Traditional sports with distinct Chinese characteristics are
also very popular, including martial arts, taijiquan, qigong,
Chinese chess and Go or encirclement chess.
Martial arts, combining exercise and the arts of self-defense,
enjoy great popularity in China. Martial arts include bare-handed
boxing as well as offence and defense with equipment, both of which
has different schools and moves.
Taijiquan, or Chinese shadow boxing, combines control of body,
mind and breath. It emphasizes body movements following mind
movements, tempering toughness with gentleness and graceful
postures.
A system of deep breathing exercises, qigong is a unique Chinese
way of keeping fit. It aims at enhancing health, prolonging life,
curing illnesses and improving physiological functions by
concentrating the mind and regulating the breath.
There are varied entertaining and competitive sports activities
in the minority-inhabited areas, for example, wrestling and
horsemanship among Mongols, Uygurs and Kazaks, Tibetan yak racing,
ethnic Korean "seesaw jumping," crossbow among the Miao, and
dragon-boat racing among the Dai nationality.
