(22 June 2016, Taizhou, Zhejiang)

1.The fifth in the nine city celebrations of the 2nd International Day of Yoga (IDY) in the Eastern China Region was jointly organized by Consulate General of India, Shanghai along with Taizhou Municipal People’s Government today.

2. The 2nd IDY celebration was hosted at the Taizhou Sports and Football Stadium and more than 500 registered and participated in the Yoga celebrations. It may be noted that in the Eastern China Region, Taizhou, became the only city to host two separate large scale yoga performances in the last one month.

3. Giving the inaugural address at the IDY launch, Taizhou Vice Mayor, Zhao Yuejin, welcomed the introduction of Yoga culture into Taizhou and recalled that earlier in May 2016, a 1000 yoga lover event had been very successfully organized at the foothills of the Tiantai Mountain in Taizhou., Given its large following in Taizhou, Vice Mayor added that Yoga had the potential to promote values of harmony and peace between India and China.

4.Consulate General of India Shanghai had arranged through local resources a Chinese speaking Indian Yoga teacher, who conducted the Yoga session for the nearly 1000 Yoga practitioners, based on the Common Yoga Protocol sent by the Department of AYUSH. The event was extremely well received by the large number of Yoga follower community in Taizhou, which has a large number of Yoga clubs based there.

5. A special publication chronicling the global celebrations of last year’s IDY from nearly 192 countries in the world was also presented to Taizhou city leadership by Consul General of India in Shanghai. Chairman of Feiyue Mr. Qiu Qibao, who has been actively promoting investments into India, as well as Indian culture and arts into Eastern China, was also given the recognition of “Friend of India” in Eastern China jointly by Taizhou Municipal Government and Indian Consulate.

6. It may be noted that in the Eastern China region of Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu, 2nd IDY celebrations are being organized by CGI Shanghai from 18 - 26 June, one day each across nine cities in ECR, with theme of “Nine cities, Nine Days, Bringing together 9000 Yoga Lovers closer to India”! Each of the venues chosen in the nine cities, i.e. Wenzhou (18th June), Wuxi (19th June), Zhenjiang (20th June), Shanghai ( 21st June) Taizhou (today), Yiwu (23rd June), Shaoxing (24th June), Yangzhou (25th June), and Ningbo (26th June), will be at prestigious open public spaces with participation from more than 1000 people at each venue. Taken in conjunction with Taizhou’s last month Yoga event, nearly 1500 yoga lovers have so far joined in the 2nd IDY celebrations locally.

Taizhou
22 June 2016