Apple News Facebook Twitter 新浪微博 Instagram YouTube Wednesday, Mar 15, 2023
Search
Archive
English>>

First postgraduate yoga program begins in China

(People's Daily Online)    17:10, January 07, 2019

Students of the China-India Yoga College show their skills on the International Day of Yoga. (Photo/Xinhua) 

A master’s degree in yoga, offered at the China-India Yoga College, enrolled its first students last September, and has drawn widespread attention ever since. China News Service recently interviewed students at the college, revealing the charming spirituality of the ancient practice.

The China-India Yoga College was jointly created by China’s Yunnan Minzu University and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. After 40 undergraduate students enrolled in September 2017, 12 postgraduate students registered last year. They are the first ever batch of postgraduate students in China to major in yoga.

The 12 students were studying various majors before they joined the yoga institution, such as English, nursing, pharmacy, marketing and environmental science. Only two of them are male.

The first two academic years of the program are to be completed in China, and the final year will take place in India. In addition to professional yoga courses, the students have to study English, Indian and Sanskrit.

Employment is not the only aim for the students that have signed up.

Zhang Mengping, who worked at a yoga club in Zhejiang province before studying at the China-India Yoga College, noted that yoga helped her find inner peace. She told China News Service that it felt good to see the links between the ancient Chinese and Indian knowledge systems.

Another student, Weng Junyong, had already established a company in the yoga industry. He said that the postgraduate degree was a way for him to make self-breakthroughs, and was also a channel for him to find the differences between academic and commercial yoga systems.

China’s yoga market is still at an introductory stage that lacks systematic study and guidance, and someone must change the situation, Weng noted.

Zhang disclosed that in the past four months of study, apart from yoga-related courses, they also studied traditional Chinese medicine and Chinese martial arts. “It is a localized exploration organized by the college,” she said.

“Though we are the lab rats, we are not afraid or worried. On the contrary, we are quite excited,” Zhang said.

As the first batch of students majoring in yoga in China, Weng believes that they are sure of a bright future.

Lang Gongxun, vice president of the China-India Yoga College, noted that there was huge professional demand in China’s yoga industry, and the college was hoping to train comprehensive professionals able to improve the healthy development of this sector. 

(For the latest China news, Please follow People's Daily on Twitter and Facebook)(Web editor: Bianji, Hongyu)

Add your comment

Related reading

We Recommend

Most Read

Key Words