Throw your concern with appearances to the wind and let those hearty guffaws fly. Laughter exercises fill you with "laughing qi" and get your day off to a boisterous beginning. (Hsueh Chi-kuang)

Infants enter the world wailing. Research shows they begin laughing as soon as 17 days after that. Tears and laughter are basic human instincts, but, as we become adults and experience ever more of the world's travails, our smiles and laughter come far less frequently.

A few years ago, a group of Taiwanese "laughers" began promoting a laughter movement to encourage people to experience the power of laughter and rediscover their inner child. The "laughers" even took their message into "frown-filled" cancer associations, psychiatric wards, drug rehabilitation facilities, and prisons. These cheery individuals unanimously agree that laughter is the best medicine for body, mind, and spirit. But is it really that simple? Will regular laughter keep you healthy? And how do they pass on their good cheer and get people laughing?

It's not even 7 a.m. on a Sunday morning and Neihu's Bishan Park is already filling with people out for some exercise. Laughter rings out from the group of a dozen or so people gathered near the path by the lakeside pavilion. They're getting their whole bodies into the act, making faces and flailing about, raising a ruckus that carries all the way across the lake.

"Next we're going to imitate a leaping gazelle," says Hwang Kwei-shuai. "Pull out your horns and place your hands next to your ears." Dressed in a white T-shirt emblazoned with the words "Laughter Club," Hwang leads the group in its gazelle impression, laughing as he bounds ahead.

Their laughter takes many forms. There's the "greeting laugh" they use when they meet and shake hands; there's the "milkshake laugh," which involves raising an extended thumb to the mouth as if drinking milk; there's the roaring laugh in which they open their mouths wide and stick out their tongues in imitation of a lion; there's the laugh of someone rushing towards the finish line in the hundred-meter dash; and many, many more. The 20-some members of the Laughter Club stretch a bit to warm up before diving into an hour-long laugh fest. Once they've filled their minds and bellies with laughter, they're ready to joyfully raise the curtain on the rest of their day.