Period+6+China+Sports

Chinese Sports By: Maria Carroll and Cara Duda

Table tennis is a very popular sport in China. Ping Pang Qiu is the offical name for table tennis in China. Since it began such a sensation, there has been rule changes in the International Table Tennis Federation, and is now included as a part of the Olympics.



Traditional Chinese sports consists of martial arts, taijiquan or shadow boxing, qigong which is an exercise of deep breathing, and Chinese chess. The most popular type of martial arts is kung fu. In Chinese kung fu there is a distinction made between external and internal kung fu. In external kung fu one exercises tendons, bones, and skin. In internal kung fu a person exercises their spirit. Another popular sport is taijiquan which is a kind of Chinese boxing. This conbindes controling your breath, mind, and body. It aims to enhance health, prolonging life, ans curing illness. Qigong is an internal Chinese meditative practice. This enhances the persons overall health. There are also many forms of qigong that are done with little or no movement at all, in standing, sitting, and supine positions. The last main sport is chess. Xiangqi is a form of chess that started in China. It is a chess game for two people to play. Each player has sixteen pieces to move on hte board. The way to win is to try to kill the other player's Jiang. Each kind of piece has different ways to move. This game is one of the most popular sports in China.

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