Zhang Yan, or Hinata as I know her, is from Hubei province and works at Foxconn Tianjin as a project manager. She has been working for the company since 2008 and moved to Tianjin in 2013. When she moved to the Tianjin Foxconn she started the Blue Fairy Communality, AKA: The Smurfs. As a trained yoga teacher, she started this community because she wanted to use her skills to provide something for people to do on breaks or after work. Hinata wanted to bring people together who love yoga or dance and give people the opportunity to make friends with each other. Now, the yoga class has a mix of novice participants who are excited to learn something new, more advanced students who have learned from Hinata for years, and every level in-between. Another motivation of Hinata's was to give people whose budgets may not allow for joining a dance or yoga studio a chance to enjoy this healthy hobby.

The company has a space for practice and they have regularly scheduled yoga and dance classes. Hinata teaches yoga and belly dance and her good friend Yue Yue teaches Chinese dance and Jazz dance. Her and Yue Yue make the plans and lead practices at lunchtime and after work. Hinata's dream to create a happy place for people to come together has come true and blossomed.

Hinata

How they got their name

The name, the Blue Fairy Communality, AKA: The Smurfs 蓝精灵社团, was thought of because the Smurfs are fairies who are happy, brave, united and seek wisdom. Also, the first time they performed dressed in blue belly dance skirts, so they thought of the blue fairies. The group started with just a few people and has grown to a community of over 400 people. Each events and activity is making a great impact on individuals, families, and the community as a whole. Due to the groups stable growth her Non-Profit is supported by the Foxconn labor union, the TEDA government, and TEDA Labor Union Center.

I was introduced to Hinata through one of my yoga students after seeing a yoga activity in MSD with over 100 participants. I thought it was amazing and had to find out who put this marvelous activity together. We met at a Starbucks and had so many common dreams of bringing people together, ever since then Hinata has been like my sister and best friend. Hinata says her husband Wang Zhiqiang (nickname: Popeye), are very supportive of her and have helped in many ways including using his expertise in photography to capture the activities. They, and their adorable son Bin Bin have blessed the lives of so many people, including myself.

Hinata's dream to create a happy place for people to come together has come true and blossomed.

A public yoga acfivity organized by Hinata

Since knowing Hinata we have done and organized some amazing activities together and look forward to organizing more, bigger and better activities soon. Our first activity together was at the TEDA Welfare Community. This free yoga class was for the people in this community and was a great first class. We co-taught, and she helped me translate into Chinese. She is also a wonderful partner because she has quickly learned a lot of difficult poses that I can teach and explain well but can't do myself to demonstrate. It was a wonderful class and we had around 30 students who were able to learn and experience a bi-lingual yoga class, and at no cost.

Our next class was very multi-cultural and featured teachers from 3 different continents. We were hosting our first foreign teacher at Nomad Yoga Studio, Annika Saigi from Australia. She was the lead teacher for this practice and Hinata and I both helped to adjust students posture. Annika has traveled all over the world teaching and studying yoga, so it was an honor for us to have such a high-level teacher with us. The room was absolutely full, with almost 40 students.

The Tianjin Port Culture Media Company 天津港文化传媒有限公司 asked us to put together a yoga performance during the busy summer months. During the summer there are different performances every weekend at the beach. Hinata is a pro at choreography, so it was awesome to have her spearhead the show. She chose 4 of her best students and we all worked together. The sequence was a synchronized yoga flow choreographed to an amazing song: ZHU - Faded (ODESZA Remix) , if you have a chance to listen to this song, I am pretty sure you will love it. We also had an informational yoga session in the MSD-1984 building and were able to share with people about this beneficial exercise. It was a great activity for people to get better educated on this new fitness trend. Hinata is always great at helping me express the difference between my American style of teaching yoga as an exercise, and not as many teachers who teach more mystical things.

About six months ago, I was able to go and experience Hinata's yoga class at Foxconn. The company is huge and feels like a city of its own. Foxconn is one of Tianjin's biggest companies employing over 12,000 people at this location. For those who don't know, Foxconn is the company that makes the iPhone. This free lunchtime yoga class usually is full and holds about 70 people maximum. This was such an amazing experience to meet so many hard-working people who typically work 10 – 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. You could feel the joy, comradery, and appreciation in the room. Hinata has brought such a wonderful experience to so many people who now have a healthy and fun activity to add to their day.

Some of the other activities that we have done are a Foxconn modeling team, which modeled at one of our events. Hinata and I have a dream to continue this modeling team as a new part of the community in the future. We have also done a few cultural exchange activities where we learn about Western and Chinese traditions and share cultures. Our goal is to learn, grow, share and make ourselves and others around us better.

Hinata's next planned activity is another outdoor yoga flow which will take place in the near future as the weather warms up. She will again partner with MSD and hold the event on the lawn of TEDA Investment government building. She is excited to draw more people to join in the activity and hopes to surpass the number of participants that came last year.

Hinata's plan for the group future, is to bring even more people in TEDA together to do yoga, dance and become healthier and happier together.