The Five-animal Exercise, as a means of physical training in ancient China, was created by Hua Tuo, an eminent doctor in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. He summarized the traditional practice of our predecessors' building up their physical strength by imitating the animal movements, and created a set of healthcare gymnastics, i. e. the Five-animal Exercise, which consisted of five groups of actions imitating the movements and manners of the tigers, deer ,bears, apes and birds. It is a thousand years earlier than the medical gymnastics contrived by the Swedish. At one time, seeing a kid playing with the door-latch, Hua Tuo immediately thought of a wise saying "Running water is never stale and a door-hinge never gets worm-eaten" , which further reminded him of the fact that most of the illnesses were actually caused by the circulation hindrance and stagnation of Qi and blood, and people, if doing exerases regularly like a door-hinge, would improve their health and immunize themselves from illness. As a result, Hua Tuo was absorbed in researching into the ways for the physical buildup once he had time. He, referring to the" Physical and Breathing Exercise" used by people at the time when doing physical training, thought about making improvements constantly in accordance with the movements of various animals, the result of which was the creation of a set of fist techniques imitating the movements and manners of the tigers, deer, apes, bears and birds. This set of fist techniques, by imitating the quick pouncing of the tigers,light galloping of the deer, nimble jumping of the apes, slow-paced walking of the bears and wing-spreading flying of the birds, can clear your head and brighten your eyes, improve your heart and lung functions, strengthen your waist and kid-ney, and lubricate your joints, thus contributing to the overall buildup of your body.It is simple and easy to learn; anyone, whether men or women, old or young, can choose part of it for physical training at first, and then practice the whole set of actions as their physical buildup is gradually improved .Not only is the Five-animal Ex-erase good for your health and longevity, but for the eradication of your illnesses.Just as Hua Tuo said, "If feeling uncomfortable, you can do the Five-animal Exercise; as you perspire, you will get relaxed and feel like eating. " In recent years,the Five-animal Exercise, as a means of rehabilitation treatment, has been widely used as an auxiliary treatment of people suffering from such illnesses as stroke se-quelae, rheumarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and osseous hyperplasia.