With teammates holding his arms, Ling Yun, who injured his knee while walking down a hill, hobbled across the finish line of the 'Walk for Love' soaked in sweat—but basking in the glory of his accomplishment.
The 40-year-old Changsha bank teller was one of 1,800 hikers from all over the country who participated in the 36km trek in the capital of Hunan province on Oct 18.
Co-hosted by Ice Dew Chun Yue, a bottled water brand of Coca-Cola China and charity organization One Foundation, the event raises funds to improve the quality of drinking water for children in rural areas.
Each team of four hikers had to raise at least 1,000 yuan ($163) in order to participate.
Combining charity with hiking, the program aims to raise awareness of water issues in rural areas and advocate daily exercise.
"The program is a win-win. Participants walked to raise money that would help children in need," said David G. Brooks, chairman and executive vice-president of Coca-Cola Greater China and Korea.
"At the same time, walking is positive for participants to maintain good health and a balanced lifestyle,"
The 52-year-old sports lover from the United States exercises every day in China by either walking, running, swimming or cycling in Shanghai.
He also enjoys cycling through the tea farms in the Hangzhou hills of Zhejiang province, a city that is only a 30-minute ride by high-speed rail from Shanghai.
Brooks said he is delighted to see many Chinese also climbing those hills.
"I've noticed a sharp increase in the number of Chinese fans of running and walking over the past three years, which I guess is because the Beijing Olympics strengthened public awareness of the importance of exercise in keeping healthy," Brooks said.
He described walking as "addictive" and Ling, the bank teller, agreed.
Sitting behind a counter eight hours a day with little exercise, Ling, who is 5-foot-5, formerly weighed 220 pounds and was in poor health. He routinely gasped for breath when climbing stairs, didn't sleep well and was often depressed.
Ling turned to sport and chose to become a walker—a simple but effective form of exercise that he has been doing regularly for two years.
"I walk back home from work three times a week," he said. "It takes me one hour to walk the 8 km and I've lost 45 pounds over the past two years.
"Sport does not necessarily mean competitive sports. For me, sport is a lifestyle, and physical exercise can be as easy as walking for an hour every day."
Brooks agrees.
"The best exercise is the one that you can keep up," he said. "Everyone should find the exercise that they can keep up, which means a lot to China's national fitness campaign."
Fitness campaign
On Oct 20 the State Council unveiled measures to accelerate development of the nation's sports industry and get more people exercising.
The sector's annual output will be raised to 5 trillion yuan ($814 billion) by 2025 and promoting fitness will become one of the government's national strategies, the State Council said in a policy document.
To commemorate the Beijing Olympics and boost the public's participation in exercise, Aug 8, the opening day of the 2008 Games, was set as the country's National Fitness Day in 2009.
China has proved it is a world sporting powerhouse through its Olympics success. It topped the gold medal tally at Beijing 2008 with 51 and performed strongly four years later in London, bringing home 38 gold medals.
However, in contrast to the nation's prowess at the elite level, the overall fitness of the public, and children in particular, has become a cause for concern.
In 2009, the World Health Organization ranked China 81st among its 192 member nations regarding general health and life expectancy.
It is not unusual for schools in China to replace physical education classes with extra tuition or examinations to help youngsters cope with the rigors of the gaokao, the nation's college entrance exam.
Raised with that mindset, Li Chan, a 26-year-old white-collar worker in Beijing, used to neglect the importance of physical exercise until she became concerned about her out-of-shape figure.
"My mother would give me lollipops if I did well in exams, but she wouldn't promise to do so for a good grade in PE exams.," recalled Li.
"So I was weak in sports and unable to go through the 800m running test at college.
"It's common among people in my age group.
"Many modern people use their busy work schedule as an excuse for not exercising but, actually, you can always squeeze in time for exercise no matter how busy you are."
Li goes to the gym once a week and runs almost every day—if the capital is not shrouded in smog—which prepared her for the long walk in Changsha.
The good news is that the public is paying more attention to physical exercise and health.
Parents took their children to participate in the hiking event in Changsha and the eldest participant was a sprightly 71-year-old.
"Chinese people never neglect saving money, but now we need to advocate saving health," said Bai Yansong, the well-known news commentator at China Central Television.
"No matter how much money you have saved, it will be all gone in the blink of an eye if you are not healthy and you will become a huge burden to your family and to society."
China is faced with a big challenge to keep its rapidly aging population healthy, said Bai, who for seven years has also served as a publicist for the National Health and Family Planning Commission's incentive plan of spreading knowledge about chronic diseases.
"The situation of chronic disease in China is tough. Many chronic diseases are caused by unhealthy lifestyles. We need to eat less and walk more," he said.
IGNITING A PASSION TO HELP OTHERS
Changsha is the fourth leg of Walk for Love, a charity program initiated by One Foundation in 2013 and sponsored by Coca-Cola China.
More than 7,000 people have participated in the event since it was launched and 5.29 million yuan ($864,300) has been raised for the charity funds that finance the Clear Water Project, which installs water purification equipment in rural schools across the country and is expected to provide more than 40,000 children with access to clean drinking water by the end of this year.
So far, the Changsha event has collected about 490,000 yuan in funds and the fund-raising activities will continue until Nov 18.
Hu Jiaoyan, a 12-year-old eighth-grader at a rural school in Xinhua county, Hunan province, can't wait to see a water purifier installed at her school.
"The well water we drink tastes strange and I can see black bugs floating in it. My teacher told me that there is a lot of bacteria in it," Hu said as she was waiting for the hikers at a water and food supply station. Together with nine schoolmates, Hu was selected to come to Changsha to cheer for the hikers.
"I want to thank them. I can drink clean and sweet water because of their act of kindness," she said.
Walk for Love was developed from Run for Love, a collaboration between One Foundation and the Shenzhen Mountaineering & Outdoor Sport Association in 2011 which combines a mountain marathon with charity.
"Walking is easier for people to participate in than a mountain marathon so we decided to host Walk for Love to increase the public's participation in charity events," said Li Jin, general-secretary of One Foundation.
Star power has also helped spread the influence of Walk for Love and get more people to take part.
Li, David G. Brooks, chairman and executive vice-president of Coca-Cola Greater China and Korea, and Bai Yansong, a popular TV news commentator, fired the starting gun to loud cheers from the 1,800 hikers in Changsha and led their teams to the finish of the long trek.
"A match cannot give off much heat even it burns itself out," said Bai.
"But it becomes powerful if it ignites a bonfire. We are like three matches, hoping to ignite more people's passion for charity."
CHINA DAILY
Members of Team Seeking the Truth encourage each other before the start.
CHINA DAILY
The recent 'Walk for Love' in Changsha, Hunan province, attracted more than 1,800 participants.
