Sports for all and dogs too in Pujin Subdistrict

Editor's note:

Alice Walker, the African American writer, wrote her short story "Everyday Use" (1973) by threading the plot on a patchwork quilt. In Minhang District, craftspeople have made a patchwork map showing the geography of the district by crocheting each of its 14 towns, subdistricts, and industrial zone with a different color and pattern, then joining them. The map is dazzlingly beautiful and suggests good connections. In this column on community and home, we introduce stories of people collected from the 14 towns, subdistricts, and industrial zone in Minhang, which we hope will help residents there and readers elsewhere cherish their homes.

A greenery slope meanders for about 2 kilometers along Puxing Highway in Pujin Subdistrict. Forest, meadow, shrub and flower blossoms make this a paradise of camping, pet walking, picnics and chatting. The "Big Green Slope" has become an online hit for the subdistrict, which gained its reputation as a garden town of Shanghai in 2019.

With a landscape both pastoral and urban, Minhang's Pujin is the place for novel leisure, sports and entertainment lifestyles. ­

From stray dog to championship canine

Chen Yang, a resident of Pujin, has led her dog Cookie to win nine trophies in a pets and owners outdoor challenge competition at Pujiang Country Park since August 2023, six of them being championships. The journey marks Cookie's rise from stray dog to title winner, and Cookie's owner, from a former "couch potato" to a devotee of community sports.

"It was during the pandemic time in February 2020. I was riding a bicycle to distribute food to my grandmother," Chen recalled.

The coal-black dog entered its current owner's life very much resembling a defeated man, with a straw accidentally attached at its muzzle almost as if it was bidding for its life.

"The dog walked toward me while an empathetic feeling was also rising in my heart," she said.

Chen adopted the animal. Now a member of the family, they ride waves, go drifting, bathe in thermal springs and watch the coastal sunrise together.

Around the time when super typhoon Doksuri attacked Shanghai in the summer last year, they enrolled in the pets and owners outdoor challenge competition at the Let's Dog pet world in Pujiang Country Park.

The park opened in April last year and is the first of its kind in Shanghai to offer outdoor sports challenges for pets and their owners.

A 1-kilometer racetrack comprises a smooth track, hazard zones, including hurdles, mud pools, mazes, suspension bridges, tires, channels, seesaws and punch sacks, and a final sprint track. Dogs are categorized depending on their size and their breed when they compete with each other.

"That August, we finished at 7 minutes 19 seconds and now we have improved to 5 minutes and 32 seconds. Chinese rural dogs are by nature good at sprinting. But they are afraid of heights such as on a seesaw and need our encouragement. As the owner, I did both intermittent running and long distance racing, swimming, kayaking to improve my body condition," said Chen.

"The outdoor challenge park is a blessing for both pet owners and those without in the neighborhood. A tailored yard for the former and less friction between the two groups," Chen said.

The city's development plan envisages the subdistrict as a cultural tourism and fashion consumption zone, and the pet industry is an important piece of the jigsaw, Chen Yi, founder of the pet outdoor sports challenge park, said.

The park beside the Minhang section of the Huangpu River is considering the introduction of a relay challenge in the near future.

"Relays will help our sports be more acceptable and enjoyed by more people in the community, compared with the current elite-oriented challenge competitions," Chen Yi said.

Kayaking brings people together

In neighborhoods around Jiangyue Lake in the Pujin subdistrict, water sports are bringing residents, both Shanghainese and expats, together.

Yu Li, founder of Direction Kayak Association, quit his job as a bank financier 10 years ago to set up a site at Jiangyue Lake to store its boats and be a platform for fun water activities.

"Upon its foundation, it was a miniature community club comprising of some paddle sports lovers. We gathered here, built a space for boat storage and entry into water. One decade later, we've become a top paddle sports institute in Shanghai," said Yu.

Before paddle sports, Yu had tried racing, motorcycling, cycling, free combat, wrestling, mountain climbing and rock climbing.

"I was finally stuck in paddle sports," said Yu. "Paddle sports date to prehistoric times and being closer to water is a natural satisfaction to humans. A boat was invented when humans tried to know water, and paddles were an extension of our hands. Moreover, paddle sports are relaxing and less energy consuming when people start to master them."

The community welcomed the activities at a time when paddle sports were just a novel idea.

"And now we are nurturing our community in return and empowering it," said Yu.

"Even people who didn't pay to be our clients benefit from security monitoring when they take part in water sports on the lake. And we volunteered to salvage floating waste on the waters," Yu added.

Bruno Hasulyo, born in Hungary and raised in Italy, lives between an island in Portugal and Minhang District and joined the club as its coach in 2023.

"When you go to ancient water towns in Shanghai, you can still see really old people also going fishing, and using the canals in a more traditional way, and now there is this new generation, they are approaching the waters in a more fitness-oriented mindset," Hasulyo said.

The former windsurfing athlete was awestruck by the sport of stand-up paddling (SUP) when he and his brother were waiting for the waves on a remote island off Africa in 2011. They saw people practicing SUP and asked to try.

"It was an amazing feeling. We didn't need wind. We didn't need all those special natural elements to enjoy the water. And later, luckily, racing arrived for the same sport and we joined in to compete," Hasulyo said.

His vision for water sports in Pujin is straight forward: he is going to make this sport really popular.

"Everyone who will experience SUP Boarding gets a little bit of a life-changing experience, because it is a beautiful sport. My vision is to bring as many people as I can to the water in a safe and happy way."

The water sports club on Jiangyue Lake now offers SUP, kayaking, rowing and dragon boat racing, and members have achieved outstanding performances in several competitions.

Group sports fun

The Jiyang Elevated Road south extension rides above the east of Yi Pin Man Cheng neighborhood in the subdistrict, and overlooks its community basketball field, where in late May a residents' basketball association competition, dubbed Ju BA, took place and became a memorable event for residents. Ju, or"居," is equivalent to residents in Chinese. It was the second community basketball event since the first was initiated in 2019 though subsequent plans were halted by the pandemic.

"Including a total of 1,503 households, our neighborhood is a big one. This year we invited the Xin Pujiang, Pu Heng Xin Yuan, Pu Heng Bei Yuan residential areas and the rest of the north block in Pujin to recommend their adult and child sportsmen," said Zhu Qudan, deputy head of the 1st neighborhood committee of Yi Pin Man Cheng.

The Ju BA, organized through three-on-three basketball matches with each lasting 10 minutes, was well promoted and accepted and liked by residents.

Shi Ping, a retired professional basketball player, now a coach, organized the event with her husband, a basketball school headmaster.

Their younger daughter, a primary school first grader, won third place with her teammates in the U8 age group.

Chen Zimu, a fourth grader, was a champion in the U10 age group.

"In his previous training, my son tended to spend more time on dribbling, while in this time's Ju BA he learned coordination and played a good role as a point guard," his father, Chen Liang, said.

The award encouraged the boy to apply for membership of his school basketball team, whose favorite star is Stephen Curry because of his accurate three-point shots and whose dream for future basketball training is to make the hoops.

"Loving the sports, the kids tend to make friends through it during their entire life," Shi said.

"Previously, retired seniors and young children joined our community volunteer works and singing or dancing activities more frequently. The young and middle-aged people had helped the community enormously during the pandemic, but they are too busy to appear in neighborhood activities at regular times. The Ju BA created a good opportunity," said Zhu.

Du Chenwei, a father in his 40s, joined the Ju BA and led his team to win the championship in the adult group.

"The neighborhood basketball competition allowed me to experience the fun of collective sports. I hope to become more involved in the community, though having kids and parents to look after and an occupying job to support family, I am usually very busy," said Du.

The community Ju BA is expected to grow into a basketball gala in the north block of Pujin in the following year, Yao Feibo, head of 1st neighborhood committee of Yi Pin Man Cheng, said.

About Pujin Subdistrict:

On July 2, 2015, Pujin Subdistrct, the youngest subdistrict in Minhang, was set up from previously being part of Pujiang Town east of Huangpu River. The subdistrict, developing harmoniously in its urban and rural landscapes, is noted for its riverfront scenery and new lifestyles. Its economic and social focus is on culture and innovation, financial tech, medical health and fashion consumption.