China: The World Leader of Sports I
Dr. Syed Mehboob
Senior Business and Political Analyst
China is the world champion of technology, trade, economy, investment, and science and technology. Recently, I completed 100 articles on China, and while researching, I was surprised to learn that China is also a world leader in sports. It has the largest player population, with approximately 300 million players in China. It has solidified its position as a global leader in sports, evidenced by its numerous Olympic medals, successful hosting of major international events, thriving domestic sports industry, and a nationwide commitment to mass fitness and sport development. The country excels in sports like diving, gymnastics, and weightlifting, while also becoming a massive market for winter sports and setting records in athletics.
The Chinese government and leadership have also given priority to promoting sports and mass fitness programmes and encouraging nationwide active participation in sports, aiming to build China into a sports powerhouse. Hosting very successful mega sports events like the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing has showcased China’s leadership in global athletics and its ability to develop and host major sporting events. Chinese athletes are very expert, professional, and have consistently demonstrated excellence, particularly in sports like diving, gymnastics, weightlifting, and winter sports.
The Chinese sports industry has experienced rapid, speedy, and consistent growth, driven by technological advancements, financial support, and increased health awareness among the population. China is comprehensively working to extend and develop its athletic success from elite levels to grassroots sports, developing a more balanced and comprehensive sports industry. China has become a key destination for international competition and is known for its world-class event hosting capabilities. The country with a population of 1400 million has a huge and growing market for sports, especially in activities like running and winter sports, attracting significant investment and participation.
In China, the General Administration of Sport (GAS) sits directly under the Central Government and is the government agency responsible for sport policy. The GAS is part of a centralized, top-down hierarchy that includes the Chinese Olympic Committee and the All-China Sports Federation. The GAS is guided by the 14th Five-Year Plan for Sports Development (2021-2025), which seeks to build China into a global sports power. In 2023, the government spent ¥23.3B ($3.2B USD) on sports. The GAS oversees 20 sports management centers (including sports federations), the National Training Bureau and national teams, and the Provincial Sports Commission, which includes Provincial Sports Academies or part-time sports schools. The Olympic Sport Strategy is to engineer champions, and elite sport success is the overriding priority in the Chinese government. To avoid the misuse of money, increase funding efficiency, and maximize China’s Olympic medal productivity, China has prioritized primarily skill-based sports and “small, fast, women, water, and agile” sports disciplines that are historically less competitive globally. In recent years, China’s sports facilities increased by 89.7 % and the total area of sports venues increased by 33%. As part of the current five-year plan, 1,000 venues are being built.
China’s Sport System receives supplemental funding from the national sports lottery and, increasingly, commercial endorsements. Historically, the sports lottery played a significant role in supporting major sports events in China, including the Olympics, the Paralympics, the Asian Games, and the National Games. The lottery also provides most of the funding for the National Fitness Campaign. With the support of the sports lottery, fitness projects have been extended to more than 600,000 villages, plus exercise tracks, fitness centers, multifunctional community sports fields, and walk pathways throughout the country. By 2025, the national fitness public service system is charged with encouraging 38.5% of the population to regularly participate in physical exercise. Mass events, new facilities, use of existing school venues, and National Fitness Days are part of the national plan to encourage people to engage in healthy activities and sport. The sport-for-all movement in China is relatively new and largely ungoverned for youth unless they participate in a sports school or physical education class. However, the country is organizing itself for greater impact. In addition to the federal government, cities also create five-year plans to support sports development. The tournament brought in 32 national teams and an estimated 5 billion viewers worldwide.
In September 2008, just after concluding the Beijing Summer Olympics, then-President Hu Jintao had vowed to transform China from a “major” into a “leading” sports nation. China, since 2006 and the 11th Five-Year Plan for Sports (2006-2010), has had Five-Year Plans (FYP) in place to develop the sports industry. Under Xi Jinping, this objective has been infused with more urgency, with repeated demands that China “must accelerate the construction of a leading sports nation” by 2035.
Sports, according to the current 14th Sports FYP (2021-2025), are considered an important pillar in the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Under Xi, the concept of “leading sports nation” has also been refined and expanded in line with top-level policy priorities. While earlier the focus had been largely on developing elite sports and achieving international prestige by winning Olympic medals, the 2014 issued State Council Opinions on accelerating the development of a sports industry to promote sports consumption,) kick-started the development of a more comprehensive approach to developing a high-quality sports industry.
China wants to develop a national sports industry into a “pillar industry” of the national economy and fuse it with the new ‘dual circulation’ strategy – working towards a high-quality domestic market with strong domestic players, and increasingly strengthening domestic consumption. By 2025, an increasingly digitalized industry is going to reach an annual turnover of RMB 5 trillion, 2% of GDP, and a larger industry than anywhere else in the world. To get there, China deploys a wide range of market, governance, regional coordination, public policy tools, and government funds. The current key policy document, the 14th Sports FYP, for instance, vows to cultivate “100 internationally competitive domestic sports enterprises” and “build or rebuild over 2,000 public sports parks and facilities” by 2025.
• Sports shall play a key role in improving people’s overall health, and hence is also a key pillar in China’s “Healthy 2030” plan. Sports shall become more accessible and appealing to the broader population. To that end, China is supporting the development of physical education in schools, after-school youth sports activities, and is providing free or low-cost sports facilities for public use. As per the 14th Sports FYP, public services for national fitness today” cannot effectively meet the needs of the people for a better life”. It is therefore, for instance, to have “38.5% of the population regularly participating in exercise” or provide a “2.6 square meter area of sports facilities per capita” by 2025. This shall contribute to “lifelong sports habits” and strengthen people’s fitness and leisure activities. This will, in turn, catering to all policy objectives, also provide the country with a larger base to scout athletic talent for the various disciplines, and further stimulate interest in and consumption of sports products, merchandise, and events.
• The development of sports for Beijing is also a factor in enhancing overall competitiveness in sports, especially international competitiveness. In 2017, Xi, for instance, emphasized “we must improve the strength of our competitive sports and the ability to win honor for China”
.Basketball is currently the most popular sports discipline in China, and according to some analysts, has already become part of the Chinese culture. This is seen mainly in the outstanding popularity of the world’s top league, the NBA, in the Middle Kingdom. Hoops are a massive business in China, and the NBA fan base is constantly boosting its sports abilities.
The craze has grown incredibly strong at the beginning of the century, in large part thanks to the Chinese player Yao Ming becoming a hall of fame player in the NBA. China has also hosted tens of the NBA’s Global Games, which are played to promote the sport outside of North America. Apart from following the NBA, the Chinese have their own competition called the CBA, the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). The CBA was launched in 1995 and is currently contested by 19 teams playing in two divisions.
Association football has been one of the most popular sports among the Chinese since it was introduced in the country in the early 20th century.
In fact, China has been seen as one of the countries where the game of football was first invented (5, 000 years ago). The sport is governed by the Chinese Football Association (CFA), and the top level of the competition is the Chinese Super League, which was established in 2004. The CFA is currently contested by 16 teams. It is the twelfth domestic sports league in the world in terms of average attendance (24,107 fans per game), and sixth-highest among soccer leagues (after Bundesliga, EPL, La Liga, Serie A, and Liga MX). Football, including both national leagues and top foreign competitions, is widely covered by Chinese TV stations. The Spanish La Liga and English Premier League are the leagues that enjoy the highest popularity among the Chinese.
Table tennis has been an immensely popular spectator sport among the Chinese, though data shows that the interest in the game is declining among younger generations. In the 1950s, the Chinese leader Mao Zedong, who was a table tennis player himself, declared the game the country’s national sport. The discipline had even played its part in the political life of China through what was known as ping-pong diplomacy.
Today, with about an estimated 300 million players, table tennis (also known as ping pong) is the most popular recreational sport in China. The China Table Tennis Super League is the top competition in the country. Chinese ping pong players are the most successful ones on the globe and have been regularly winning the world’s top tournaments, including the Olympic Games.. Badminton is one of the favourite sports among the Chinese.
China is also the most successful badminton team in the history of the game, having won the Thomas Cup 10 times and the Uber Cup 14 times.
China Badminton Super League, founded in 2009, is the top tier of the sport in the country. It is currently contested by eight teams. Apart from professional leagues, the sport is also played in thousands of amateur competitions held across the country. China will launch extensive public fitness initiatives, improve physical education for young people, promote all-around development of recreational and competitive sports, and move faster to build China into a country strong in sports, said the report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on Oct 16.
During the past decade, China has made unprecedented efforts to become a leading global sports power. Thanks to these efforts, Chinese athletes have produced stunning results at sports events, the sports industry has grown by leaps and bounds, and sports culture has spread across the country.
In order to make China a leading sports power, the government has introduced mass fitness programs and policies. For example, by the end of 2021, the government had increased the number of sports facilities to 3.97 million, covering an area of 3.41 billion square meters, and raised the per capita area for sports facilities to 2.41 sq m. And to encourage more people to play sports or exercise regularly to maintain their physical health, the General Administration of Sport supports 1,200 to 1,400 sports venues to allow free or low-cost access to the public. Besides, China has more than 48,000 sports organizations, and by the end of 2021, over 2.7 million sports instructors had earned certificates for physical and skill training from over 2,300 training centers.
Also, more than 100 million people participate in sports events every year. The national fitness program has helped millions of people to maintain or improve their physical health, and pilot projects for sports centers at the community level have enhanced people's awareness about health. More than 500 million Chinese people, or 37.2 percent of China's population, regularly do physical exercise, and over 90 percent of people reached the average physical standard level in 2020.
China has made remarkable achievements in competitive sports, too. For example, China gave its best performance in an overseas Olympics at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games, equaling its London 2012 Olympics' haul of 38 gold medals. In addition, in 2022, China competed in all 15 disciplines of the Winter Games for the first time with the best-ever result. (Continued)
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