Kunming festival shows growing following for yoga

Chinese women perform yoga. [Photo/IC]

Hao says that setting up a yoga club in China is very easy－a person who receives one month of training rents an apartment or even uses his or her sitting room to provide yoga classes.

But to keep the yoga club running is difficult, as many are not qualified teachers.

It's also not unusual to hear of yoga lovers hurting themselves because of wrong teaching methods, she says.

Last year, the China-India Yoga College, the first yoga college in China, was established in Kunming when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited China and signed an agreement with Premier Li Keqiang.

According to Li Zhigong, deputy mayor of Kunming, the college will provide graduate and postgraduate students as yoga teachers.

He also plans to hold the China India Yoga Festival in Kunming annually to support China's "One Belt and One Road" initiative.

"Kunming is a suitable city to practice yoga. We want to have more cooperation with India in building up yoga facilities to attract visitors from home and abroad," Li Zhigong tells China Daily.