WORKERS ARE DRAWN BACK TO THE GYM, PARTLY TO KEEP HEALTHY IN SPITE OF AILMENTS FROM OLD AGE, BUT MORE FOR THE SHARED MEMORIES OF THE PAST AND THE PLEASANT ATMOSPHERE.
Super League in the 2010s and Dai one of the first referees from China to officiate at international level.
Erqi Locomotive Factory terminated Feng’s contract five years ago, with a severance payout of over 300,000 yuan. Initially, he spent his retirement taking care of his grandchildren and playing soccer. But in 2020, the sports fields in Changxindian were shut down because of the pandemic, and Feng was left with nothing to do but gaze at the locked gate of the fields on his way to picking up his grandchildren from school each day.
A call from Xu the next year broke the stagnation. “Old teammate, come work out with me!” Xu said.
Stepping into the gym, Feng feels as though he is transported back to the past. Fitness is not the only reason he comes every day—he also enjoys catching up with old colleagues.
The stuffy shed is enlivened by his constant chatter in a thick Beijing accent: This former coworker moved to Shenzhen, that one missed the class reunion, someone else just had another grandson. On the morning of TWOC’S visit, he has just returned from hospital, and is recounting his conversation with the doctor while showing everyone the leukoderma on his hands.
“Look at my figure, I can’t train as hard as Xu Wei,” Feng says, “but working out, chatting about family— it’s better than playing mahjong and drinking every day.”
At 4 p.m., as the majority of the seniors depart one by one to pick up their grandchildren or finish their housework, 35-year-old Zhao Pengju parks his motorcycle by the door.
From 4 to 6 every afternoon, while his son goes to after-school tutoring, Zhao works out in the Erqi gym.
When he is warmed up, he takes off his hoodie and continues to lift dumbbells topless, even in the October chill. Compared to the seniors, Zhao trains harder and takes time to check out his biceps in the mirror.
A latecomer to the gym, Zhao never worked or lived together with the other members, but he was drawn to the space when he came across Xu’s fitness videos on Douyin, China’s Tiktok.
“It’s a good atmosphere to work out with these uncles,” he says. “In other gyms, people keep to themselves and look down on one another. But here the uncles teach me how to exercise.”
In 2019, with roughly 1,000 employees remaining, the Erqi Locomotive Factory terminated its last production line. It was the end of an era, but the former members of this once-glorious enterprise continue to care about the community even long after they left.
As for the future of the gym, Xu doesn’t have a clear idea. It had fewer than 20 members when he took over; now it has more than 60 regulars. He only looks up at the dripping ceiling and murmurs, “I have to find time to patch the roof.”
Several years ago, the monthly rent for the bike shed increased from 2,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan. As membership fees barely cover rent and utilities, there is no extra money for repairs. Xu is worried that the government will demolish the bike shed, which would mean yet another relocation.
But for himself, Xu has another goal. At 65, though he has contributed many trophies to the gym’s lounge area, he’s still not satisfied. “I will participate in the national [bodybuilding] competition next year,” he says. “And when I’m 75, I will do it again.”