Sport in China
[1] This changed with the 1981 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup where the Chinese team won the gold medal amid enormous public attention.
Chinese athletes have also begun joining professional leagues abroad, such as basketball player Yao Ming's entry into the United States' NBA in the 2002 draft.
[5] In September 2007, the Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian basketball matchup drew China's largest audience ever for a single sports game as 100–200 million Chinese watched live.
[6] China Daily reported that Virtually the whole nation stands glued to their television sets, amid parties and wild celebrations.
In 2017, a football match in the Tianhe Stadium in Guangzhou drew the largest audience for a single sporting event within the boundaries of mainland China.
Modern sports appeared in China at the beginning of the 20th century, largely under the influence of the American YMCA and Chinese reformers interested in adopting and adapting physical education models from the U.S., Europe, and Japan.
The People's Republic of China (PRC) emphasizes sports and the government funds and trains talented youngsters into professional players, especially beginning in the mid-20th century.
According to CCTV Sports Channel, the gold-medal women's volleyball game of the 2004 Summer Olympics drew the viewership of 30% of TV-owning households; the figure was 18% for the China vs. Brazil match in the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
[citation needed] Many Chinese badminton players have gained international success and fame, especially the many Gold medalists at the BWF World Championships.
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.
At the 2008 Ford World Women's Championships, the Chinese curling team consisting of Zhou Yan, Liu Yin, Wang Bingyu, and Yue Qingshuang won a surprising silver medal finish.
Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo were very famous figure skating pair in China that received widespread media coverage during their career; they were three-time world champions and won a gold medal in Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010.
Although the national team qualified for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, they failed to score a single goal and lost three group matches.
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 and Communist party officials are banned from playing.
It can partly be attributed to the ascension of Ding Junhui who was once the number one ranked professional player and reached the final of the 2016 World Snooker Championship.
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.
[41] Deng Yaping is regarded by many as one of the greatest table tennis players of all time, along with Zhang Jike, Liu Guoliang, and Kong Linghui.
Sports inspired a collective work effort that united the country in the spirit of socialism allowing women to gain greater equality.
In 1952, at the June inaugural meeting of the All-China Sports Federation, he called on the Chinese people to “Develop physical culture and sport, and strengthen the physique of the people.”[43] In 1953, during a speech on behalf of the Presidium of the Second National Congress of the New Democratic Youth League of China, Mao said: “Now we must make sure that everybody, including workers, peasants, soldiers, students and cadres, can keep fit.
In short, young people should be able to keep fit, study well and work well.”[44] Chinese female athletes were able to step into the role of the “woman warrior,” a figure that won glory for the nation during the Maoist period.
This figure of the female warriors (wudan) has existed down the centuries and is a stock character in martial arts novels (wuxia xiaoshuo) and other literary texts, and operas (wuxi).
This is due to Chinese sport typically being associated with lower class individuals, especially peasants, in the historically hierarchical male dominated society.
Secondly, the very nature of peasant labor requires a strong physique and mental toughness, typically associated with rural women during the Cultural Revolution.
Lou Dapeng, Vice-President of the Chinese Track and Field association, is reported as saying that “It has been our policy to concentrate on women's sports.”[46] The swimming Coach Chen Yungpeng also said that “the outstanding achievements made by female athletes… have encouraged Chinese sports authorities to channel more funds and manpower to women's events than to mens, resulting in wider participation and higher technical standards among women.”[47] 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.
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.
New sports such as rock climbing, horsemanship, bungee jumping, bowling, skateboarding, women's boxing, shuffleboard, taekwondo, and golf are particularly popular among young people.
The latest survey of the national health, which ended in October 2001, extended over three years and 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, making it China's largest ever in terms of scale and population numbers.
Based on the survey findings, relevant departments of the government continuously study methods of keeping fit, set new ways and standards for different age groups and strengthen instruction at community level.
It aims at enhancing health, prolonging life, curing illness and improving physiological functions by concentrating the mind and regulating the breath.
