness methods.

Reminder

Leisure is a human right: it says so in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). World Leisure Day, initiated by WLO, aims to strengthen the importance of Leisure as a human social right, it’s expected that people could realize the importance of Leisure in daily life by co-creating or participating in various activities, so as to advance the development of Leisure worldwide. Application has been submitted to the United Nations to recognize WLD. You're most welcome to contact and join us if you are disposed toward certain activities of WLD.

Edited by LI Xinman & XIA Jingyan