BEIJING, CHINA, May 19, 2015 (Business Standard): Participation of Premier Li Keqiang in the high profile yoga-tai chi event along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi here recently and the permission to set up the first India-assisted yoga college in China is seen as an official sanction for its spread in the communist nation. Li’s participation in the colorful yoga-tai chi meeting last week involving 400 Chinese and Indian students along with Modi provides “official seal” to permit practice of yoga in a big way, Indian officials said.
Yoga has become immensely popular in China especially among the educated middle classes who see it as more of a physical exercise. However, this is the first time that a high powered official attended a yoga event sending an official signal to the provinces to encourage it. An MOU to set up a yoga college along with Indian teachers in Yunnan University was signed during Modi’s visit which for the first time bring will bring new standards to thousands of yoga teachers and institutions mushrooming all over China.