Night classes are fit for purpose

Presence of foreign trainers teaching Brazilian jujitsu and tai chi is also a big draw, Wang Xin reports.

With the days getting shorter and dusk setting in early, many people make a beeline for indoor activities with evening art courses topping the list. Helping them keep in shape is 26-year-old Brazilian Ana Paula Zanolete, a black belt coach in Brazilian jujitsu, or BJJ.

Moving to Shanghai this January, Zanolete is teaching a BJJ night course in the city's Jing'an District Culture Center, which is one of the 1,072 night art courses that the city is offering to the public in the fall semester. She is also one of the first foreign teachers to give such culture lessons at night schools.

Shanghai's night courses have been trendy among those in the 18 to 55 age bracket who usually have day jobs. The public night school program initiated by the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism has been in operation for almost 10 years, aiming at extending culture and arts education to a wider range of learners.

Participants take 12 lessons given by professional tutors for about 500 yuan ($70), far below the market price. The fall semester enrolled nearly 25,000 students and have begun at 400 teaching locations across the city since this month.

Co-teaching with another BJJ veteran coach from Turkmenistan, Zanolete's course is one of the most popular offerings this semester. All 25 spots in the class were sold out within six seconds when its online registration opened in August.

"Shanghai is a big and beautiful city with a cosmopolitan culture, and it has a big community of BJJ and martial arts. I love BJJ and training people and teaching new students. For me, it is a great opportunity and really interesting thing to do," says Zanolete.

Apart from the night course, Zanolete also serves as a BJJ coach at a training institution in the city.