When public parks become gyms, the horizontal bars serve as equipment for arm-strengthening exercises, the benches and steps as facilities for stretching hamstrings, and the open spaces as areas for relaxing the muscles. Chinese kung fu is thriving not only in sports venues, but also in the bending backs of morning exercisers, the gripped palms on metal bars and the rhythmic breath of daily effort. These everyday routines, honed over the course of many years, embody the essence of kung fu as a d