(24 June 2016, Shaoxing, Zhejiang)

The seventh 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 Shaoxing Municipal People’s Government today.

2. The 2nd IDY celebration was hosted at the Keqiao Sports Stadium and more than 1000 registered and participated in the Yoga celebrations. It may be noted that in the Eastern China Region, Shaoxing, is a textile trading hub and host to one of the largest Indian trading community, with nearly 1500 Indian residents based out of Shaoxing. As such, in addition to Chinese participants, several Indian nationals, under the banner of Indian Association - Shaoxing, also participated in today’s event.

3. Giving the inaugural address at the IDY launch, Shaoxing Vice Mayor, Ding Xiaoyan, welcomed the holding of the 2nd IDY celebration into Shaoxing city and stated that Shaoxing was looking forward to hosting the India Culture Week very soon. Given its large following in Shaoxing, especially with a large number of Indian community residents presents, Vice Mayor called upon residents of Keqiao (in Shaoxing) to look at increasing bilateral cultural exchanges and greater tourism exchanges with India.

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 Shaoxing, which also 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 Shaoxing leadership by Consul General of India in Shanghai. It may be noted that Shaoxing is also the home town of Premier Zhou Enlai and famous Chinese poet Lu Xun, and vividly celebrates their friendship with Prime Minister Nehru and Gurudev Tagore respectively.

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 (22nd June), Yiwu (23rd June), Shaoxing (today), Yangzhou (25th June), and Ningbo (26th June), will be at prestigious open public spaces with participation from more than 1000 people at each venue.

Shaoxing ( Zhejiang)

24 June 2016