Exercising

Located throughout the city are various keep-fit 'play areas'. Instead of swings and roundabouts for the young, these are brightly coloured metallic contraptions for exercising the arms, legs and back, and used by all ages. This exercise machines all appear to be in good condition - probably they are polished and serviced regularly, as seems to be the case for most public objects - but occasionally you do find the squeaky one....

Apart from that, the exercise comes from the layout of the city: Chongqing is known as the “Mountain City” and there are steps everywhere. It is said that the climbing up and down of the mountain steps every day gives the locals a good physique. These factors contribute to the city’s sonic identity: from sandals slapping on stone as people descend the steps to the fact that the place is not easy to cycle round, and so (unusually for China) there are very few bicycles here, but many more motor vehicles.