Beijing residents engage in physical exercise while keeping a distance at the Tiantan Park on March 5. Visitors to the park are required to wear masks and have their temperatures taken at the entrance.[Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily]

"People have been constantly phoning us to ask when we would reopen. They are extremely eager for exercise," says Tu Men, chief of the fitness section in Ningxia Stadium.

After scanning the QR code, Wang and his friend Zhang Yizhe had their body temperatures checked and their hands sanitized before entering the stadium. Both of them study in Wuhan. "The situation in Wuhan is getting better. I hope we can return to school soon and eat spicy crayfish with our friends," Zhang says.

The beginning of the new term has been postponed by the epidemic, and Zhai Feifei, a 27-year-old PE teacher of a middle school in Yinchuan, has been busy teaching classes online. "I send fitness videos that I record myself at home to my students for them to follow, such as pushups, situps, deep squats and leapfrog, and the students like them very much," says Zhai.

Knowing that the Hubin Gym in Yinchuan has been reopened, Zhai instantly contacted his friends to play table tennis together. Some 20 people can play badminton or table tennis in the large indoor space at one time, and people arriving late wait for a vacancy outside. All of them wear face masks.

"This is my first time exercising outside my home since the outbreak. I feel free because I can play at will without worrying that the noise may annoy my neighbor," Zhai says.

The silence that has lasted for over a month in outdoor squares and parks has finally been broken. In the evening glow, young people go skateboarding or roller-skating. Accompanied by loud music, some teenagers do breakdancing, while middle-aged couples pass by with their dogs.

The public fitness equipment on the sidewalk has become a favorite pastime of the elderly. A gray-haired grandpa is switching his body forward and backward with hands grasping a horizontal bar, and some grandmas are twisting their waists and necks.

These days, wearing face masks while doing exercise outside has become a daily routine for many people. "I hope the epidemic will end soon, and we can exercise without wearing face masks," Zhai says.