Sports in China

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Sports in China

Although China has long been associated with the martial arts, sports in China today refers to a small variety of competitive sports played in China, including mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. Traditional Chinese culture regards physical fitness as an important aspect, and, since the 20th century, a large number of sports activities, both Western and traditionally Chinese, are popular in China. The People's Republic of China is one of the , especially the elderly. Cricket is also a popular sport in China, but moreso in Hong Kong where it is a prominent sport..

Prior to the 1990s, sport in China, as in some other countries, was completely government-funded. Some top athletes had quit at the height of their careers because they were uncertain about life post retirement. The situation began to change in 1994 when Chinese soccer became the first sport to take the professionalization road and in its wake similar reforms were carried out in basketball, volleyball, table tennis and weiqi. The process brought with it commercialization; sport associations became profit-making entities and a club system came into being; professional leagues formed, improving China's sports environment; and commercial management systems took shape. The professionalization of sports has encouraged the emergence of a sports management market and business-structured systems. Sports club operations now cover ticket sales, advertising, club transfers, commercial matches, television broadcasting and other commercial activities.

Another aspect of the reform is that some Chinese athletes have joined foreign professional leagues. For instance, basketball star Yao Ming joined the American NBA.

History

Dragon boat racing dates back about 2500 years ago and remains a traditional event held around China every year. There is evidence that a similar sport to Football was played in China around 1000 AD, leading some modern historians to suggest that Football in fact originates in China. From the Song Dynasty on Tai Chi Chuan and similar qigong martial arts activities became popular in China.

The influx of modern sports appeared in China since the beginning of the 20th Century. The People's Republic of China has emphasized on sports and the government funds and trains young talented players into professional players, especially in the mid-20th century. Table tennis is one of the biggest amateur recreational sports in China today, with an estimated 200 million players. Badminton is also well established and quite popular in China.

According to CCTV Sports Channel, the gold-medal women's volleyball game of the 2004 Olympics drew 30% of TV-owning households; China vs. Brazil in the 2002 World Cup drew 18% of TV-owning households. Basketball and soccer are also shown on TV.

Popular amateur sports include table tennis, badminton, martial arts and various forms of pool. China's professional sports are in its developmental stages.

Types of sports

Badminton
Because of its relative simplicity, inexpensive equipment, and accessibility to venues, Badminton is a very established and popular sport in China. Famous Chinese badminton players include Lin Dan, Zhang Ning, Gao Ling, and Huang Sui. It's a popular recreational sport and amateur leagues exist across the country.

Baseball
Baseball in China first appeared in 1863 with the establishment of the Shanghai Baseball Club

by American medical missionary Henry William Boone. Organized baseball games were established with a game between the St. Johns University and the Shanghai MCA baseball club in 1905. However, in 1959 Mao Zedong disbanded all teams and outlawed baseball. After the Cultural Revolution ended, baseball activities restarted, and the China Baseball Association formed in 1974. In 2002, the China Baseball League was formed, and China participated in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. However, it is not a popular sport and it is often seen by Chinese as a mere American curiosity due to its slow pace. Defeats of the national team to Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea may help change the trend as Chinese become more aware of the game's internationalization.

Basketball
Yao Ming has popularized basketball and the National Basketball Association has an inspired public relations effort to expand the sport but soccer has achieved greater public relations penetration with a greater TV spectatorship.

As basketball was only invented in 1898 it is a questionable assertion that China "is the third oldest country that plays basketball after USA and Canada." Since the arrival of Houston Rockets superstar Yao Ming in the NBA in 2002, the game has grown considerably in the world's most populated country. Some experts estimate as many as 300 million of China's 1.3 billion population now play basketball. The first professional team in China was a team that started in Shenyang and was sponsored by the Anshan Steel Company. The Chinese Basketball Association was established in 1995 and in 2004 it expanded to 12 teams.

UnlBA, and very much like the European systems, Chinese basketball uses the system of promotion and relegation for its leagues.

Chess
China is now a chess superpower and proved so graphically at the 2006 37th Chess Olympiad

in Turin when the men's team came second and the women's team third for easily the best result overall. The Chinese progress has been underpinned by large government support and testing competition in numerous tough events. Commensurate with its status, China currently has seven top hundred players, second only to Russia. However, even today countries like Russia and Israel still have an edge in experience over their Chinese counterparts.

Chinese chess is also considered a sport in China, with millions of players nationwide. There is a national Chinese chess league.

Curling
Although unheard of and unpopular, Curling has been an improving sport for China to play. The government were

the ones to select some atheletic individuals to play Curling for China. The Chinese teams both Men and Women have improved at the international level. At the 2008 Ford World Women's Championships, the Chinese Curling team consisting of Zhou Yan, Yin Liu, Bingyu Wang, and Yue QingShuang won a surprising silver medal finish. At the 2008 World Men's Curling Championship, the Chinese didn't have as much success, but they also did very well, finishing 4th. The government is also hoping to promote the sport thourgh Universities and Colledges.

Figure skating

China is currently one of the top nations in figure skating. In the pairs events China dominates the field: enjoying a silver and a gold medal at the world championships 2007 in Tokyo. However, China is weak in the other 3 disciplines (men, women, ice dance), which are dominated by France, Russia and the USA.

Football (soccer)
Football has been one of the most well supported sports in China ever since it was introduced in the 1900s. There is, in fact, written evidence that a game similar to soccer was first played in China around 50 BC , and China is recognized by FIFA as the founding nation of football. The

current Chinese Football Association was founded in the People's Republic of China after 1949. Its headquarters is located in Beijing, and the current chairman is Xie Yalong. From 1994 to 2004, CFA established first professional football league, which was "Jia A". The Chinese Super League is the premier football league in China, which was changed from "jia A" in 2004, as the top of a league hierarchy that extends to four leagues. Jia in Chinese also means "First" or "Best". Since its foundation the Super League has been relatively unstable, and is largely controlled by corporate interests that change hands frequently.

At the international level, Chinese football has enjoyed little success despite the amount of support it receives from fans. Although the national team qualified for the 2002 World Cup, they failed to score a single goal and lost all three group matches. Conversely, The women's national team has finished second at both the World Championships and the Olympic Games, whereas the men's national team qualified to the Football World Cup in 2002. Despite the Chinese women's success at international competitions, however, Women's soccer in China does not receive nearly as much attention as their counterparts in Canada and the United States, therefore China's good trend in Women's soccer may well come to an end in the near future. In 1990, China hosted the first Women's World Cup in Guangzhou, and in 2004, hosted AFC Asian Cup.

Football has always been one of the most popular amateur team sports for recreation in China, although in recent years its status has been rivaled by basketball. High schools often have football facilities, some of which are rented on weekends to local amateur teams to organize matches. It is also one of the most popular sports to watch on television, with large international tournaments such as the World Cup and the European Championships, as well as major European leagues receiving widespread coverage.

Golf

Golf tournaments in China include the HSBC Champions in Shanghai, TCL Classic in Sanya on Hainan island, the Volvo China Open and the BMW Asian Open, played in the PRC after 2004. The most successful Chinese golfer has been Zhang Lian-Wei. The Mission Hills Golf Club golf course at Guanlan in Shenzhen is said to be the world's largest.

At the amateur level, Golf is seen as the top recreational sport for businesspeople and officials. Because of their relatively high position in Chinese society, they are usually the only people with access to the sport of Golf on mainland China. At the 2007 National People's Congress, caving in to the popular acknowledgment that the building of new golf courses is not only a waste of public funds but an illegal use of space, Premier Wen Jiabao said in his Work Report to the Congress that contracts in building new golf courses should be highly discouraged.

Ice hockey
The Chinese national women's ice hockey team is controlled by the Chinese Ice Hockey Association, and highly ranked in world competition. Men's hockey, in comparison, is somewhat

lacking. Semi-professional teams have sprung up in Shenyang and Harbin. China has one team in Asia League Ice Hockey, the China Sharks.

Motor racing
The Chinese Grand Prix is a Formula 1 event held at the Shanghai International Circuit. See 2004 Chinese Grand Prix, 2005 Chinese Grand Prix and 2006 Chinese Grand Prix.

Rugby Union

Rugby union is becoming a more popular sport in China, than it previously has been. However, it is still not overly popular. China became affiliated to the International Rugby Board in 1997 and is currently ranked 40th in the world, ahead of Madagascar and just behind Sweden. The national team failed to qualify for the 1999 Rugby World Cup and the 2007 Rugby World Cup. One segment of Chinese society where rugby is particularly popular is the military. Rugby is an official sport of the People's Liberation Army, with the PLA Sports Institute participating in the highly-competitive Hong Kong leagues. Notable Chinese rugby players include Zhang Zhiqiang ("Johnny Zhang"), who had a stint with the famous Leicester Tigers club in England, and promising young speedster Li Yang, who boasts a time of 10.6 seconds in the 100-meter sprint.

Snooker

Although pool, or more specifically, billiards, has long been a popular street recreation sport in China, Snooker's popularity has increased over the last few years in China. It can partly be attributed to the ascension of young Chinese player Ding Junhui who has since broken into the international Top 10. More and more young Chinese players are breaking onto the professional circuit such as Liang Wenbo and Liu Chuang who both qualified for the last 32 of the World Snooker Championship 2008, with Liang going on to reach the quarter-finals where he faced a snooker legend in China, Ronnie O'Sullivan. Snooker is played by an estimated 50 million Chinese people, and there are now over 300 Snooker clubs in Beijing alone. Some believe that China should host more tournament events, and one day may even host the Snooker World Championship itself.[5]

Table tennis (Ping Pong)
Ping Pang Qiu (乒乓球) is the official name for the sport of table tennis in China. Apart from the national representative team, the table tennis community in China continues to produce many world-class players, and this depth of skill allows the country to continue dominating recent world titles after a short break during the 1990s. The overwhelming dominance of China in the sport has triggered a series of rules changes in the International Table Tennis Federation and as part of the Olympics. Wang Hao is currently one of the highest-ranked Chinese table tennis players, and the highest-ranked player in the world. Deng Yaping is

regarded by many as one of the greatest table tennis player of all time. The sport played an important role in China's international relations; in April 1972, the US table tennis team were invited to visit China, an event later called "Ping Pong Diplomacy". Table tennis is the biggest amateur recreational sport in China today, with an estimated 300 million players.

Tennis
Tennis is a growing recreational sport in China, although access to tennis courts can be limited in densely populated urban areas. Recently Chinese tennis players, especially women, have seen success internationally both at the amateur level and professionally. International tennis tournaments receive wide coverage on Chinese sporting channels.

National fitness
The "Physical Health Law of the People's Republic of China" was adopted in 1995. In the same year, the State Council promulgated the "Outline of Nationwide Physical Fitness Program", followed by a series of rules and regulations. A survey released by the State Physical Culture

Administration indicates that at present 33.9% of the population between 7 and 70 exercise regularly and 60.7 percent of the urban population go to sports clubs to engage in fitness activities. It is expected that by the end of 2005, 37 percent of China's total population will participate in regular physical exercises, and that over 95 percent of students will meet the National Physical Exercise Standard. Aiming to improve the health and the overall physical condition of the general population, the Nationwide Physical Fitness Program, with an emphasis on young people and children, encourages everyone to engage in at least one sporting activity every day, learn at least two ways of keeping fit and have a health examination every year.

In this 15 year long program, the government aims to build a sport and health-building service system for the general public. There are about 620,000 gymnasiums and stadiums across China, most of them open to and widely used by the general public. Outdoor fitness centers have been installed in urban communities in public parks, squares, schoolyards, and other convenient locations. All communities and neighborhoods in Beijing are equipped with fitness facilities that meet the national standard. Building on what it already had, Tianjin has instituted large-scale expansion of its outdoor and indoor fitness facilities and stadiums. 2004 saw the completion of China's first large fitness arena with a floor area in excess of 10,000 sq m,etc.

Starting in 2001, the State Physical Culture Administration has set aside the proceeds of the

sports lottery as pilot funds, in order to build "China Sports Lottery Nationwide Physical Fitness Centers" as pilot projects in 31 large and medium-sized cities throughout the country, including Dalian, Beijing and Changchun. Some of these centers have already been built. Meanwhile, some 196 million yuan of sports lottery proceeds were used to construct public sporting facilities in China's less-developed western areas and in the Three Gorges region of the Yangtze River, supporting 101 counties and towns.

With the increase in nationwide fitness activities, people's outlook on life has also changed. In many large and medium-sized cities, spending money in the pursuit of good health has become trendy. New types of sport, including rock climbing, horsemanship, bungee jumping, bowling, skateboarding, women's boxing, shuffleboard, taekwondo and golf are particularly popular among young people. At the end of 2003, work was started on China's first snow golf course in A'er Mountain, Inner Mongolia. This project, representing an investment of about 1 billion yuan, will be the sixth snow golf course in the world.

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