34年前，地震夺走了许步东的11位亲人。受到巨大打击的他，失去了哭笑的能力。
    Thirty-four years ago, a catastrophic earthquake took away 11 of Xu Budong's family members, leaving only his sister and himself behind. Devastated, Xu suffered from post traumatistressdisorder, and lost his ability to smile or cry.   
    许步东没有放弃希望，凭借自己的意志，他发明了“大笑操”，帮助自己恢复身心的健康。
    Through hope and a strong will, Xu recovered due to his own invention of Daxiaocao, a series of body stretching movements that can improve the mental and physical health of those who practice .

    “大笑操”包含了一系列身体的伸展动作，在做的时候要一边笑，有益身心。
    The man laughing loudly is Xu Budong, showing his Daxiaocao, a series of physical exercises that he has invented. The whole set of body stretching movements, requires laughter while doing it, and can benefit physical and mental health. 

    56岁的他看起来神采奕奕，笑容灿烂。
    The 56-year old looks much younger than his peers, and always appears energetic with his big smile. 

    他如何保持愉悦的心情？如何发明大笑操的呢？
    How can he always be in a happy mood? How did he invent Daxiaocao?
The story began 34 years ago.

    1976年7月28日，大地震袭击了唐山，超过24万人丧生。
    On July 28th, 1976, a strong earthquake hit Tangshan city at midnight, killing 240 thousand and destroying the city in seconds.

    许步东当时在外地，幸运地逃过一劫。
    Xu Budong is lucky. When the disaster happened, he was assigned to work far away from the city.

    "I didn't feel any shaking at first until the my roommates ran out and shouted, then I felt the shaking, it was like standing in a swaying boat."

    地震后，他没有得到任何关于震中在哪的消息。他告诉自己，不会是唐山。
    After the shock, Xu Budong didn't get any information about where the epicenter was. He even told himself that it couldn't be Tangshan, his home town, as the city has a solid geological structure.

    第二天，他在电视上看到坏消息。几经周转，他才回到唐山。
    However the next morning, he received the bad news while watching TV.

    "At that time, all the others kept saying to me that you are so lucky to not to have been there, but what I wanted was to go back home as soon as possible. At that time, all the traffic to Tangshan city was blocked. I took a train to Tianjin, and went to Beijing, and then waited for a couple of days until finally I could come back to Tangshan with the others."

    It was not a very long journey, but for Xu Budong, it was a torture. He kept thinking his father might be fine because he was on a business trip outside the city, and his sister lived in a safe house, all he was concerned about was the safety of his mother. However when he arrived in Tangshan, he received a heavy blow.

    到了唐山，眼前的景象使他震惊。一家人中只有他的妹妹幸存并正在接受治疗。他的父母都遇难了。
 
     "When I arrived in the suburban area of the city, I saw many locals rushing out, and I could still feel the frequent aftershocks. Among them, I ran into a neighbor. He was surprised to see me. I asked him, what about my family? He said, your sister was transferred to another city to receive medical treatment, and your father and mother were all buried under the debris. I was totally shocked."

    The only slice of hope hanging in his mind during his return trip was blown away. Xu Budong didn't think his father would come back earlier than scheduled, and his mother couldn't survive either.

    许步东赶回家，家里已是一片废墟。他在废墟里发现了一封父亲出差时写的信，信中交代母亲要照顾好儿子，至今想起，仍令他禁不住流泪。
    Harsh reality hit the young man. He rushed back to his home, which had already been smashed down to pieces. Searching among the ruins, Xu found something unexpectedly, which makes the strong-minded man cry, even to this day.

     "I found a letter written by my father during his business trip. It was the last words from him. In the letter, he told my mother to give me enough money if I was assigned work out side of the city, and expressed his care for me."

     "My family was relatively wealthy in my childhood but my father never gave me too much spending money and he was very strict with me. I used to think that he did not love me, but after reading the letter, I suddenly realized that he indeed loved me, just in his way, in a way that I couldn't understand until I read the letter, but it was too late."

    除了父母，他还失去了9位亲人。他选择留下来，重新投入工作，重建自己的家。每天，他都希望，但失去了哭和笑的能力。有半年时间，他都受到创伤后精神压力障碍的影响。

    Xu Budong lost his parents forever, together with 9 other relatives from his family.

  Facing a totally ruined home, he chose to stay. He restarted his original work in a factory and rebuilt his own home in his spare time, living in a tent for several months.

    Xu says he hoped for a better tomorrow everyday during that time, however, the once active and humorous man found he lost his ability to smile, or cry.

    "After about half a year, I was kind of numb. I used to be very emotional, easily touched or amused, but then I couldn't smile or laugh. I also got insomnia, and was diagnosed as having post traumatic stress disorder."

    他开始练习微笑，渐渐地，恢复了哭笑的能力，健康也好转了。
  Xu began practicing to smile by himself. At first, he felt weird for faking his smiles in a mirror. But after practicing time and time again, he gradually regained his ability to smile and cry, and even found himself healthier.

    年轻时练过武术的他，产生了把武术和笑结合起来的念头，就是后来的“大笑操”。他采用了一些武术动作并且融合了笑声，为了辅助这套操，他还自己作了一些曲。
  Xu used to study martial arts as a teenager. After benefiting from the practice of laughter, he came up with the idea of combining the two.

    "I used to have internal pain because of practicing martial arts, and after that I gradually learned many of the traditional health-preserving ways like the breathing exercise. After benefiting from the practice of laughing, I began to think about inventing an exercise that can help one's physical health, but also mental health, and it turned out to be the Daxiaocao."

    Xu Budong adopted several moves from the martial arts and rearranged them into a set of moves that requires participants to keep a laughing face while doing it. He also composed several songs by himself which are coordinated with the moves.

    他向很多人推广这套操，反响很好。这套操简单易学，帮助许多人恢复了健康，很受欢迎。

    He promotes it to many people, and has received wide praise. His Daxiaocao is easy to learn with simple moves, and very attractive as people feel happy while practicing. And most importantly, it has gradually gained popularity as it has helped many to recover from their long-term disease.

    1998年，许步东搬到北京，在退休后继续推广大笑操。目前，他写了一本关于自己的微笑疗法的书，准备出版。

    Moving to Beijing in 1998, Xu keeps promoting his Daxiaocao even after retirement. And now he is going to publish his own book about his theory of smiling therapy.

    许步东说地震使他明白要坚强对待生活。他享受推广大笑操的过程，因为大笑操可以给人们带来身体的健康和心灵的快乐。

    He says, during his life, he has suffered from many frustrations, in daily life and in his career. Even during his 30 years of studying his own Daxiaocao, many are questioning about his intention of his promotion which costs him a lot of money. However, his answer is quite simple.

     "I just enjoy the process. The disaster made me strong and brave enough to face any obstacles in life in the following years. And most importantly, it also taught me to be positive. From my personal experience, I now understand that a happy heart is the most important thing for a human being, which is the soul of a person, without it, your life is just meaningless. That's also why I keep promoting my Daxiaocao to others, because it really makes you feel happy and to stay healthy."