Sport in China has been long associated with the

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preser ...

. Today, China (including

mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the China, People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming Island, Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territorie ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

, and

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

) consists of a variety of competitive sports. Traditional

Chinese culture Chinese culture () is one of the world's oldest cultures, originating thousands of years ago. The culture prevails across a large geographical region in East Asia and is extremely diverse and varying, with customs and traditions varying grea ...

regards physical fitness as an important characteristic. China has its own national quadrennial multi-sport event similar to the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

called the National Games. Before the 1980s, the country's international sports success was mainly in

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

.How China's 1981 women's volleyballers 'inspired a billion'
Peter Stebbings and Jessica Yang (

Yahoo! News Yahoo! News is a news website that originated as an internet-based news aggregator by Yahoo!. The site was created by a Yahoo! software engineer named Brad Clawsie in August 1996. Articles originally came from news services such as the Associate ...

), 4 March 2021. Accessed 13 April 2021 This changed with the 1981 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup where the

Chinese women Like women in many other cultures, women in China have been historically oppressed. For thousands of years, women in China lived under the patriarchal social order characterized by the Confucius teaching of “filial piety.” In modern China ...

won the gold medal amidst enormous public attention. Prior to the 1990s, sports were entirely funded by the government. Top athletes quit at the height of their careers due to uncertainty about their livelihoods after

retirement Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

. In 1994, Chinese association football was professionalized, followed by

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

, ping pong, and

weiqi Go is an abstract strategy board game for two players in which the aim is to surround more territory than the opponent. The game was invented in China more than 2,500 years ago and is believed to be the oldest board game continuously played to ...

. Professionalization led to

commercialization Commercialization or commercialisation is the process of introducing a new product or production method into commerce—making it available on the market. The term often connotes especially entry into the mass market (as opposed to entry into ...

; this meant that sports associations became profit-making entities and that a club system and professional sports leagues were formed.

Sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

operations now cover ticket sales, advertising, club transfers, commercial matches, and television broadcasting. Chinese athletes have also begun joining professional leagues abroad, such as basketball Yao Ming's entry into the United States' NBA in the 2002 draft.Overview of NBA development in China
at "ChinaWikipedia" In September 2007, the Yao Ming and

Yi Jianlian Yi Jianlian ( ; born October 27, 1987) is a Chinese professional basketball player for the Guangdong Southern Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He has also played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Milwau ...

basketball matchup drew China's largest audience ever for a single sports game as 100–200 million Chinese watched live.

China Daily ''China Daily'' () is an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party. Overview ''China Daily'' has the widest print circulation of any English-language newspaper in China. ...

reported that ''Virtually the whole nation stands glued to their television sets, amid parties and wild celebrations.'' China led the gold medal count (48) at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

. The event was scheduled for August 8 to August 24, 2008, because the number 8 is a

lucky number In number theory, a lucky number is a natural number in a set which is generated by a certain "sieve". This sieve is similar to the Sieve of Eratosthenes that generates the primes, but it eliminates numbers based on their position in the rema ...

in Chinese culture. China hosted the

2014 Summer Youth Olympics The 2014 Summer Youth Olympics (), officially known as the II Summer Youth Olympic Games , and commonly known as Nanjing 2014 ( zh, c=南京2014, p=Nánjīng Èr Líng yī sì), were the second Summer Youth Olympic Games, an international sports ...

from August 16 to 28, 2014. In 2017, a football match in the Tianhe Stadium in

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, sou ...

drew the largest audience for a single sporting event within the boundaries of mainland China. The average attendance of the

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional football in ...

games in 2017 was 23,766 spectators.

was the host of the 2022 Winter Olympics.

History

Dragon boat racing dates back about 2000 years ago and remains a traditional event held around China every year.

Cuju ''Cuju'' or ''Ts'u-chü'' (蹴鞠) is an ancient Chinese football game. Cuju is the earliest known recorded game of football. It is a competitive game that involves kicking a ball through an opening into a net without the use of hands. Descripti ...

, a game similar but not related to the modern game of football, was played in China during the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC. Qigong

activities became popular in China. Modern sports appeared in China at the beginning of the 20th century, largely under the influence of the American

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

and Chinese reformers interested in adopting and adapting physical education models from the U.S., Europe, and Japan. The

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

(PRC) emphasizes sports and the government funds and trains talented youngsters into professional players, especially beginning in the mid-20th century. Ping pong is one of the biggest amateur recreational sports with an estimated 200 million players.

Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players p ...

is also well established and popular. 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 The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

. Football and

are also shown on TV. Even though Western observers tend to associate China with

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players p ...

, and various forms of pool, traditionally Western sports such as basketball and football are getting more and more popular. China's professional sports are in its developmental stages. They also may consist of hacky sack, or ping pong during their free time.

Types of sports

American football

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

leagues such as the American Football League of China and the China Arena Football League have been launched in recent years.

Badminton

is popular in China thanks to its relative simplicity in recreational use and inexpensive equipment. Many Chinese badminton players have gained international success and fame, especially the many Gold medalists at the BWF World Championships. It is a popular recreational, and professional sport, with amateur leagues throughout the country.

Bandy

China started a bandy development programme by organising educational days in Ürümqi in June 2009. They did not come as planned to the

2011 Asian Winter Games ) , Host city = Astana & Almaty, Kazakhstan , Nations participating = 26China national bandy team debuted in the 2015 Bandy World Championship.

Harbin Harbin (; mnc, , v=Halbin; ) is a sub-provincial city and the provincial capital and the largest city of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, as well as the second largest city by urban population after Shenyang and largest c ...

hosted Division B of the 2018 tournament. A picture of the team based in Harbin is available online. The China women's national bandy team made its

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

debut in 2016.

Chengde Chengde, formerly known as Jehol and Rehe, is a prefecture-level city in Hebei province, situated about 225 km northeast of Beijing. It is best known as the site of the Mountain Resort, a vast imperial garden and palace formerly used by ...

hosted the 2018 tournament. China has announced its intention to participate in both the men's and women's tournament of the

2019 Winter Universiade The 2019 Winter Universiade (russian: Зимняя Универсиада 2019), the XXIX Universiade, was a multi-sport event for student and youth athletes which took place from 2 to 12 March 2019 in the Russian city of Krasnoyarsk. The 2019 W ...

. In terms of licensed athletes, it is the second biggest winter sport in the world.

Baseball

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

was first introduced in 1864 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 Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...

MCA baseball club in 1905. However, in 1959

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also Romanization of Chinese, romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the List of national founde ...

disbanded all the teams and outlawed baseball. After the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...

ended, baseball activities restarted, and the China Baseball Association formed in 1974. In 2002, the China Baseball League was formed and in 2019 China National Baseball League. China participates in the

World Baseball Classic The World Baseball Classic (WBC) is an international baseball tournament sanctioned from 2006 to 2013 by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and after 2013 by World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) in partnership with Major Leagu ...

. Defeats of the national team to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

, and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

may help change the trend as Chinese become more aware of the game's internationalization.

Basketball

Basketball is the largest spectator sport in China. China hosted the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup. The game was introduced to China by American YMCA workers in 1896, just five years after Canadian-American James Naismith invented basketball in 1891 while working for the YMCA Training School in Springfield,

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. Since Yao Ming's 2002 arrival in the NBA, basketball has become increasingly more popular. According to the Chinese Basketball Association, there is a record number of around 300 million active basketball players in China. China's first professional team was started in

Shenyang Shenyang (, ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly known as Fengtian () or by its Manchu name Mukden, is a major Chinese sub-provincial city and the provincial capital of Liaoning province. Located in central-north Liaoning, it is the provi ...

and sponsored by the Anshan Steel Company. The CBA was established in 1995, and by 2008 it had expanded to 18 teams. The fact that the United States is starting to notice Chinese players after Yao Ming's success (compared to Wang Zhizhi and

Mengke Bateer Mengke Bateer (, pronounced ; born November 20, 1975), commonly referred to simply as Bateer in China, is a Chinese Inner Mongolian former professional basketball player. Playing at the center position, he played parts of three seasons in the N ...

), and young CBA players such as

and

Sun Yue Sun Yue () may refer to: * Sun Yue (warlord) (孙岳, 1878–1928), Chinese warlord *Sun Yueh (孫越, 1930–2018), Chinese/Taiwanese actor * Sun Yue (singer) (孙悦, born 1972), Chinese female singer * Sun Yue (volleyball) (孙玥, born 1973), f ...

entering the NBA are a testament to basketball's increasing popularity. In 2008, Sun Yue became the latest Chinese to join the NBA by signing with the Los Angeles Lakers to a two-year contract.

Bodybuilding

Bodybuilding was introduced to China in the 1930s, before being banned in 1953 and making a reappearance in 1983 when the ban was officially lifted.

Boxing

Boxing in China first appeared in the 1920s.

Professional boxing Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

is followed by some fans in China.

Chess

China had a good result in the 2006 37th Chess Olympiad in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

when the men's team came second behind

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...

and the women's team third for 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 hundred players, second only to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

. However, even today countries like

and

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

still have an edge in experience over their Chinese counterparts.

Xiangqi ''Xiangqi'' (; ), also called Chinese chess or elephant chess, is a strategy board game for two players. It is the most popular board game in China. ''Xiangqi'' is in the same family of games as '' shogi'', '' janggi'', Western chess, '' ...

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

Cricket

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

is a fast-growing sport in China. It is already a well-established sport in Hong Kong, a former British Colony. The Chinese cricket team is the team that represents the country of the People's Republic of China in international cricket. The Chinese Cricket Association became an

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are 108 national associations, with 12 Full Members and 96 Associate Members. Founded in 1909 as the '' ...

affiliate member in 2004. The Special administrative region of

is a member of the ICC in their own right, becoming an ICC associate member in 1969. Hence, players from

are not eligible to represent China in international competition. Prior to the establishment of a recognized national side, the

Shanghai Cricket Club The Shanghai Cricket Club is a cricket club based in Shanghai, China. The club dates back to 1858 when the first recorded cricket match was played between a team of British naval officers and a Shanghai XI. The original Shanghai Cricket Club cease ...

, the largest club in the country, played games against many touring sides but they do not receive official recognition from the Chinese Cricket Association. Since September 2005, the Chinese Cricket Association has conducted 8 coaching/umpiring training courses under the assistance from the Asian Cricket Council (ACC). They're promoted in 9 cities in China, namely

Dalian Dalian () is a major sub-provincial port city in Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, and is Liaoning's second largest city (after the provincial capital Shenyang) and the third-most populous city of Northeast China. Located on ...

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern provi ...

, Chongqing,

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...

and Jinan. More than 150 schools were involved. In 2006, the Chinese Cricket Association set itself ambitious goals over the next 14 years: *2009: Have 720 teams across the country in a well-organized structure *2015: Have 20,000 players and 2,000 coaches *2019: Qualify for the World Cup (Failed to qualify) *2020: Gain Test status (Has not happened yet as for 2022.)

Curling

Although generally unheard of and unpopular,

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns slidi ...

has been an improving sport for China to play. The government selected athletic 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, Liu Yin,

Wang Bingyu Wang Bingyu (; ; born October 7, 1984 in Harbin, Heilongjiang; usually referred to in the media as Bingyu "Betty" Wang) is a Chinese curler. In 2009, she became the first non Northern American or European skip to win a World Championship. Cu ...

, and

Yue Qingshuang Yue Qingshuang (; born October 7, 1985, in Harbin, Heilongjiang; usually referred to in the media as Qingshuang Yue) is a Chinese curler. She previously played second on the Chinese national team, skipped by Wang Bingyu. Currently as a coach, ...

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 through Universities and Colleges. In March 2009, China became the first Asian team to win a curling world championship by beating Sweden in the final. At the 2010 Winter Olympic Games the women's team won the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receiv ...

, defeating Switzerland in 10 ends.

Field hockey

The China women's national field hockey team won silver at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, as well as bronze at the 2002 Women's Hockey World Cup. Also, the team won the 2002 Hockey Champions Trophy and finished second in 2004 and 2006.

Figure skating

Since the 1990s, China has been one of the top nations in the pairs events of

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

. Shen Xue and

Zhao Hongbo Zhao Hongbo (; born 22 September 1973) is a Chinese retired pair skater. With his wife Shen Xue, Zhao is the 2010 Olympic champion, the 2002 & 2006 Olympic bronze medalist, a three-time World champion (2002, 2003 & 2007), a three-time Four Co ...

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. Comparatively, China is weak in the other three disciplines (men's singles, ladies' singles, and ice dancing).

Football

Football earns one of the highest television ratings of any sport in the country and has been one of the most well supported sports in China ever since it was introduced in the 1900s. There is also written evidence that a game similar to football, Cuju, was first played in China around 50 BC. The current

Chinese Football Association The Chinese Football Association (CFA) is the governing body for association football, beach soccer and futsal in People's Republic of China (Mainland China). The CFA organizes the men's and women's national teams and administers the country' ...

(CFA) was founded in the PRC after 1949. Its headquarters is located in Beijing, and the current chairman is Chen Xuyuan. From 1994 to 2004, the CFA established the first professional football league, which was "Jia A". The

(CSL) 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 has struggled to maintain popularity. In 2016, the average attendance of the CSL was 24,159 making it one of the highest attending professional football league around the world. 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

, they failed to score a single goal and lost three group matches. Conversely, the women's national team has finished second at both the World Championships and the Olympic Games. Despite the Chinese women's team's success at international competitions, however, women's football 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 football may well come to an end in the near future. In 1991, China hosted the inaugural Women's World Cup in

; in 2004, it hosted

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second oldest cont ...

. Football has always been among the more popular amateur team sports for recreation in China. High schools often have football facilities, some of which are rented on weekends to local amateur teams to organize matches. It is also popular 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. Lin Dan

Golf

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

tournaments in China include the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai,

TCL Classic The TCL Classic was a men's professional golf tournament which was played on a course designed by American Robert Trent Jones, Jr. at Yalong Bay Golf Club in Sanya on Hainan Island, People's Republic of China four times between 2002 and 2007. T ...

Sanya Sanya (; also spelled Samah) is the southernmost city on Hainan Island, and one of the four prefecture-level cities of Hainan Province in South China. According to the 2020 census, the total population of Sanya was 1,031,396 inhabitants, livi ...

on Hainan island, the

Volvo China Open The Volvo China Open is a men's golf tournament that has been held annually in China since 1995. The event is organised by the China Golf Association and has been co-sanctioned by the European Tour since 2004. It has also featured as part of the ...

and the BMW Asian Open, played in the PRC. The most successful Chinese male golfer has been

Zhang Lian-wei Zhang Lianwei (; born 2 May 1965) is a Chinese professional golfer. Zhang was the first golfer from the People's Republic of China to achieve substantial success on the international professional circuit. In January 2003 he became the first Ch ...

. The most successful Chinese female golfer is Feng Shanshan. 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 and Communist party officials are banned from playing.

Ice hockey

Ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

is a minority sport but growing in popularity. The

Kunlun Red Star HC Kunlun Red Star () is a Chinese ice hockey club that joined the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) prior to the 2016–17 season. History Preparation of the team In March 2016, representatives of Kunlun Red Star and the KHL signed a protocol o ...

is a professional team that plays in the Kontinental Hockey League since 2016.

Kickboxing

Kickboxing promotions such as Kunlun Fight have been started in recent years. Wu Lin Feng is also a long running promotion.

Lacrosse

The China national lacrosse team has qualified for the

World Lacrosse Championship The World Lacrosse Championship (WLC) is the international men's field lacrosse championship organized by World Lacrosse that occurs every four years. The WLC began before any international lacrosse organization had been formed. It started as ...

two consequtive times (2014 and 2018). China has also sent national teams to the

Under-19 World Lacrosse Championships The Under-19 World Lacrosse Championships (U-19) are held separately for men and women every four years to award world championships for the under-19 age group in men's lacrosse and women's lacrosse. The tournaments are sanctioned by World Lacrosse ...

Motor racing

The Macau Grand Prix is held since 1954, known for its Formula 3, touring car and

superbikes Superbike racing is a category of motorcycle racing that employs highly modified production motorcycles, as opposed to MotoGP in which purpose-built motorcycles are used. The Superbike World Championship is the official world championship series, t ...

races. Macau was transferred to China in 1999. The first international motor race in mainland China was the 1994 edition of the 3 Hours of Zhuhai, held at the

Zhuhai Street Circuit Zhuhai Street Circuit was a street circuit used in 1993–1995 in Zhuhai Zhuhai (, ; Yale: ''Jyūhói''), also known as Chuhai is a prefecture-level city located on the west bank of Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern Guan ...

as a round of the 1994 BPR Global GT Series. The Chinese Grand Prix is a

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

event that has been held at the Shanghai International Circuit since 2004. The same circuit has hosted the 6 Hours of Shanghai, a round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, since 2012. Ma Qinghua became the first Chinese driver to win an FIA World Championship race when he won the second of two races at the 2014 FIA WTCC Race of Russia, his debut meeting in the World Touring Car Championship. Ma had previously become the first Chinese driver to drive an F1 car at a Grand Prix meeting when he drove in the first free practice session for the HRT Formula 1 Team at the 2012 Italian Grand Prix. Zhou Guanyu became the first Chinese Formula 1 driver after making his debut at the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix.

Rugby union

Rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

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 World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international ru ...

in 1997 and is currently ranked 67th in the world. The national team has not qualified for a world cup so far. One segment of Chinese society where rugby is particularly popular is the military. Rugby is an official sport of the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the China, People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five Military branch, service branches: the People's ...

, with the PLA Sports Institute participating in the highly competitive

leagues. Notable Chinese rugby players include

Zhang Zhiqiang Zhang Zhiqiang may refer to: * Zhang Zhiqiang (rugby union) * Zhang Zhiqiang (speed skater) {{hndis ...

("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 Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six pockets, one at each corner and one in the middle of each long side. First played by British Army officers stationed in ...

's popularity has increased over the last few years in China. 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. 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 2008 World Snooker Championship, with Liang going on to reach the quarterfinals, where he faced a snooker legend Ronnie O'Sullivan. Snooker is played by an estimated 50 million Chinese people, and there are now over 300 snooker clubs in Beijing alone. China hosts several major professional ranking snooker tournaments.

Speed skating

There are six indoor speed skating arenas (

Changchun Changchun (, ; ), also romanized as Ch'angch'un, is the capital and largest city of Jilin Province, People's Republic of China. Lying in the center of the Songliao Plain, Changchun is administered as a , comprising 7 districts, 1 county and 3 ...

, Daqing,

, Qiqihar,

and Ürümqi). Three of the outdoor ovals were opened in 2012 (Fukang, Karamay, and Wangqing).

Table tennis (ping pong)

''Ping pong'' () is the official name for the sport of

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 The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) is the governing body for all national table tennis associations. The role of the ITTF includes overseeing rules and regulations and seeking technological improvement for the sport of table ten ...

and as part of the Olympics. Ma Long 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 players of all time, along with Zhang Jike,

Liu Guoliang Liu Guoliang (; born January 10, 1976) is a retired Chinese table tennis player who has won all titles at major world tournaments including World Championships, World Cup and Olympic Games. He is the second man to achieve a career grand slam of ...

, and Kong Linghui. The sport played an important role in China's international relations; in April 1972, the U.S. table tennis team were invited to visit China, an event later called "

Ping-pong diplomacy Ping-pong diplomacy ( ''Pīngpāng wàijiāo'') refers to the exchange of table tennis (ping-pong) players between the United States (US) and People's Republic of China (PRC) in the early 1970s, that began during the 1971 World Table Tennis Cha ...

". Table tennis is the biggest amateur recreational sport in China with an estimated 300 million players.

Tennis

Tennis is a growing recreational sport in China, although access to 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, being the third most popular after football and basketball.

Volleyball

Volleyball arrived in Asia in 1908 and was officially introduced to China in 1910. The Chinese Volleyball Association represents China in the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball and the

Asian Volleyball Confederation The Asian Volleyball Confederation, commonly known by the acronym AVC, is the continental governing body for the sports of indoor, beach, and grass volleyball in Asia and Oceania. It has 65 member associations, mostly located in the Asia-Paci ...

, as well as the representing the volleyball sports in the All-China Sports Federation. The China women's national volleyball team is one of the leading squads in women's international volleyball, having twice won the Olympic title (1984 and 2004). China took five consecutive World titles in the 1980s, the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup in 1981 and 1985, and the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship in 1982 and 1986. Although it experienced unstable development in the 1990s, the team won the 2003 FIVB World Grand Prix, captured the gold medal in the 2004 Summer Olympics, claimed the 2015 FIVB World Cup, and finished second at the 2013 FIVB World Grand Prix and the 2014 FIVB World Championship. The China men's national volleyball team represents China in international volleyball competitions and friendly matches. The team twice took part in the Summer Olympics, finishing in eighth place at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...

in Los Angeles,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, and 5th place in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Since 1956, the men's national team has taken part in eleven

s, with its best results in Italy (1978) and Argentina (1982), where it finished seventh. The team also placed ninth three times, in France (1956), the Soviet Union (1962), and Czechoslovakia (1966). In 2002 in Argentina, China was 13th as a new rebuilding phase got off the ground. China took part in the opening edition of the top-class Volleyball World League in 1990 and regularly participated between 1992 and 1997, finishing sixth in 1996. China featured national teams in beach volleyball that competed at the

2018–2020 AVC Beach Volleyball Continental Cup The 2018–2020 AVC Beach Volleyball Continental Cup was a beach volleyball double-gender event for teams representing Asian countries. The winners of the event qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics. Men Preliminary round Central Asia *Host: Vis ...

in both the women's and the men's sections.

Wushu

Wushu is a professional sport in China and is also an academic field. The Chinese Wushu Association (CWA) has managed the progress of wushu in China since its formation in 1958 which has resulted in a system of provincial and municipal organizations which host various events and competitions. Wushu is promoted at every age and experience level. The CWA has had great influence on the International Wushu Federation, especially on how wushu is judged, managed, and promoted. China is the most successful nation at the World Wushu Championships, having won 232 medals, 218 of them gold, since the first competition in 1991. China has also been very successful at other IWUF-related events including the World Junior Wushu Championships, Taolu World Cup, and Sanda World Cup, as well as the sports appearance at multi-sport events such as the Asian Games, the defunct East Asian Games,

World Games The World Games are an international multi-sport event comprising sports and sporting disciplines that are not contested in the Olympic Games. They are usually held every four years, one year after a Summer Olympic Games, over the course of 11 d ...

, World Combat Games, and others. China has also had great successes at the 2008 Beijing Wushu Tournament and 2014 Nanjing Youth Wushu Tournament where wushu was a demonstration event at the 2008 and 2014 Olympic celebrations. Many retired wushu taolu athletes have had great success as film actors, one of the most notable being

Jet Li Li Lianjie (courtesy name Yangzhong; born 26 April 1963), better known by his stage name Jet Li, is a Chinese film actor, film producer, martial artist, and retired Wushu champion. He is a naturalized Singaporean citizen. After three years ...

. Many sanda fighters have had great success at other disciplines of fighting such as

MMA Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incor ...

, Shootfighting, and Kickboxing.

Competitive results

Overview

Back in March 1959, at the 25th World Table Tennis Championships held in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

, the table-tennis player

Rong Guotuan Rong Guotuan (; August 10, 1937 – June 20, 1968) was a Chinese table tennis player. He won the men's singles title at the 1959 World Table Tennis Championships in Dortmund, the first world championship winner representing the People's Republic ...

won the first world title in China's sporting history. It was followed by many more successes. By the end of 2004 Chinese athletes had altogether won 1,800 world championships and broken 1,119 world records. In the 16 years since 1989, Chinese athletes have won 1,446 world championships, accounting for 80.3% of the total, and had broken 737 world records, making up 65.9% of the total. It was a period when China's competitive sports developed continuously and rapidly. At the 2008 Olympics, China made its best ever Olympic showing, with a tally of 100 medals, including 51 golds, 21 silvers and 28 bronzes, coming first in the medals table, achieving a major breakthrough in China's sporting history. The results in competitive sports were down to a training system which is constantly being perfected. It is based on youth amateur sports schools and basic-level clubs, with teams representing localities as the backbone, and the national team at the highest level. The training system ensures that China elite teams maintain a year-round squad of some 20,000 athletes.

Olympic Games

In July 2001, Beijing finally succeeded in its bid to bring the

. The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), established at the end of 2001, set the themes for the 2008 Games as "

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...

Olympics", "

high-tech High technology (high tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the most complex or the newest te ...

Olympics" and " Humanistic Olympics". Seven venues, including the National Stadium and the National Swimming Center have ushered in a new period of contemporary

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...

for Beijing. The centerpiece of the 2008 Games was "the bird's nest" National Stadium. With a capacity of 91,000 spectators, the stadium hosted the opening and closing ceremonies as well as track-and-field events. Since 1949, China has participated in eight Summer Olympics and nine Winter Olympics, winning 385 medals at the Summer Olympics and 44 medals at the Winter Olympics. At the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

and Atlanta Olympics, China came fourth in the gold medals table, second at the

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

& London Olympics, and first at the Beijing Olympics.

Asian Games

National Games

Anti-doping

In 2004, the State Council published its Anti-Doping Regulations, which have been in force since March 1, 2004.

Mao’s policy that emphasizes sports

During Mao’s rule in China from 1949 to 1976, sports were first seen as a militarized and socialist movement in which all men and women were required to take part. Mao felt it was imperative to build people’s health in order to maintain and defend the nation. 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.” 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. Of course, it does not necessarily mean that if you are in good health you will be good at study, for study must be done in the proper way… Now it is necessary to arrange some recreation for which there must be time and facilities, and this end should be firmly grasped too. The Party Central Committee has decided to cut down the number of meetings and study hours, and you must see to it that this decision is carried out. Challenge anyone who refuses to do so. In short, young people should be able to keep fit, study well and work well.”

Gender Equality Maoist Era

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). Rural women were at the forefront of this movement due to their predisposition in the countryside bringing them towards sports. 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. Through Mao’s movement, women gained respect across the country but still fought for the rights to full equality. 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.” 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.” Although the future looked bright for women in sports, a common theme was “Chinese first, women second.” In connection with the official policy of giving women priority in sports, the justification was frequently made by Chinese sources that their sport women are Chinese first and women second. In other words, their Chinese identity is more important than their gender identity.

National fitness post Maoist Era

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% of the urban population go to sports clubs to engage in fitness activities. It is expected that by the end of 2005, 37% of China's total population will participate in regular physical exercises, and that over 95% 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

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

s across China, open to and widely used by the 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,

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 m². 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

and

. 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 The Three Gorges () are three adjacent gorges along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, in the hinterland of the People's Republic of China. With a subtropical monsoon climate, they are known for their scenery. The "Three Gorges Scenic A ...

region of the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...

, 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 sports such as

rock climbing Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically a ...

, horsemanship,

bungee jumping Bungee jumping (), also spelled bungy jumping, is an activity that involves a person jumping from a great height while connected to a large elastic cord. The launching pad is usually erected on a tall structure such as a building or crane, a ...

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...

, skateboarding, women's boxing, shuffleboard, taekwondo, and

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

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 Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...

. This project, representing an investment of about 1 billion yuan, will be the sixth snow golf course in the world. The Nationwide Physical Fitness Program has set targets that, by 2010, about 40% of China's population will participate in regular physical exercise, there will be a clear improvement in the national physique and a major increase in the number of fitness sites so as to satisfy people's needs for keeping fit. Between 1990 and 2002 the average

life expectancy Life expectancy is a statistical measure of the average time an organism is expected to live, based on the year of its birth, current age, and other demographic factors like sex. The most commonly used measure is life expectancy at birth ...

of China's population increased by 3.25 years, reaching 71.8 years, approaching the level of moderately developed countries. 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. The survey showed an increase in the growth of children and teenagers in China's rural areas, every index showing an average rate of increase surpassing that of same age group children in the cities. But the survey also revealed some grounds for concern. Chinese people's physical faculties drop sharply after they turned 40. In cities

obesity Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's ...

poses a big threat to the health of children, teenagers, and adults. The health of women in rural areas is far from satisfactory. 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.

Youth sports

Schools have professional physical educators and exercise facilities and students failing to reach the required physical standards are not allowed to go on to higher schools. Spring and autumn sports meets are annual events. The National Middle School Games and National University Games are held every four years. Promising teenagers are sent to amateur sports schools to receive specialized training. There are also many youth

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

s. In recent years, using sports lottery proceeds, the State Physical Culture Administration has established some 500 juvenile sports clubs a year. There were some 3,000 such clubs by the end of 2005. Because Chinese athletes generally start their sporting careers at a young age, some receive little education and often struggle to find a job when they retire, with a 2012 study of the

State General Administration of Sports The General Administration of Sport () is the government agency responsible for sports in mainland China. It is subordinate to the State Council of the People's Republic of China. It also administers the All-China Sports Federation and Chinese O ...

learning that almost half the sportspeople failed to find employment. The government body then started to organize retraining courses to help them learn new skills and get jobs.

Traditional sports

Traditional sports with distinct Chinese characteristics are also very popular, including

, taijiquan (

shadow boxing Shadowboxing is a combat sport exercise in which a person throws punches at the air as though there is an opponent. Practised primarily in boxing, it is used mainly to prepare the muscles before the person training engages in stronger physical ...

), qigong (deep breathing exercises),

xiangqi ''Xiangqi'' (; ), also called Chinese chess or elephant chess, is a strategy board game for two players. It is the most popular board game in China. ''Xiangqi'' is in the same family of games as '' shogi'', '' janggi'', Western chess, '' ...

(Chinese chess),

(known as "Go" in the West) and Mahjong. Taijiquan is a kind of Chinese

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

, combining control of breath, mind and body. It emphasizes body movement following mind movements, tempering toughness with gentleness and graceful carriage. Qigong is a unique Chinese way of keeping fit. It aims at enhancing health, prolonging life, curing illness and improving physiological functions by concentrating the mind and regulating the breath. There are various entertaining and competitive sports activities in the minority-inhabited areas, for example, wrestling and horsemanship among Mongols, Uygurs and Kazaks; Tibetan yak racing; Korean "seesaw jumping"; crossbow archery among the

Miao Miao may refer to: * Miao people, linguistically and culturally related group of people, recognized as such by the government of the People's Republic of China * Miao script or Pollard script, writing system used for Miao languages * Miao (Unicode ...

, and dragon-boat racing among the Dai ethnic minority. Xiangqi and weiqi were two of the five sports featured at the 2008 World Mind Sports Games held in Beijing.

Sports business

Since the 2010s, Chinese corporations like China Media Capital, CITIC Group, Fosun International and

Wanda Group Wanda Group (), or the Dalian Wanda Group (), is a Chinese multinational conglomerate founded in Dalian, Liaoning and headquartered in Beijing. It is a private property developer and owner of Wanda Cinemas and the Hoyts Group. With inv ...

have invested heavily in international sports businesses, including marketing and media companies like

Infront Infront Sports & Media is a sports marketing company based in Zug, Switzerland. The company handles the media and marketing rights for international sports events and federations and also provides sports services - such as advertising, sponsorsh ...

and MP & Silva, and teams like City Football Group,

Aston Villa F.C. Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa P ...

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club' ...

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league s ...

, Atlético Madrid,

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter i ...

SK Slavia Prague Sportovní klub Slavia Praha – fotbal (Sports Club Slavia Prague – Football, ), commonly known as Slavia Praha or Slavia Prague, is a Czech professional football club in Prague. Founded in 1892, they are the second most successful club in ...

, FC Sochaux and ADO Den Haag.

Sports industry stages

China's sports industry has gone through three stages. The first was the Exploratory Stage, from 1978 to 1992. The second was the formative stage, from 1993 to 1996. The third is the development stage, from 1997 to the present.

Bibliography

*Susan Brownell: ''Training the Body for China: Sports in the Moral Order of the People's Republic'', University of Chicago Press, 1995, *Dong Jinxia: ''Women, Sport and Society in Modern China: Holding Up More Than Half the Sky'', Routledge, 2002, *Guoqi Xu: ''Olympic Dreams: China and Sports, 1895-2008'', Harvard University Press, 2008, *Hong Fan: ''Footbinding, Feminism and Freedom: The Liberation of Women's Bodies in Modern China'' (Cass Series—Sport in the Global Society), Paperback Edition, Routledge 1997, *Andrew D. Morris: ''Marrow of the Nation: A HIstory of Sport and Physical Culture in Republican China'', University of California Press, 2004, *James Riordan, Robin Jones (ed.): ''Sport and Physical Education in China'', Routledge 1999,

References

External links

State General Administration of Sport

All-China Sports Federation

Chinese Olympic CommitteeBeijing 2008 Olympic GamesNBA , Great Wall of Numbers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sport In The People's Republic Of China *

History

Types of sports

American football

Badminton

Bandy

Baseball

Basketball

Bodybuilding

Boxing

Chess

Cricket

Curling

Field hockey

Figure skating

Football

Golf

Ice hockey

Kickboxing

Lacrosse

Motor racing

Rugby union

Snooker

Speed skating

Table tennis (ping pong)

Tennis

Volleyball

Wushu

Competitive results

Overview

Olympic Games

Asian Games

National Games

Anti-doping

Mao’s policy that emphasizes sports

Gender Equality Maoist Era

National fitness post Maoist Era

Youth sports

Traditional sports

Sports business

Sports industry stages

See also

Bibliography

References

External links