Race walking women stir up controversy

About 7:00 p.m. every day, large crowds of race walkers begin their exercise in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province. [Photo/Xinhua]

Race walking, one of the easiest and most profitable forms of exercise, has become very popular in China. These days, one can see people strolling in the park or on roadsides in groups of three and four in the evenings.

However, when tens of thousands of people are walking at the same time it's a cause for concern. It happened in Xuzhou, a coastal city in Jiangsu Province, leaving visitors gaping with wonder, Xinhua reported on Thursday.

About 7:00 p.m. every day, large crowds of race walkers begin their exercise. Tens of thousands of walkers share routes through big parks, campuses and scenic spots that pass through the entire city.

Each group of walkers is uniformly dressed and keeps in step to music played from a small speaker around one woman's waist. Sometimes they even chant loudly while walking.

Most of these race walkers are "dama" -- a common Chinese form of address for middle aged and elderly women. They are locals who used to participate in guangzhangwu -- a term for dancing in public squares. The dancing has already caused its fair share of controversy this year, arousing complaints of too much noise and disturbing public order.

One woman named Wang said she has been involved in race walking for more than three years.

"The number of my group members has expanded from several dozen to a considerably large scale. Many guangchangwu dancers joined us," she said.

While handing out T-shirts to members, an organizer of the Sunshine Race Walker Group said the activity is funded by an aluminum company.

"We wear the company's T-shirts and hold its banners while walking. It is a kind of advertising," she said. "We have more than 300 members, and we contacted each other through a QQ group on the Internet."

According to the organizer, different groups have different sponsors.

Usually the women walk seven kilometers per hour, Xinhua reported. With the expansion of the groups, the walkers now occupy sidewalks and driveways. Pedestrians complain and drivers honk their horns, but the only solution is avoiding the walkers.

A security guard at the Zhushan Scenic Spot in the city said race walkers severely block traffic in the area.

"Vehicles cannot go on smoothly at all from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.," he said.

A security guard at the Jiangsu Normal University said the expanded walking groups pose a danger to campus security.

"Their exercise usually starts at 6:00 p.m. and ends at 9:00 p.m. That has severely influenced the students' study and campus life," he said.

An official from the Xuzhou Public Security Bureau said that to guarantee the safety of race walking participants, the bureau has to take relevant measures to strengthen security along the routes.

Experts in health also contributed views on this kind of fitness program.

Li Yue, head of the Xuzhou Institute of Sports Science, suggested that patients with cardiovascular disease not participate in race walking. Li said people with health concerns or medical conditions should check with their doctors before beginning a routine.

The loud Chinese ladies have been very controversial in recent years.

In March, residents of Wenzhou in the neighboring Jiangsu Province pooled their money to buy a huge speaker to disperse the women who they felt were unfairly hogging the public square. It was the final effort in a long conflict in which the residents had to take drastic measures to stop the dancing.

In April, a photo of a group of Chinese women dancing at the Place du Louvre in France was posted on Weibo, stirring up further resentment of the dancing women.

Some people thought it was cool, but others were horribly embarrassed and believed that the dancing women and race walking affected the image of the Chinese people.