Lululemon has marked ten years of yoga in China with a festival on the Great Wall. It’s an event that made the brand popular in its early days, rolled it out to over 2000 participants.
Yoga Meets the Great Wall began with a small gathering of yoga enthusiasts in the early days of Lululemon’s China launch. The idea was really to tie the brand to China without diluting the core product line or pandering too hard to local imagery. Setting was a good way around this. The event gained traction and grew over the years until it was a fixture in the calendar.
Now they’re back, taking over the Huanghuacheng section of the Great Wall for an event that’s grown to become a large-scale wellness experience and a symbolic celebration of lululemon’s decade-long journey in the Chinese market.
Running from sunrise until night, the festival featured 20+ classes led by international yoga teachers. Brand ambassadors from the past decade – including Ryan Leier and Mary Taylor – led sessions in all forms: ashtanga yoga, flow practices, singing bowl sound healing. It’s a reflection of how far both brand and wellness segment has come in China in a decade.
The programme also blended yoga with Chinese cultural elements. Performers from the Shenzhen Opera and Dance Theatre presented scenes from the dance drama Wing Chun (咏春), while actor and lululemon ambassador Zhu Yilong joined percussion group HiiKo for a traditional drum performance at sunset. Later, more than 200 participants took part in a Tai Chi-inspired yoga session atop the Great Wall, combining yoga postures with principles drawn from Chinese martial arts and philosophy.
The Lululemon Great Wall festival highlights a strategy that has helped distinguish lululemon in China. While many sportswear brands compete through product launches and celebrity endorsements, Lululemon invested heavily in community-building. Ten years in and going strong, it’s clearly a strategy that paid off.
