Wuxi (located in Jiangsu) hosted a record setting grand finale to the 12 cities 3^rd International Day of Yoga celebration in Eastern China region today. Ten thousand yoga participants turned up from Wuxi and neighbouring cities at early morning hours to participate in the record setting Yoga celebration, which was jointly organized by Consulate General of India, Shanghai along with Wuxi Municipal People’s Government. 

2.      The setting for the grand finale celebration was the scenic Lingshan Dafo (Buddhist Temple in Wuxi) and the Buddhist Palace. Spread over ten practice venues, with nearly NINE Indian Yoga Teachers taking the stage, a mass yoga session was conducted concurrently for the ten thousand participants at the same time. From the Indian community a large number of Indian students pursuing medicine at Suzhou and Yangzhou, also travelled to Wuxi to join in the 3^rd IDY celebrations. 

3.      Giving the inaugural address at the IDY launch, Mayor of Wuxi, Mr. Wang Quan, stated that Yoga is another facet of long standing cultural cooperation between India and China, and with today’s ten-thousand-person yoga event being hosted in Wuxi, he expected that Yoga will become the “signature name card” for the beautiful city of Wuxi. He also added that since Buddhism came from India to China, it was an ideal setting for Lingshan Dafo Buddhist Temple to host the 3^rd IDY celebration in Wuxi! 

4.     Stanley Tang, Director of the famous Chinese Movie, “Kungfu Yoga” also graced the event and addressed the audience, calling for greater cultural exchanges between the peoples of India and China. A special Yoga performance was also enacted by leading Chinese Actress Ms. Muqi Mia, who had also played a leading role in the same movie. 

5.       Consulate General of India Shanghai had arranged through local resources, one (Chinese speaking) Indian Yoga teacher from S-VYASA Yoga University, five yoga teachers from KYM (Krishnamachari Yoga Mandiram), along with another teacher from ICCR and other, in total NINE Yoga Indian teachers, who conducted the Yoga session for the TEN THOUSAND 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/around Wuxi. 

6.      Immediately upon conclusion of the 3^rd IDY Yoga session, a special conference on the objectives of Yoga and Ayurveda was also held at the Buddhist Palace (Fangong) with nearly 150 participants, which included Yoga Teachers and Ayurveda doctors from India. Earlier, over the last three days since 22^nd June, Wuxi had also hosted a continuous three- day workshop on the benefits of Yoga – through simple and easy exercise in daily lives. These sessions were conducted by KYM teachers and more than 300 participants turned up each day to participate in the workshops. 

7.    It may be noted that in the Eastern China region of Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu, 3^rd IDY celebrations were organized by CGI Shanghai from 17 - 25 June, one day each across twelve cities in ECR, with theme of “Ten cities, Ten Days, bringing together 20000 Yoga Lovers closer to India – promoting healthy and harmonious lifestyles”! 

8.      Each of the venues chosen in the twelve cities, i.e. Wuyi (19 May), Huzhou (20 May), Lishui (10 June), Zhenjiang (11 June), Hangzhou (17 June), Wenzhou (18 June), Shanghai (21 June), Jiaxing (22 June), Xuzhou (23 June), Suqian (23 June), Taizhou (24 June) and Wuxi (25 June), were at prestigious open public spaces with participation from at least 1000 people at each venue. 

9.     As per Wuxi China Council for Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), i.e. the local organizer for the event, the Wuxi celebration hosted the largest number of participants for any IDY event in mainland China in 2017!

Wuxi (Jiangsu)

25 June 2017