@article{ART003285191},
author={Lin Kim},
title={The Triad of Body, Technology, and Relationships in Urban China’s Group Fitness Classes},
journal={Asia Review},
issn={2234-0386},
year={2025},
volume={15},
number={3},
pages={213-248}
TY - JOUR
AU - Lin Kim
TI - The Triad of Body, Technology, and Relationships in Urban China’s Group Fitness Classes
JO - Asia Review
PY - 2025
VL - 15
IS - 3
PB - 아시아연구소
SP - 213
EP - 248
SN - 2234-0386
AB - This study analyzes the group fitness culture among contemporary, urban Chinese youth through the triadic lens of ‘body-technologyrelationships.’, It investigates how these practices operate within the context, of neoliberal individualization and market-driven re-collectivization. Based, on ethnographic fieldwork in Shanghai―including participant observation, in franchise gyms, in-depth interviews, and social media analysis―this, research demonstrates that group fitness creates a new form of fluid, community, strategically merging efficient self-management with emotional, catharsis. Bound by transient solidarity and datafied self-quantification, this, community paradoxically reproduces the isolated individuals it temporarily, unites. This phenomenon can be understood in terms of its position at the, intersection of Yunxiang Yan’s concept of “marketized re-collectivization”, and Zygmunt Bauman’s theory of “liquid relationships.” Furthermore, the, physical practices observed reveal a distinct cultural hybridity, fusing highintensity, Western-style workouts with the traditional Chinese philosophy, of yangsheng (nurturing life). This hybridity transcends the boundaries of, tradition and modernity, East and West. Ultimately, this paper argues, that group fitness serves as a critical cultural site where Chinese youth, navigate neoliberal pressures and relational fatigue. It is a space where, they consume a sense of belonging while simultaneously performing self control, self-management, and liquid solidarity through technological mediation.
KW - China;Group Fitness;Individualization;Body;Cultural;Hybridity;Liquid Community
DO -
UR -
ER -
Lin Kim. (2025). The Triad of Body, Technology, and Relationships in Urban China’s Group Fitness Classes. Asia Review, 15(3), 213-248.
Lin Kim. 2025, "The Triad of Body, Technology, and Relationships in Urban China’s Group Fitness Classes", Asia Review, vol.15, no.3 pp.213-248.
Lin Kim "The Triad of Body, Technology, and Relationships in Urban China’s Group Fitness Classes" Asia Review 15.3 pp.213-248 (2025) : 213.
Lin Kim. The Triad of Body, Technology, and Relationships in Urban China’s Group Fitness Classes. 2025; 15(3), 213-248.
Lin Kim. "The Triad of Body, Technology, and Relationships in Urban China’s Group Fitness Classes" Asia Review 15, no.3 (2025) : 213-248.
Lin Kim. The Triad of Body, Technology, and Relationships in Urban China’s Group Fitness Classes. Asia Review, 15(3), 213-248.
Lin Kim. The Triad of Body, Technology, and Relationships in Urban China’s Group Fitness Classes. Asia Review. 2025; 15(3) 213-248.
Lin Kim. The Triad of Body, Technology, and Relationships in Urban China’s Group Fitness Classes. 2025; 15(3), 213-248.
Lin Kim. "The Triad of Body, Technology, and Relationships in Urban China’s Group Fitness Classes" Asia Review 15, no.3 (2025) : 213-248.
