Sport and Physical Education

in China

Sport and Physical Education in China contains a unique mix of material

written by both native Chinese and Western scholars. Contributors have been
carefully selected for their knowledge and worldwide reputation within the
field, to provide the reader with a clear and broad understanding of sport
and PE from the historical and contemporary perspectives which are specific
to China. Topics covered include: ancient and modern history; structure,
administration and finance; physical education in schools and colleges; sport
for all; elite sport; sports science & medicine; and gender issues.

Each chapter has a summary and a set of inspiring discussion topics.

Students taking comparative sport and PE, history of sport and PE, and
politics of sport courses will find this book an essential addition to their
library.

James Riordan is Professor and Head of the Department of Linguistic and

International Studies at the University of Surrey.

Robin Jones is a Lecturer in the Department of PE, Sports Science and

Recreation Management, Loughborough University.
Other titles available from E & FN Spon include:
Sport and Physical Education in Germany
ISCPES Book Series
Edited by Ken Hardman and Roland Naul

Ethics and Sport

Mike McNamee and Jim Parry

Politics, Policy and Practice in Physical Education

Dawn Penney and John Evans

Sociology of Leisure
A reader
Chas Critcher, Peter Bramham and Alan Tomlinson

Sport and International Politics

Edited by Pierre Arnaud and James Riordan

The International Politics of Sport in the 20th Century

Edited by James Riordan and Robin Jones

Understanding Sport
An introduction to the sociological and cultural analysis of sport
John Home, Gary Whannel and Alan Tomlinson

Journals:

Journal of Sports Sciences

Edited by Professor Roger Bartlett

Leisure Studies
The Journal of the Leisure Studies Association
Edited by Dr Mike Stabler

For more information about these and other titles published by E& FN Spon, please
contact:
The Marketing Department, E & FN Spon, 11 New Fetter Lane, London, EC4P
4EE. Tel: 0171 583 9855; Fax 0171 842 2303; or visit our web site at
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Sport and Physical
Education in China

Edited by
James Riordan and Robin Jones

London and New York

First published 1999
by E & FN Spon,
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002.
E & FN Spon is an imprint of the Toylor & Francis Group
© 1999 James Riordan and Robin Jones, selection and editorial matter; Individual chapters, the
contributors
The right of James Riordan and Robin Jones to be identified as
the Authors of their contributions has been asserted by them in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
The publisher makes no representation, express or implied,
with regard to the accuracy of the information contained in this
book and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any
errors or omissions that may be made.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Sport and physical education in China/[edited by] James Riordan and
Robin Jones,
p. cm.—(ISCPES book series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-419-24750-5 (hardbound).—ISBN 0-419-22030-5 (pbk.)
1. Sports—China—History 2. Physical education and training—
China—History. 1. Riordan, James, 1936–. II. Jones, Robin
(Robin E.) III. Series.
GV651.S655 1999
613.7′0951–dc21 98–51481
CIP
ISBN 0-203-47699-9 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-78523-1 (Adobe eReader Format)

ISBN 0-419-24750-5 (hbk)
ISBN 0-419-22030-5 (pbk)
Contents

List of figures vii

List of tables viii
Notes on contributors x
Series’ editor’s preface xii
Dedication xv
Foreword xvii
Note on pronunciation xix
Map of China xx

1 Sport in China 1
ROBIN JONES

2 Recreation and sport in Ancient China: Primitive society to

AD 960 20
MIKE SPEAK

3 The emergence of modern sport: 960–1840 45

MIKE SPEAK

4 China in the modern world: 1840–1949 70

MIKE SPEAK

5 Sport and physical education in school and university 90

ROBIN JONES

6 Elite sport 120

DENNIS WHITBY

7 Professional training 142

DENNIS WHITBY, ZHU PEILAN AND ZHANG BAOLUO
vi Contents

8 Chinese women and sport 159

JAMES RIORDAN AND DONG JINXIA

9 The emergence of professional sport—the case of soccer 185

ROBIN JONES

10 China and the Olympic movement 202

HAI REN

11 Sports science 214

DENNIS WHITBY

12 Sports medicine 231

FRANK H.FU

13 Mass fitness 243

SHIRLEY REEKIE

Appendix: Administration of sport 255

SHIRLEY REEKIE

Index 273
Figures

Map of China xx
1.1 General structure of the Chinese sports system up to
2 March 1998 16
1.2 Administrative sections of the State Physical Culture and
Sports Commission in January1998 17
1.3 Structure of the Chinese sports system after 2 March 1998 18
5.1 The Chinese education system 92
9.1 Graph comparing the number of Asian countries with all
countries taking part in the preliminary and qualifying
rounds of each World Cup, 1930–94 187
10.1 Comparison of research papers and introductory articles 209
12.1 Silk painting of ‘Daoyin’ found at the grave of Emperor Ma
(475–221 BC) 233
12.2 Wu Quan Xi—postural exercises imitating animals 234
12.3 Ban Duan Jin—postural exercises 235
12.4 Tai Chi Quan 236
Tables

1.1 Chronology of change, 1978–98 5

1.2 Results of drugs tests in China, 1997 7
5.1 Kinds of key and non-key schools in China 91
5.2 Transfer rates from middle schools to universities,
vocational schools and work 93
5.3 National age group standards—female, 9 years 95
5.4 Points awarded for standards achieved in official competition 96
5.5 Middle school PE standards for ‘graduation’ 96
5.6 National Age Group Norms, male, 18 years 97
5.7 Standards for transfer from junior to senior middle school 98
5.8 Overall content of a key middle school timetable 101
5.9 Courses followed by PE students at East China Normal
University 106
5.10 Elective courses for PE students at East China Normal
University 107
5.11 Fitness test record for students at special sports schools 111
8.1 Chinese women’s and men’s contribution to China’s results
in the summer Olympics, 1984–92 162
8.2 China’s performance at the winter Olympics, 1984–92 162
8.3 Numbers of male and female competitors in Olympic
teams, 1988: countries with established sports traditions 163
8.4 Chinese women’s comparative contribution, 1988 and 1992
summer Olympics 163
8.5 Respective numbers of male and female professional
coaches, 1990 177
9.1 World Cup preliminary and qualifying rounds 1930 to
1994—Asian countries taking part 188
9.2 FIFA-Coca Cola world soccer rankings 189
9.3 Structure of the Chinese professional soccer league, 1996 189
9.4 Soccer clubs and national teams playing in or against China
in recent years 192
 Tables ix

9.5 Country of origin of overseas players in Japanese J-League,

August 1996 198
10.1 Summary of China’s participation in the 23rd, 24th, 25th
and 26th Olympic Games 207
10.2 Content change of Olympic studies in China in different
periods 209
13.1 Test items for young people in the National Fitness
Standards 248
13.2 Test items for adults in the National Fitness
Standards 249
Contributors

Frank Hoo-kin Fu is Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences,

Director of the Dr Stephen Hui Research Centre for Physical Recreation
and Wellness, Hong Kong Baptist University. He is the author of The
Development of Sport Culture in the Hong Kong Chinese (HKBU Press,
1993) and is a recognized international authority on sports medicine in
and outside China.

Dong Jinxia is an ex-Chinese gymnast who now coaches the Chinese women’s
national gymnastics team, as well as lecturing at the Beijing Sports
University. She has been conducting research into ‘Society, Women and
Sport in Modern China’, and is registered for her doctorate at the
University of Glasgow in Scotland.

Robin Jones is lecturer in sports studies at Loughborough University and is

the United Kingdom’s leading expert on Chinese sport. He has travelled
extensively in China, taught PE and sport for a number of years in
Singapore, and has written on many aspects of sport and PE in China. In
his introductory chapter, he sets the tone for our book in maintaining
that,

to understand the contextual position of sport in China—its

‘Chineseness’—demands a much fuller awareness of Chinese culture,
conditions and values, and that is a complex task.

Shirley Reekie was trained in sports studies in England, but teaches

international PE and sport at San Jose State University in the USA. She is
a competitive rower and sailor, and has made sport in China a special
research topic, having spent several months living in China (Fujian
Province). She is President of the International Society for Comparative
Physical Education and Sport.

Hai Ren is a professor at the Beijing University of Physical Education where

he is also Director of the Centre for Olympic Studies and is widely known,
 Contributors xi

both within and outside China, for his work in this field. He is an executive
member of the International Society for Comparative Physical Education
and Sport.

James Riordan is Academic Head of the School of Language and International

Studies, and Director of the International Sports Studies Centre at the
University of Surrey. He has written several books on sport and PE in
communist countries, including Sport in Soviet Society (CUP, 1978), Sport
under Communism (Hurst, 1981) and Sport, Politics and Communism
(MUP, 1991).

Mike Speak originally trained as a linguist (French and Swedish), but has
spent his career in physical education. He was Deputy Director of Sport
at the University of Lancaster before becoming Head of the PE and Sports
Science Unit at the University of Hong Kong, where he has taught for
some twenty years. He has made a special study of Chinese sports history.

Dennis Whitby, Director of the Hong Kong Sports Institute, coached at the
highest level in China for a number of years, and travelled extensively in
the country to observe sports facilities, talent and attitudes. His three
chapters provide a valuable insight into Chinese sport, based on visits to
China over the last fifteen years and his own coaching experience in
Beijing.
Series’ editor’s preface

Prior to 1970, texts concerned with comparative and international issues

and dimensions were relatively rare. A few American commentators devoted
some attention to developments in sport in the then Soviet Union and also
produced, through assembled descriptive accounts, information on health,
physical education and recreation in a number of countries around the world.
After 1970, there was an increasing interest in international aspects of physical
education, testimony to which was the plethora of descriptive articles
contributed to professional journals by American physical educators. In the
main, these articles represented information derived from observational
educational or ‘touristic’ visits to be shared with colleagues. Generally, they
were not seen to qualify as comparative research reports and reflected the
broader situation of comparative studies in physical education and sport
trailing behind reported research in the ‘parent’ area, ‘comparative education’.
However, some significant developments in scholarly activity were marked
by two seminal texts in the field: Bennett, Howell and Simri (1975) and
Riordan (1978).
A major initiative in the international development of the comparative
physical education and sport domain was the formation of the International
Society for Comparative Physical Education and Sport (ISCPES) in 1978,
since when it has been at the forefront of the promotion of comparative
physical education and sport studies. This society is a research and educational
organization with the expressed purpose of supporting, encouraging and
providing assistance to those seeking to initiate and strengthen research and
teaching programmes in comparative physical education and sport throughout
the world. ISCPES holds biennial international conferences, publishes
conference proceedings, an international journal and monographs, sponsors
(in the form of patronage) research projects and, with this text on physical
education and sport in China, has now launched a book series.
The idea of an ISCPES book series originated in an initial concern about
the dearth of published analytical literature in the comparative and
transnational/cross-cultural domains of physical education and sport. Since
the early 1970s, with few exceptions such as seminal work by Riordan, there
 Series’ editor’s preface xiii

has been a continuing predisposition, in textbooks with a ‘first order’

comparative or international approach, towards description rather than
analytic interpretation. There has been a concentration on the ‘what’ and a
neglect of the essential ingredients of ‘truly’ regarded comparative study—
the ‘why’ and ‘how’. The volumes in this book series are aligned with the
expressed purposes of comparative and cross-cultural study and serve to
progress comparative and international studies beyond description.
The primary purpose is for the titles in the series individually and collectively
to result in extending knowledge of national systems and ‘problem’ themes
and topics. As such they will represent a significant contribution to the
progression of comparative, cross-cultural and international studies in physical
education and sport. Physical education and sporting activity have a ubiquitous
global presence. At the same time, they are subject to culturally specific ‘local’
(national and/or community) interpretations, policies and practices. Inevitably,
therefore, similarities and differences are encountered at these ‘local’ levels.
The collection of volumes to feature in the book series illustrates the nature
and extent of the variations.
The intention with all titles in this series is to present explanations and/or
interpretations so as to provide an analytic dimension rather than mere
descriptive narration for the nature and scope of national delivery systems in
selected countries as well as to address issues which are pervasively important
in global and local cross-cultural contexts. The overriding aim of the series is
not only to provide texts which will cover constituent elements of cross-
cultural and international aspects of physical education and sport, but also
to facilitate deeper awareness and understanding in a variety of geographical
political area and thematic issues settings.
Each volume focuses on a national or regional political entity (China,
Germany, Australasia, the Gulf States, etc.) or a thematic issue (women and
sport, adapted physical activity, the development of elite sport, comparative
methodology, etc.). Each text can be used on an individual basis to extend
knowledge and understanding. More importantly, the volumes can be taken
together as an integrated basis for informed comparisons of national systems
and thematic issues, thereby serving the overall purpose of contributing to
critical awareness and analysis amongst confirmed and potential
comparativists and young scholars at both undergraduate and postgraduate
levels.
The template for the content of the ‘area’ study volumes is set by this first
title in the series. Each volume in the series will have a contextualizing
introduction, followed by chapters focusing on historical developments,
organizational structures, policies and programmes in physical education in
educational settings, sport delivery systems, including issues of institutional
development of excellence in sport and sport for all policies and practices.
Such a template facilitates awareness of similarities, variations and differences
between the countries.
xiv Series’ editor’s preface

REFERENCES
Bennett, B., Howell, M., and Simri, U. (1975) Comparative Physical Education,
Champaign, Illinois: Human Kinetics.
Riordan, J. (1978) Sport in Soviet Society, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ken Hardman
Series Editor
Dedication

ISCPES acknowledges the generous donation of Sheikh Ahmad-al-Fahad al

Sabah, President, Olympic Council of Asia, member of the International
Olympic Committee (IOC), President of the National Olympic Committee
of Kuwait and Vice-President of the Association of National Olympic
Committees (ANOC). Sheikh Ahmad’s donation to the ISCPES Trust Fund
for publications and to establish a book series is dedicated to the name and
memory of his father, Sheikh Fahad al-Ahmad al-Sabah, who was tragically
killed at the outset of the Gulf War.
Sheikh Fahad was the younger brother of the Emir of Kuwait, H.H.Sheikh
Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah. After a distinguished military career, Sheikh Fahad,
at the age of 29, became President of the Kuwait Olympic Committee, an
office held until the time of his death on 2 August 1990. He was a prominent
sports personality in Asia. His most distinctive achievement was the founding
of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA). As President of the OCA, Sheikh
Fahad was instrumental in enhancing the international status of the Asian
Games as a sporting spectacle. Other presidential and vice-presidential offices
held were both national (Kuwait Football and Basketball Associations) and
international (Arab Sports Union, Arab Basketball Federation, Asian and
International Handball Associations, Association of National Olympic
Committees). Sheikh Fahad was also a member of the Olympic Movement
Commission of the IOC as well as a member of the IOC Executive Board
from 1985 to 1989. His extensive commitment to sport was also reflected in
his founding of several Kuwait national bodies: karate, taekwando and
yachting and rowing federations. He was an active huntsman and breeder of
fine Arabian horses. His broader interests embraced support of many sports-
related charities, music, poetry and writing, an affinity with which resulted
in his founding of the Asian Sports Writers Association. Recognition of his
various contributions to the international arena included military honours,
honorary citizenship of Japan and an Honorary Doctorate in Law from Seoul
University, South Korea, OCA and ANOC Merit Awards.
Like his eldest son, Sheikh Ahmad, at the present time, the late Sheikh
Fahad was a strong advocate of fair play in sport and believed in the special
xvi Dedication

role of sport in contributing to global peace, harmonious co-existence and

prosperity. In associating with these ideals, ISCPES is indebted to Sheikh
Ahmad for his financial support, one tangible result of which is this book
series.

Ken Hardman
Editor-in-Chief, ISCPES book series
Foreword
James Riordan

This book was prepared with the best of intentions: to bring together scholars
from East and West to write a clear and objective account of Chinese sport
and physical education. That such a book is needed by students of comparative
sport, and by those professionally and casually interested in sport, is evident
from the dearth of material available in English,1 and by the status of China
in the world today.
Not only is China the most populous state on earth, with over a billion
people, but it is in rapid transition to a nation of considerable world import
politically, commercially, militarily—and in terms of sport. Its athletes, who
only made their debut at the Olympic Games in 1984, are increasingly
attracting world attention, not always for the right reasons.
Yet it is western ignorance about China and its sport that so often fosters
suspicion and induces false conclusions. The Chinese themselves, only now
emerging from political isolation, have contributed to the general mystique
surrounding their society. To some extent, this has been a feature of all
erstwhile communist states whose scholars were for long outside the
mainstream of world scholarship. They spoke, if they spoke at all, in
shibboleths and arcane formulae, presenting the ideal for the actual, the
transitory political line for the last word in science.
In today’s China, all that is changing. Yet the imprint of the past is still
perceptible in much of the sports scholarship. It is a problem which soon
became apparent as we sought contributors in China. In the end, we had to
turn principally to western scholars with a knowledge of Chinese language
and culture and who were themselves involved in sport. All the authors have
a long association with Chinese sport, have lived in China and have spent
their professional lives both teaching and coaching sport.
Not all the chapters are written in the usual descriptive analytical way.
The three chapters by Dennis Whitby are written partly in narrative/diary
form, comparing and contrasting impressions gained at different periods when
visiting the same institutions in China. He therefore provides a personal insight
into significant changes made over the decade he describes.
xviii Foreword

NOTE
1 Two major books exist in English on sport in China. Howard G.Knuttgen, Ma
Qiwei and Wu Zhongyuan (eds), Sport in China (Human Kinetics, Champaign,
Illinois 1990) is a well-intentioned collection of conference papers covering
important aspects of sport in China old and new. All fourteen chapters were
written by Chinese authors and many bear the imprint of recent political dogma.
Susan Brownell, Training the Body for China (University of Chicago Press, 1995)
is an excellent personal account of ‘sport in the moral order’ of China, written
from an anthropological standpoint.
Note on pronunciation

The Chinese language comprises many dialects that frequently make it

impossible for people in one part of the country to speak to those in another,
although the written characters may be understood by everyone. To address
this problem, the Chinese government have adopted one spoken form, referred
to as ‘putonghua’, which is used in schools, television, and for all other public
or official occasions. In addition, to facilitate the transcription of the written
form of the Chinese language into Romanized script (used in the early stages
of learning in primary schools and also by non-Chinese), the People’s Republic
of China introduced a standardized ‘spelling’ system known as Pinyin.
Although this is now almost universal, other systems do exist such as the
older Wade-Giles system. Inevitably, there can be considerable confusion to a
foreigner in recognizing the same word spelt in totally different ways (Peking
and Beijing being one example), not to mention the problems created over
the spoken language by the many dialects.
This book largely uses the pinyin system, although some of the references
in the historical chapters are better left in their dialect form, and other sections
contain dialect variations. It would not be appropriate to try to standardize
every one of these variations.
Chapter 1

Sport in China
Robin Jones

With increasing regularity, the People’s Republic of China is appearing in

western news bulletins, television documentaries, newspapers, feature articles,
films—and of course sporting record books—coinciding, it so happens, with
the end of the twentieth century. Historians will look back and surely mark
the last hundred years as hugely significant in the chain of events that have
led to the present position of China as an emerging world superpower. The
nation’s status as a superpower is heavily dependent on the fact that it is the
most populous country in the world and that potentially it holds the key to
the growth of the world economy. But there are other reasons for seeing
China as pre-eminent. First, it has the fastest growing economy in the world,
sustaining an average annual growth of around 10 per cent over the last
decade.1 Second, it is well placed in the Pacific Rim to stand alongside other
economies in the region—South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Australia,
and even the United States (California, notably). Third, it has a long tradition
as a trading nation from the times of the Silk Road2 to the nineteenth century
links with western countries. And fourth, China has a very distinct sense of
identity; even though in much of its history the country has been dominated
by others, it has nevertheless remained relatively untainted by outside
influences.
The first half of the twentieth century saw the demise of Imperial China,
the defeat of Nationalist China and the rise of Communist China. During the
same period the country had to withstand the ravages of the Second World
War and occupation by the Japanese (1938–45),3 involvement in the Korean
War (1950–3) and its own Civil War (1946–9).4 It also had to accept the
trade concessions forced upon the country by western powers in the earlier
years.5 The second half of the century, although markedly different from the
first, was nevertheless enormously diverse. During the first twenty-five years
following the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949, government policies
variously led to failure, disaster, famine, revolution and stagnation. It is clear
that China in the twentieth century has been in a constant state of flux. As
the millennium comes to an end, world communism has collapsed inwards,
leaving China as one of the few countries basing their policies on socialist
principles—and there is much to suggest that even that is in name only.
2 Robin Jones

The long tradition of China has given it a rich and distinct cultural heritage,
combining as it does the secular and the non-secular philosophies of
Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism over a period of more than 2,500 years.6
During this period, China not only developed and refined forms of exercise
that were in complete contrast to those in the West, but also developed folk
games similar to the European precursors of soccer and hockey.7 However,
the arrival of explorers, traders and missionaries from afar also exposed China
to western ways in the last 600 years and marked one of the curiosities of
Chinese history in that, whilst there was an inward flow of people and ideas
from outside, the country did not develop its unique talents in the way that
the western nations did. China did not become a fermenting vessel of industrial,
commercial and academic ideas, but rather was the recipient of those from
outside.
We might ask how, if China was in such turmoil during the twentieth
century, did sport manage to find a niche. Despite the civil unrest between
the Guomindang8 and the Communists, the struggle against the Japanese
invasion and the relative poverty of the peasant population, Chinese traditional
sports together with ‘new’ sports brought in by ‘foreigners’9 continued to
survive and (later) flourish. This is as much a comment on the resilience of
sport as it is on Chinese society, but it serves to emphasize two important
aspects of sport in twentieth-century China. First, that whatever the
Communist revolution led to—such as the emancipation of women (for
example from bound feet and concubinage), the freeing of peasants from the
land, official rejection of Confucianism, eradication of the bourgeoisie and
the mercantile class—it did not (and could not) eradicate the influence of
tradition in every area of life. Although Mao Zedong had railed against the
‘Four Olds’—old culture, old ideology, old customs, old habits—in the early
years of the People’s Republic, the tradition of tat ji quan and other martial
arts, for example, remained intact. They are, after all, a silent and individual
affair that do not need any overt display or team work in order for them to
be practised; even though they have strong symbolic links with the past, their
development as a form of health therapy insulated them from criticism as a
threat to the new society.
Second, in adopting western sports such as track and field, China was
entering the international arena of sport. This matched in some way the move
towards the four modernizations of the post-Maoist era: agriculture, science
and technology, industry and national defence. The rapid development of
international sport in the final decades of this century has relied heavily on
the input of science and technology. But it has also created a modern and
fashionable image in the designer clothes market that is influential in setting
trends for young people. Thus, as China has opened her doors to the West,
sport has been able to present itself as being uniquely Chinese (in traditional
sport) and forward looking and modern (in Olympic sport). This combination
of tradition and the modern is a constantly recurring theme in China and can
 Sport in China 3

be seen in many ways: in cliches such as ‘crossroads’, ‘interface’, and ‘turning

point’; in architecture, where the swept lines of the old roofs contrast with
the cubic shapes of modern high rise buildings; in the transport system, where
the old tricycle rickshaws ply their trade alongside the new Japanese and
German taxi cars; in the countryside, where the water buffalo breathes the
fumes of the mechanized tractor, and the hand threshers at rice harvest go
home to their colour televisions.
In what ways does the Chinese system of sport differ from that of other
(former) Communist countries, such as the Soviet Union and the German
Democratic Republic? For all the unrest and even open animosity that existed
between the USSR and China in the 1960s, the essential features of the two
sports systems were virtually identical, inasmuch as they were both
‘centralized’ and part of a sporting hierarchy that operated from government
down to county and district level. The circumstances under which they
operated, however, were different. It is fair to say that by the mid-1980s,
when the Gorbachov reforms in the USSR were presaging the political collapse
of the Soviet system, China was beginning to realize the need for change to
its own system—change that had been assiduously espoused by Deng Xiao
Ping (the late, former leader of China). The collapse of the former USSR was
a warning against early political reform. If Communism was unable to survive
in Eastern Europe, it was because, de facto, it simply was not providing the
improvements to living standards that might have been expected to attract
popular support. Deng was a reformer by nature, and his determination drove
the government to take a reformist line—the open door policy of 1979/ early
1980s, the four modernizations programme (of agriculture, industry, science
and technology, and defence), and the establishment of Special Economic
Zones (for example Shenzhen in southern China) are testimony to this. China
under Deng first accepted, and has since built on, some measure of co-
operation with the West, but although Communism has subsided elsewhere,
it still underspins the official policies of the country. It was under the leadership
of Deng, following the death of Mao in 1976, that China adopted an ‘open
door’ policy, gradually allowing more western influence (largely in the form
of trade) into the country, encouraging the adoption of market principles,
permitting entrepreneurial activity, all carrying the clear message that reform
was possible and even desirable.
Under those conditions, and with the example of the former Soviet Union,
the events leading to the clash between the government and those clamouring
for reform in Tian An Men Square (and elsewhere in China) in the summer of
1989 were perhaps predictable. The political clampdown that followed Tian
An Men did not, however, halt the economic realism that was dominating
government policy, and sport has flourished in this new climate. This has
been apparent in the following:
4 Robin Jones

• Decentralization has allowed provinces some autonomy in establishing

programmes for sport according to their own perceived needs
• Rationalization has led to a streamlining of the numbers of people
employed in sports administration
• Accountability has meant that, for the first time, new ways of financing
sport are being explored as the government gradually reduces its support
• The sports system is having to learn to cope with media attention to the
growing success of Chinese athletes and the attendant scandals that have
surfaced over drug abuse, coaching dissent, walk outs and disputes.

Are the reforms part of the civilizing process noted by Howell10 or is the ‘soy
paste vat’11 of Chinese culture so bound by tradition that reform is nothing
more than a reshuffling of the same cards? Curiosity about the West (a poor
term because it encompasses many different patterns and ideas) has inevitably
been fuelled by the media and knowledge that the family of Communist states
is now virtually non-existent. The Olympic Games and world championships
in various sports (especially soccer, tennis and basketball) were created in the
West and have become the dominant role model for the sporting aspirations
of emerging nations. So powerful is this model and so standardized are
international sports that there seems little room for indigenous sports. China,
then, has little option but to reform her sports according to IOC, FIFA or
IAAF rules—a major factor in the reform process.
On 2 March 1998, sweeping changes to the structure of Chinese
government were announced at the Ninth National People’s Congress in
Beijing. Eleven out of forty ministries and other offices of the State Council
were to be closed, including the State Physical Culture and Sports Commission.
It was also announced that provincial Sports Commissions would close, and
the number of employees in government offices would be reduced by 50 per
cent by the end of 1998. Was this a complete surprise, or were there earlier
signs that, in retrospect, were a portent of things to come? A reduction in the
size of the Sports Commission had already occurred at the beginning of the
1990s and, in 1993, views expressed by Chinese academics and sports officials
regarding the failure of Beijing to win the nomination for the 2000 Olympic
Games suggested that the failed bid would add to the pressure for reform of
the sports system, although at the time closure of the Sports Commission was
not mentioned.
Whilst the pattern of reform was evident at the beginning of 1998, it was
certainly not the start of the process, nor was it complete. Basic reform began
in the 1980s—the USA, UK and Germany were examples of countries that
were looked at and, by 1992/3, structural reform was under way. The pattern
of reform was evident: sport was being separated from government, and was
adopting, broadly, a western approach. However, the separation was not
total. The government would continue to give some funding to the training
system and to the competitive programme in Olympic sports. Under the
 Sport in China 5

training system reforms, different levels of funding emerged: parents would

have to contribute towards their children’s involvement in sport at the
introductory level (payment for coaching sessions); the government would
help at medium level (providing coaches and special sports schools); and
finally at the top level, the government would fund training only for those
sports unable to attract major sponsors, leaving sponsors to fund the rest
(soccer, basketball and volleyball are in the vanguard of sponsorship). For
competitive sport, the government will now only fund the Olympic sports
programme, thus making national priorities quite transparent. The strong
links with government, noted by Zhang Li12 are weakening, as an independent
tier of organization, separate from government, emerges. Table 1.1 gives a
simple chronology of some of the changes identified.
Economic and political reforms are having a major impact on sport. In
1995 the five-day week was adopted throughout the country; income levels
have risen, with greater disposable margins; the economic boom is bringing
an air of confidence; industrial growth is strong; inward investment is high;
consumer goods are expanding; and an embryonic leisure industry is emerging.
As leisure time increases with the long weekend, and as prosperity grows,
more attention is being given by sports leaders to the provision of Sport for
All (or rather, Recreation for All, in the broader sense). Four key target groups
have been identified:

1 the elderly—that is, those around retiring age (males, 60; females, 55);
2 young people;
3 the rural population;
4 blue collar workers.

Table 1.1 Chronology of change, 1978–98

1978/79 Deng Xiao Ping comes to power. Start of the reform era; open door policies
and modernization programme take root
1980s The collapse of Communism and the decade of change in Eastern Europe.
1990s Re-alignment of policies with the free market under the banner ‘Socialism with
Chinese characteristics’.
1995 New government regulations for sport; new professional soccer leagues formed;
soccer management centre planned.
1996 Soccer management centres established; basketball and voile/ball management
offices follow suit
1997 Sports Commission restructured; management offices for all major sports
planned. Provincial Regulations appear in some provinces.
1998 Major government restructuring announced by State Council; State Sports
Commission to close; closure of provincial sports commissions also announced.
All China Sports Federation to become the government’s sports office, listed
directly under the State Council, with loss of ministerial status.
6 Robin Jones

To analyse what China expects from sport, reference is made to government

regulations that have been formulated during the 1990s. New regulations
covering sport were published in 1995,13 containing eight chapters, with fifty-
six clauses, the key features of which reflected:

• the move towards market forces and commercialism;

• the separation between government agency and sport agency;
• concern for mass sport, leisure and free time;
• sport management issues—as opposed to simply sport provision;
• the active promotion of sponsorship;
• retention of state concern for nationalism, socialism, morality and
discipline;
• recognition of international concerns over substance abuse in sport;
• the rights of athletes to careers after sport and the state’s duty to provide
opportunity for job training;
• importance given to school physical education—compulsory, daily PE,
evaluation alongside academic performance, national standards, school
sports clubs and health and fitness checks.

The 1995 regulations set the framework for the development of sport in
China, certainly into the next century, but it was unclear, at the time, whether
there would be further reductions in government control over sport and
whether market forces were expected to completely prevail. The regulations
were relatively clear about policy, but less clear about implementation and,
as the following examples show, retained the hallmarks of sports policies in
Communist countries, as well as marking the change towards a free market.

Regulation 3
Sport is valued for its contribution to the economic, social and military
development of China…
Regulation 24
China promotes the development of competitive sport and encourages
athletes to improve the level of their sports skills, in order to raise the
standard of sports competition, and gain honour for the country.
Regulation 17
Schools must include Physical Education to develop the moral, intellectual,
and physical qualities of the students.

The departure from the traditional pattern of state provision lies in

Regulation 42, ‘Sports organizations are encouraged to raise money
through sponsorship by business companies and individuals.’ Here was a
clear sign that reform was part of an ongoing, planned process, rather than
an end product in itself. This process is still unfinished and, by 1997, a
number of provinces were formulating local versions of these regulations,
 Sport in China 7

that spelled out in greater detail the responsibilities of local authorities in

sports planning and provision.14
The regulations represent the sporting aspirations of China and focus
constructively on past traditions, present realities and future possibilities.
International recognition, almost automatically, follows Olympic success and,
by reaching fourth place in the medal tables at Atlanta in 1996, China
undoubtedly attracted much acclaim for its success in events such as diving
and gymnastics. But China has also attracted negative publicity as its
sportsmen and women were found guilty of drug abuse on a number of
occasions. Of course, it is true to say that no country has solved the problem
of substance abuse in sport, and China, by Article 50 of the 1995 Regulations,
recognizes the problem, ‘athletes found guilty will be punished according to
the rules; people in charge will also be held responsible’. In a summary chapter
of the same regulations, Wu Shao Zu, the head of the Sports Commission,
emphasizes that there should be a strict ban on drugs, with rigorous testing,
management and enforcement of the laws.15 Figures published recently in
China show the scale of abuse. Table 1.2 lists six sports in which Chinese
sportsmen and women have been found guilty.
The negative publicity associated with drugs abuse in sport is certainly
most unwelcome to the sports leaders in China; nevertheless, there has been
a sceptical response from the sporting world when Chinese athletes have
been found guilty. Amidst the tangle of hypocrisy over the drugs issue, China
is undoubtedly having to face comparison, however unfairly, with former

Table 1.2 Results of drugs tests in China, 1997*

Source: China Daily, 7 April 1998. (The table does not include recent
cases involving swimmers.)
Note
* Ten of the positive urine samples, not confirmed until 13 March 1998,
were at the 8th National Games (Shanghai, October 1997).
8 Robin Jones

Communist countries, especially the GDR. The complaint often levelled

against GDR and USSR athletes was that having the full state machinery
behind the sport effort gave an unfair advantage to their athletes, when
compared to those who received no state support. This complaint was further
compounded as the extent of the use of banned substances by the Germans
gradually came to light after the collapse of the GDR. The 1995 Chinese
regulations thus display a measure of real concern on the part of the
government. However, as the government relaxes its control of sport, and
commercialism rushes in, any reduction of the problem seems likely to become
more difficult.
Whilst China is the world’s longest surviving civilization, there are, today,
regional and other differences (apart from geography and climate) that have
an impact on sport. China can broadly be divided into three bands, running
north to south: the heavily populated eastern seaboard, the immediate
hinterland in the centre of the country and the more remote, less densely
populated region to the west. These three bands also divide the country into
rich, average and poor areas. Using the Chinese National Games as an
example, they have only been held in four centres (Beijing, Guangzhou,
Shanghai and Sichuan) partly because not all the provinces could afford to
host them.16 All the locations, with the exception of Sichuan, are in the
seaboard belt. Sichuan, in the middle belt, hosted part of the 7th National
Games in 1993, which were divided between Beijing and Sichuan roughly in
the ratio 2:1. The southern province of Guangzhou, bordering Hong Kong
and containing the Special Economic Zone of Shen Zhen, is considered by
the Chinese to be wealthy, whilst Xin Jiang Province on the north-west border
is considered poor. Spending on sport is thus not evenly distributed throughout
the country, making some provinces strong in sport and others weak. In
addition, China has several minority nationalities that have their own strengths
in local sports.
An example of the growing leisure industry can be found in Wen Jiang
County, Sichuan Province, where the local authorities decided a few years
ago to encourage horse racing. Money from local companies, together with
further investment and advice from Hong Kong, resulted in a 1,200 metre
oval rececourse being opened in 1995 complete with on-course tote betting.
Over 100 horses are stabled at the course—some owned by hotel companies—
and a team of jockies live there; they ride horses once a week on Saturday
afternoons with a card of six races. Several hundred spectators watch the
races either on closed circuit television in lounges under the stands, live at the
rails or from the indoor restaurant above the finish. The racecourse company
may take around 40,000 yuan during the meeting, with winnings on the tote
set at 70 per cent. Although lacking in ‘silks and high fashion’, the development
of this racecourse represents a marked change from the situation just a few
years ago when such activities were frowned on by the government. It is
interesting to note that Hong Kong (which officially became an integral part
 Sport in China 9

of the People’s Republic of China on 1 July 1997) has an extremely lucrative

horse racing and betting industry which over the years helped to fund many
public projects in the city. The Wen Jiang project is some distance from the
scale of Hong Kong horse racing, but the potential for sport to fund other
activities is obvious.
Is there any evidence yet that the arrival of professional sport—principally
soccer—is affecting other sports? The aspirations of young schoolboys, the
demise of less glamorous sports, the reduction of available funding for minority
sports, the development of new facilities and stadiums are all signs that a
new sports culture—like the soccer culture—is growing. The power of
television in this process is also important; it is significant that during the
football season, from about March to November, one professional match
from the top division is broadcast live on the national network at each stage
of the league competition. In the top division (twelve clubs up to 1998, then
increasing to fourteen), the average attendance is about 19,000, with the
soccer fans of Sichuan being noted for their strong support, including a nucleus
that follow the provincial team to away matches in other provinces.
Professional soccer and its league system have continued to flourish in China,
with the game firmly established as the most popular spectator sport in the
country. Overseas players and coaches contribute significantly to the top league
clubs, and the national team continues to strive for international success.
Soccer was the first sport to go down the professional route, to achieve a
large measure of independence from state control, gain substantial sponsorship
and generate a sport culture in China that, hitherto, was more associated
with western sport. The soccer transfer market is already making transfer
deals totalling hundreds of thousands of US dollars17 and disputes over
contracts have occurred, leading to the sacking of players. The ‘hiring and
firing’ system of accountability in the West will doubtless apply to other
sports, especially high profile sports, as the stakes increase.
By 1996, other sports had moved in the same direction as soccer, as first
basketball and then volleyball adopted a similar structure; the management
of sport in China was under review and the overall government plan was to
shift responsibility for the running of sport away from the state towards
clubs. Soccer had been the guinea pig for the experiment, and management
centres for soccer, were established that focused on the grassroots development
of the sport. The professional game lacked the sort of infrastructure that
would nurture new players: junior leagues, competitions, training and coaching
programmes, soccer sports schools and links with clubs. The management
centre’s task was to provide these. Government input to the management
centres took several forms, but importantly, finance and personnel were
available. The soccer management centre received 3 million yuan (about
US$350,000) from the State Sports Commission in 1997 and, as part of the
restructuring and reduction of the Commission itself, some Commission staff
switched employment to the soccer (and other) management centres.
10 Robin Jones

Significantly, however, in contrast to the government money, around 30 million

yuan (about US$3,500,000) in commercial sponsorship flowed into the soccer
management centre.18
Professional soccer only started in 1993, so it is still rather early to say
whether a major shift is occurring, but there is some effect discernible in
schools as students set up their own informal soccer teams, outside school
hours. However, there is no strong evidence yet that schools are themselves
changing their physical education curriculum to embrace soccer.
The period of reform in China, stemming from the early 1980s, is now
firmly set. Indeed, looking at the degree of change, it is difficult to imagine
how the reform process can be halted without enormous upheaval. In the
cities, urban life is increasingly dominated by commerce. Every level of society
is being driven more and more by economic pressures. Schools, colleges,
universities and even the army are now allowed by the government to have
‘commercial interests’19 and the economic tradition, built up during the early
years of the People’s Republic, whereby parents and grandparents would
‘save’ as a matter of course, is being replaced by a ‘spend’ culture among
young people. The renowned sinologist Joseph Needham (who died in 1995)
suggested that one of the reasons why China, in the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries, did not match the economic growth of the West was because,
traditionally, the mercantile class in China was never highly respected.20 This
was also the case in the early days of the People’s Republic, but success of the
economic reforms is now creating an air of respectability for economic
enterprise. The emergence of professional sport may help to promote a popular
view of ‘wealth creation’, especially as the arrival of the superstar (cash bonuses
for those athletes who win gold medals, for example) demonstrates that being
successful is officially recognized both financially and morally. Often in the
past the view was expressed that seeking a career in sport was associated
with a lack of intelligence. There was the feeling that young people in the
provincial sports schools were not academically minded. Mah Jun Ren’s
‘Army’ (the group of women athletes who set world records in middle and
long distance track events in the early 1990s under coach Mah) was described
as being ‘from peasant families…used to eating bitterness’.21 If this suggests
that the status of sport has been traditionally lower than in other established
careers, the attention now being given to professional sport may encourage
people to see sport in a different light. Young people, fans of the new
professional teams, are also well acquainted with the sporting superstars of
the West, such as Michael Jordan, Carl Lewis, Jurgen Klinsman and Linford
Christie22 and the attendant glamour attached to their lifestyles. The public
can see sport on national and local television, although the government has
not yet made available, nationally, statellite channels such as Star TV from
Hong Kong. There are also sports newspapers, some exclusively for soccer,23
on general sale to the public.
At the beginning of the 1990s, China began to prepare her bid to hold the
 Sport in China 11

2000 Olympic Games. This would have been the ultimate success for sports
leaders and a powerful affirmation to the public that the government sports
policy was ‘correct’. In the months before the IOC decision to award the
Games to Sydney, Chinese women athletes (and later swimmers) astonished
the sports world with record breaking performances in the 1,500, 5,000 and
10,000 metre track events. The timing could not have been better—nor the
disappointment at the failed bid more intense. Soon after the IOC decision to
hold the Games in Sydney (the final voting was 45–43), the ‘super athletes’
of Mah Jun Ren were in open dispute with their coach, and drugs scandals
brought Chinese swimming public shame. Suddenly, in the space of just a
few months, the full-blooded optimism of Chinese sports leaders was viewed
by the West with increasing scepticism. Also facing sports leaders was the
painfully obvious fact that in the Olympic arena at least, China, as the world’s
largest country, was falling far short of its potential—notwithstanding its
prowess in certain events. Comments by sports leaders at the time in 1993,
suggested that a failed 2000 bid would lead to an increased pace of reform of
sport,24 and subsequent events have shown this to be taking place. The sense
of common purpose, referred to earlier, is now less easy to distinguish with
the arrival of the sponsor, the foreign coach, the foreign player, the TV/media
interest, the commercial contract. There is a danger that reduced spending by
government will create uncertainty for those parts of the sports system
remaining under the government wing, including sports science.
Also indicative of the future direction of Chinese sport is the decline in
non-Olympic sports and, conversely, the increasing importance of the Olympic
programme. The Chinese National Games (those under the People’s Republic
of China, post-1949, not to be confused with National Sports Games that
took place in China pre-1949) started in 1959 and, held every four years
(with some breaks between 1966 and 1976), have become a very important
part of the national and international sporting effort of the country, also
reflecting the reformist trend. Brownell25 suggests that the Chinese National
Games, held in Guangzhou, southern China, in 1987, already displayed strong
moves towards a western pattern. The 7th National Games (1993, held partly
in Chengdu, Sichuan province and partly in Beijing) comprised competitions
in forty-three events, thirteen of which were not in the Olympic programme.
Sports leaders were saying26 that future Games would be further trimmed
back, in line with the Olympic programme. By the time of the 1997 National
Games (held in Shanghai), this had happened. With the exception of wushu,
the programme of events in Shanghai was Olympic, which in itself was not
remarkable, but the abandoned sports were those that were typically included
in the family of sports followed by Communist nations—such as radio
controlled model boat racing, radio orienteering, board games and fin
swimming (a sport virtually unheard of in the West, but a feature of
competitive sport in China until the mid-1990s). They were expendable in
the new order of things. Without alternative sources of funding, such as a
12 Robin Jones

national lottery, it is possible that China’s fledgling success in international

sport will cause a division of sports into those that may be described as high
profile and those that operate at a more parochial level. Various groupings of
sport may be discerned:

1 Olympic sports
2 International sports—high profile, e.g. soccer, tennis
3 Indigenous/traditional sports—e.g. wushu
4 International/‘Communist’ sports—low profile, e.g. fin swimming
5 Non-physical sports, e.g. board games

The first two categories will continue to receive help from the government as
part of the image building process. The third category will attract attention
as being ‘uniquely’ Chinese or Oriental. The fourth category will not be
supported by the government or may even cease altogether, and the fifth
category will be separated from the Olympic effort and assigned to their own
federations for support and development. This division would represent a
realignment of Chinese sport that would bring it more into line with western
models.
A major part of understanding Chinese sport, especially for the westerner,
is an appreciation of the wide range of lifestyles that confront the visitor. It
would be a mistake to assume that, because China is making substantial
economic and sporting progress, all aspects of life are progressing equally.
Several factors should be noted.

1 The rural-urban differences. China is administratively governed on five

levels: the state, the province, the county, the city and the townships/
villages. Within and between these levels, the provision for sport can
vary substantially. The largest province, Sichuan, has a population of
100 million people divided into almost 200 counties, together with city
populations of several million in Chengdu and Chongqing.27 Provision
for sport is thus a huge task when set against other government priorities.
Whereas most European countries have developed community facilities
for sport and have extensive networks of sports clubs, China has only
rudimentary provision at present. Nor is such provision evenly distributed.
The large cities are relatively rich in facilities compared to the smaller
towns and villages, but because three-quarters of China’s population
live in the ‘countryside’, the problem of lack of facilities is more acute. It
is easy to understand why China has developed Sport for the Elite in
advance of Sport for All. The introduction of the five-day week (after a
transition period of alternate five- and six-day weeks) has, for the city
dweller especially, substantially altered the pattern of life and brought
forward the time when the public expectation of Sport for All is likely to
rise significantly.
 Sport in China 13

2 Transport and communication. For provincial sports teams, for soccer

clubs and the wealthier fan, for the urgent meeting or the special occasion,
travel around China is usually by air. A flight from Guangzhou in the
south to the capital Beijing takes about four hours. Land-based transport
between cities or provinces is a slow and time consuming affair, in crowded
conditions, although between some of the major cities—Beijing, Shanghai,
Tianjin, Nanjing—there are new road and rail networks that give a fairly
rapid link. Beyond that, there is a shortage of good transport
communications, making much of inter-city or intertown travel a tedious
task. The larger rivers provide important links, too, but these arteries are
slow and time consuming. A river trip from Chongqing in central China
on the Chang Jiang (Yangstze River) to Shanghai on the east coast takes
four-and-a-half days (about two days by train). Road links between small
towns and villages may only be along uneven, unfinished tracks on which
vehicles lurch and bounce alarmingly. Within the cities, people use bus,
taxi or bicycle, all of which are convenient, although they produce
congestion, especially at peak hours, and there is a constant battle between
cyclist and motorist which slows everything down! All of this does not
prevent Chinese people from travelling short or long distances, but it
does impose certain constraints on human movement that have a direct
impact on sport. Even with the five-day week, there is still insufficient
time to get to nearby places on a regular basis, such as would be needed
by inter-town or inter-village sports leagues. The improvement of this
aspect of Chinese life would seem to be crucial for the long-term
development of sport at club level.
3 The pressure of economic change. ‘No money, no honey’ is a phrase used
to describe the economic situation facing Chinese citizens today. It is a
situation driven by two factors. First, government economic reform is
forcing a restructuring of industry—including the industry of sport (for
example soccer). For some, this has been a golden opportunity to start
up in business (Li Ning, ex-gymnastics champion, has established his
brand name sportswear) and gain a degree of financial independence.
For others, it has undermined their previous financial security that
stemmed from the government’s ‘iron rice bowl’ policy. They have little
opportunity or ability to ‘xia hai’—the Chinese term for ‘jumping into
the sea’ or ‘getting your feet wet’, that is, setting up in business. Such
people are exposed to fluctuations in the market economy, where bonuses
may go up with profits but down with losses. Second, although the
economic reforms have led to rapid growth, China experienced high
inflation during the 1990s (which the government, in 1998, is planning
to reduce to 3 per cent). Those families with two reasonable incomes can
absorb inflation, though presumably not forever, whilst others have to
seek a third income from somewhere and yet others have to lower their
standard of living, which may already be marginal. With the economy
14 Robin Jones

growing and salary differentials increasing, there are those whose lifestyles
are becoming more affluent and for whom leisure is becoming significant.
All the same, 100 yuan for a ticket to watch the Chinese national soccer
team (August 1995, Sichuan) is still beyond the means of many people.
Economic pressures in an inflationary economy have thus reduced leisure
opportunities for some.
4 The status of sport and exercise. It is true that China has responded to the
government’s four reforms, in agriculture, industry, science and technology
and defence, but only in the 1990s has the government begun to pay serious
attention to fitness and lifestyle, through the Fitness for All project (1995).
China Daily28 reported that a survey in Guangdong Province had shown
women intellectuals to be taking too little exercise and that more education
was needed in this field. The impression is that, with notable exceptions,
sport has yet to become a regular and active part of Chinese lifestyle.
Exceptions would include school physical education, special sports schools
and traditional activities, such as tai ji quan and qigong, but as Reekie
shows, in Chapter 13 of this volume, city life offers far more opportunity
for participation in sport than the countryside—yet it is the latter where
the large majority of the population live. The value of sport and exercise,
although changing, has yet to become recognized by everyone.
5 Traditional Oriental sports. Tai ji quan, qi gong and wushu are very
distinctive forms of exercise that the Chinese have practised for centuries.
Asia in general has developed several forms of exercise that have no real
counterpart in the West, although many are also practised there now.
The Asian forms have become stylized and ritualized—even reified, for
example sumo wrestlers throwing salt, the display of kata in judo, and
tai ji quan—in quite different ways from western competitive sports.
Surrounding the martial arts of China, there is still an aura of mystery, a
sense of something different. Sports science does not dominate the training
and practice of these ancient forms of exercise. International federations
have not sanitised the activity by chopping away tradition and replacing
it with ‘competition rules’. For those westerners who take them up, China
is still the dominant, defining body for practice, training, philosophy and
the source of inspiration. Keen to become ‘masters of the craft’, they
turn to China for the deepest level of understanding and the highest level
of teaching, and whereas Olympic sport is regularly associated with drugs,
such scandals do not pervade wushu. But even the long traditions of
wushu are not exempt from evidence of change, and starting in 1998 a
‘Dan’ system29 is being introduced in order to standardize the various
levels of achievement amongst practitioners ‘both at home and throughout
the world’, and this ‘after a thousand years being without such a system’.30
Besides the merit in the development, there is the risk that the essential
Chinese qualities of wushu will gradually be lost as the process of
standardization follows its course.31
 Sport in China 15

CONCLUDING REMARKS
Until the beginning of 1998, the planned restructuring of the State Sports
Commission had continued, with the extension of the management centre
system to twenty sports, and the reduction of the commission to 380 staff
and just twelve departments, for the overall administration of the country’s
sport. Autonomy for sport was increasing by every move, but just three months
later came the announcement, in March 1998, of the closure of the Sports
Commission. Part of a whole package of government restructuring designed
to lead the drive for a more efficient system, the changes were sweeping in
their extent and profound in their potential for the future of China. Figures
1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 outline the structure of the sports system at this time.
In closing the Sports Commission, was the government simply washing its
hands of sport, saying that it no longer was interested in the national cause?
Was it saying that it no longer could afford to develop it? Or was it yet
another move towards a market economy? A gap has been created between
government and sport that, for the first time since 1949, amounts to the
partial de-politicization of sport. Where do the reforms leave the existing
structure of sport? There are, clearly, some sports that are unlikely to become
professional in the manner of soccer—gymnastics and swimming for example.
The countrywide network of sports schools, ranging from spare time to full
time, remains firmly in place, as does the support network of research institutes,
and the objective of international success in world and Olympic competition
has not changed, which will ensure the continuing involvement of government
in overall planning. However, as a more flexible system develops and lifestyles
change, as commercialism and professionalism come into sport alongside a
growth in participation, the general focus of the system may become more
blurred. Formerly, whatever its weaknesses, the sports system was a united
and co-operative venture with a sense of common purpose, and this meant
concentrating on Olympic success.
The twenty-first century approaches, and sport in the global sense has
become a dominant social force through the Olympic and international arenas.
But as the achievements and records of champions stretch ever further into
the distance, it is important to remember that, for the majority of people, the
chance to take part in sport depends on simple factors, such as having enough
time and energy, being close to a suitable facility, being able to afford the
equipment, getting basic instruction and so on. In the case of China, the
strategy for achieving world records or Olympic gold standard is both fairly
well understood and in place: early selection and training, fulltime expert
coaching, the input and support of sports science research, the development
of and involvement in top-class competition. Whilst countries may differ in
the balance of some of these components, in the way in which they are
organized, and in their ability to deliver them, the components for success
are fully recognized today. However, to understand the contextual position
Figure 1.1 General structure of the Chiness sports system up to 2 March 1998
 Sport in China 17

Figure 1.2 Administrative sections of the State Physical Culture and Sports Commission in
January 1998

of sport in China—its ‘Chineseness’—demands a much fuller awareness of

Chinese culture, traditions and values, and that is a complex task. As China
moves towards reforming its sports system, and as the country develops
economic strength, the question of ‘sport for the many’ as opposed to ‘sport
for the few’ is likely to come to the fore, and it is this aspect that will ultimately
shape China’s sports system.

NOTES
1 A full account of the Chinese economy in the 1990s can be found in S.Long,
China to 2000: Reform’s Last Chance (Economic Intelligence Unit, Special Report
M209, 1992).
2 The Silk Road was an ancient caravan route linking China with the West, used
from Roman times and taking its name from the silk which was a major Chinese
export.
3 The Japanese occupied and controlled the tip of the Liaodong Peninsula prior to
1938; they occupied north-eastern China (‘Manchuria’) in 1931, and Beijing was
under both Chinese and Japanese control in 1936.
4 Although the Chinese Civil War, which led to the founding of the People’s Republic
on 1 October 1949, is correctly referred to as running from 1946 to 1949, it
should be remembered that the conflict between the defeated Guomindang and
the Communists stretched back to the 1920s and included the famous Long March
of 1934 when the Goumindang hounded the Communists for almost a year,
pursuing them for thousands of kilometres before they ran out of steam against
the growing threat of Japanese invasion.
18 Robin Jones

Figure 1.3 Structure of the Chinese sports system after 2 March 1998

5 Nineteenth-century China was a major trading post for western powers, such as
Britain, France, Germany and Portugal, disputes over which led to various treaties
and, for example, the British takeover of Hong Kong.
6 Confucius, 551–479 BC; Buddhism spread to Northern China from India AD
75–100; Taoism—sixth century EC (following Confucius).
7 Gu Shi Quan, ‘Introduction to ancient and modern Chinese physical culture’, in
Knuttgen, H.G. et al. (eds) Sport in China (Human Kinetics, 1990).
8 The Guomindang (also spelt Kuomintang) were the Nationalists led by Chiang
Kai Shek who were eventually defeated by the Communists and in 1949 fled to
(what is now) Taiwan to set up the Republic of China.
9 See J.Kolatch. Sports, Politics and Ideology in China (Jonathan David, 1972) for
a more detailed account of the arrival of western sports into China.
10 J.Howell, ‘Civil society’, in Benewick, R. and Wingrove, P. (eds), China in the
1990s (Macmillan, 1995).
11 ‘Soy Paste Vat’ is a term used by Bo Yang in his analysis of Chinese culture to
describe its complexity. Bo Yang, The Ugly Chinaman (Allen and Unwin, 1991).
12 Zhang Li, ‘An analysis of the corporate attributes of individual sports associations
in China’, paper presented at the Asian Conference on Comparative Physical
Education and Sport, Shanghai, December 1994.
13 President’s Order, Number 55, President Jiang Zemin, 29 August 1995.
14 President’s Order, op. cit.
 Sport in China 19

15 President’s Order, op. cit.

16 S.E.Brownell ‘The changing relationship between sport and the state in the People’s
Republic of China’, in Landry, F.Z. and Yerles, M. (eds), Sport: the Third
Millennium (Les Presses de l’Universite Laval, 1991). Brownell comments on the
high cost of the National Games, and the inability of many cities to afford to host
them. This view was confirmed at the 7th National Games, 1993 (Chengdu and
Beijing), in the author’s own conversations with sports leaders.
17 China News Digest, 27–8 March 1998, p. 4.
18 Figure quoted in author’s discussions with the Sports Commission, January 1998.
19 See Godfrey Kwok-yung Yeung, ‘The People’s Liberation Army and the market
economy’, in Benewick, R. and Wingrove, P. (eds) China in the 1990s (Macmillan,
1995).
20 J.Needham, Science and Civilisation in China (Cambridge University Press, 1956,
Volume 1, and 1960, Volume 2).
21 Mah Jun Ren, quoted in The Daily Telegraph, 18 October 1993, p. 44. There is
clear evidence that the educational opportunities for people from the countryside
are far below those of city dwellers, as the following figures show:

All China Sichuan— Sichuan— Sichuan—all

cities countryside
University graduates 15 157 21 31
per 10,00 population

Source: The Population Census Office of the State Council of China in the
Population Atlas of China (OUP, 1987)

Although there has been a slight increase in the numbers of students in higher
education over recent years to around 0.2 per cent of the population, the above
table remains the broad picture (see also S.Long) China to 2000: Reform’s Last
Chance (Economic Intelligence Unit, Special Report M209, 1992).
22 R.Jones, ‘Sport in the community in China’, paper presented at the ISCPES
Conference, Prague, 1994.
23 Zhong Guo Zu Qiu Bao, published weekly; Zu Qiu Shi Jie, published twice
monthly, are examples.
24 Author’s conversations with sports leaders at the 7th National Games, Beijing,
1993.
25 S.Brownell, Training the Body for China (University of Chicago Press, 1995), pp.
99–119.
26 Author’s conversations with sports leaders at the 7th National Games, Beijing,
1993.
27 In 1997, the Chinese government announced plans to change the administrative
status of Chongqing to that of ‘municipality’, with a population expected to
grow to 30 million. The new status thus separates Chongqing from its former
administrative position as part of Sichuan province. There are three other
municipalities in China: Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai.
28 China Daily, 6 September 1995, p. 4. Make Time for Exercise, a survey by the
Women’s Federation of Guangdong Province, showing that professional women
are not sufficiently health conscious.
29 As in Judo, the ‘Dan’ system will indicate level of achievement.
30 The Messenger, 1998, Vol. 9, No. 4, p. 3. (The Messenger is the overseas newsletter
of Radio Beijing.)
31 Since becoming an Olympic sport in 1964, judo, although rooted in Japan, has
lost much of its pre-Olympic Japanese style.
Chapter 2

Recreation and sport in

Ancient China
Primitive society to AD 960
Mike Speak

INTRODUCTION
For convenience, this historical introduction is divided into three periods.
Ancient China is considered by historians to be that period of Chinese history
stretching from the neolithic period to the middle of the nineteenth century
or the end of the Qing dynasty in 1840. This chapter describes physical activity
and forms of sport up to AD 960. Chapter 3 investigates the second millennium
as far as 1840. Chapter 4 follows China into the modern era up to 1949.
Britain came to be regarded, rightly or wrongly, as the cradle of modern
sports, in the same way that Greece was identified with the ancient and later
modern Olympic Games. Yet the universality of play and recreation does not
allow a single country, or even continent, to lay claim to the parenthood of
sport. Gernet (1982:3) has made the point that Chinese civilization has been
the guiding spirit for a large section of humanity, and that ‘the West which
has borrowed from China right down to our day without realising it, is far
from recognising its sizeable debt to her’.
Recent progress in international sport by China has sharpened the interest
of western observers, but there is a long and respected history of physical
culture, recreation and sport in Ancient China which has remained largely
unrevealed outside China and even within its borders, but which, in the
complex pattern of the history of world sport and recreation, deserves serious
attention. The period of history under consideration spawned a wide range
of activities, many of which withstand serious scrutiny as the forerunners of
modern sport and carried marks of sophistication well in advance of similar
activities in the West.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF RECREATIONAL AND

SPORTING ACTIVITY IN ANCIENT CHINA
Political and economic influences
One of the problems facing the sport historian in this context is the vastness
of the time period involved in the spread of Chinese history, the range of
 Recreation and sport in Ancient China 21

climatic differences and influences, from the cold wastes of Siberia to the
tropical heat of the South China Sea, the diversity of peoples inhabiting the
vast land mass known as China and the variety of individual cultures and
languages involved.
Four cultures have been identified by demographic and anthropological
historians, namely: sedentary populations with a highly developed agriculture,
nomadic cattle-raisers of the grasslands and deserts, mountain peoples of the
huge Himalayan Tibetan complex, and mixed cultures of the tropical zones.
The recreational lives of these populations generally reflected the basic
background culture. The nomadic peoples enjoyed a lifestyle which was almost
permanent training for war, incorporating horse training, hunting and
horseback exercises. Mountain peoples endured a hardy lifestyle and were
equally warlike in their habits, whereas the sedentary and coastal plain cultures
tended to be less aggressive in their approaches to life and recreation.
Chinese civilization, like other great civilizations throughout history, has
been a perpetual, dynamic creation, occasionally absorbing external influences
from distant civilizations. Time periods are so vast that whole periods of
history are often referred to as a homogeneous whole, for example the Ming
Dynasty (1368–1644), yet there are variations within each time period and
certainly within each region which ensure that a simple treatment is impossible.
Political, economic and social systems are living organisms which continually
adapt to change and the religious, warrior monarchy of archaic times (1600–
900 BC) has nothing in common with the centralized empire administered by
paid civil servants established in the third century AD. The political system
of the Sung period (AD 960–1279) and the authoritarianism of the Ming
dynasty are worlds apart.
The Chinese economy tended towards decentralization. The major river
valleys which absorbed the bulk of the population offered ideal conditions
for crop cultivation, and China rapidly developed into a major agrarian society,
relying on large-scale production of food to support political, economic and
social developments. There tended to be a division of labour between males,
who tilled the soil, and females, who wove cloth, highlighting the division
between physical effort and sedentary role accepted for millennia. The mode
of production isolated small groups of people in self-sufficiency, and social
intercourse, particularly in large groups, became the exception. This may
partly explain the obvious pleasure of social gatherings during festivals. Major
mass gatherings were the exception rather than the norm.
Self-sufficiency also curtailed the need for urban-centred economies and
substantial commercial trading, and during certain periods of Chinese history,
central governments sought to actively confine commercial trade. The reasons
were simple: commerce and manufacturing production would compete with
agriculture for a labour force and the primary occupation should be protected.
Small farmers also provided the backbone of military forces and corvée
labour, and their conversion to an industrial or commercial workforce would
22 Michael Speak

compete with this. Change and competition would challenge the traditional
authority of the feudal rulers and this was to be prevented. The Han
government (206 BC-AD 220) lowered the social status of merchants, forbade
them to become officials, increased trading taxes, changed the monetary system
to prevent accumulated wealth and monopolized key commodities such as
iron and salt.
In summary, even in a highly centralized political system, decentralized
economies persisted and were encouraged. No opportunity was offered for
national cohesion, festivals retained a fairly local character, and traditional
Chinese recreations demonstrated great diversity.

Military, medical, philosophical and social factors

A further factor influencing the nature of physical activity and recreation
was the need for military preparation. In most societies, there has been a
clear link between military training and physical fitness and there are
substantiated interactions in Ancient China. Horsemanship and archery were
basic military skills, and both developed social forms. Charioteering and
archery were both included in the curriculum of educational establishments
for young aristocrats, together with propriety, music, writing and arithmetic.
Running, throwing and jumping also evolved from military exercises, and
wushu, or Chinese martial arts, is an early and inseparable component of
Chinese culture. Exercises were performed naturally or with implements and,
as cavalry and chariots became supplemented by infantry, a variety of forms
of wushu were employed for training artisans and foot soldiers. Forms also
developed for personal fitness training and for entertainment purposes.
A further major influence on the nature of recreational activity in Ancient
China was the development and direction of medical theory. A key element
was Qi (air) which had an abstract and broader meaning than simply air or
oxygen, and whose precise nature is still debatable. The theory of Qi emanated
from Taoism, which proposed that, in the universe, all was interconnected
and interacted, and Qi became all-important as the material forming the
human body, having responsibility for the physical functions of human beings
and connecting the human body to its external environment. Human life
depended on the constant interchange between the internal body and the
external environment, and breathing came to hold a predominant position in
Chinese exercise.
The concept of Yin and Yang which appeared in the late Western Zhou
period (eleventh century BC-771 BC), but was refined and developed in I
Zhuan (Book of Changes) in the Warring States period (475–221 BC) was
also an influential factor. The theory was that all things in the universe possess
the nature of Yin (a negative, female, cosmic force) and Yang (a positive,
male force), embodied in natural phenomena such as heaven, earth, wind,
water and fire, but also in human society as master and subject, father and
 Recreation and sport in Ancient China 23

son, husband and wife, even and odd numbers, softness and hardness in
personality, and virtue and evil in behaviour. The basis of the theory is that
all is well when Yin and Yang are balanced and mutually harmonious.
The medical theory was that good health will result from the balancing of
these two agents, yet balance and harmony are not easily achieved. Jingluo,
or the network of Qi, is the channel through which Qi flows, connecting all
parts of the human body. Where the flow is smooth and uninterrupted, bodily
functions will be good, but if stagnation, or blockage, occurs, pain and disease
would be likely to follow. Acupuncture is based on the theory of re-opening
blocked pathways. Chinese traditional exercises, such as Dao Yin, seek to
cultivate the Qi by the intake of breath and undertaking certain physical
exercises to ensure smooth circulation of Qi in the network. Methods of
breathing are emphasized, but emotional states involving anger, joy, sorrow,
likes and dislikes will affect the balance of Yin and Yang, so that a calm,
relaxed state is an essential concomitant of breathing and exercise. A mental
approach was inseparably linked to physical exercise, and Chinese physicians
recommended gentle, non-vigorous exercise, since vigorous exercise would
make it impossible to achieve the harmony of breathing, movement and mood.
Activities associated with the maintenance of health and fitness in China
emphasized a harmony of movement, consciousness and breathing to stimulate
vital energy. Muscular development was not the primary purpose, and again,
reflecting the rural nature of society, many of the movements imitated the
motions of animals. Muscular development and beauty was never highly
valued by Taoism and Confucianism. External appearance was less important
than moral virtue, and virtue and mental health in turn were likely to play a
fundamental part in achieving good health and longevity, respected goals.
The Shang Shu (Book of History), which records affairs in the Xia, Shang
and Western Zhou dynasties (2100–771 BC) claims ‘of the five happinesses:
the first is long life; the second is riches; the third is soundness of body and
serenity of mind; the fourth is love of virtue; the fifth an end crowning the
life’. There were several schools of exercise, but whatever the variations, all
were concerned with longevity and achieving mental and physical harmony,
and were more concerned with internal organic function than musculature,
strength and vigour.
The simple agricultural life of the sedentary populations allowed
experiences of natural life to be absorbed into recreational activity. Imitation
of animals occurred in early forms of dance, and also became part of Dao
Yin and Wushu through forms of traditional exercise. Early medicine also
reflected the proximity of humans and nature, and in Shan Hai Jing, written
before 221 BC, sixty-two species of animals and forty-two species of plants
are recorded and recommended for medicinal purposes. Exercises were
described according to the behaviour of animals, affording a vivid picture to
the exponent of how movements should be performed. Taoism also
recommended a return to nature, and regarded all creatures as equal, since
24 Michael Speak

all had Qi and Yin and Yang, and there should be no discrimination between
all living forms. Man was required to live in harmony with nature, according
to natural laws and in tune with a natural rhythm. Neo-Taoism, however,
moved from a passive acceptance of the need to follow nature’s way to a
more dynamic reflection of the vigour and freedom of animals. After the
Western Han period (206–24 BC), physical exercises took on a greater
imitation of wild animals, evidence of which is available in the Dao Yin silk
painting in the Han tomb of Ma Wang Duai.
Ren (1988) draws attention to certain philosophical factors which helped to
shape the nature of sport and physical recreation in Ancient China, and contrasts
them with very different ideals and purposes within Greek civilization. Since
the nature of sport in a society is likely to reflect the value system of that
society, consideration has to be given to the moral, philosophical and social
attitudes towards physical activity in Chinese society. Competition in Chinese
society was invariably discouraged, and emphasis was placed on harmony.
The most influential philosophical schools, Confucianism, from 500 BC, and
Taoism, from 100 BC, totally opposed competition. The former had benevolence
at its core and strove to maintain a harmonious patriarchal social structure.
Conflict, rivalry and competition were likely to damage this harmony. Political
life consisted of a complicated hierarchical structure of administration, in which
people were ranked according to their socioeconomic status. The Empire was
divided into thirty-six Jin (commanderies), each comprising several Xian (sub-
prefectures), all with a variety of officials whose duties involved agriculture,
taxation, ceremonials, the law, tribute, militia and education. Inequality was
universal, between and within classes, and was reinforced to preserve the feudal
hierarchy by clothing, residences and ceremonies. There were also three ‘cardinal
guides’ which first appeared in the works of Xun Zi (313–238 BC) and Han
Fei Zi (280–233 BC) to regulate social behaviour. These stated that ruler guides
subject, father guides son and husband guides wife. These social and moral
precepts and hierarchical structures gave little room for competition, and both
society and its recreational forms tended to emphasize the cultivation of virtue,
self-improvement and recreational pleasure.
The sedentary cultures, rooted in agriculture and politically and
commercially estranged from competitive practices, tended towards non-
competitive forms of recreation. The process of physical activity was
emphasized rather than the outcome. Some activities were associated with
health and general physical fitness, others remained co-operative in nature.
Activities such as archery often identified and reinforced a hierarchical social
order, and many activities concentrated on the cultivation of virtue as a priority.
In archery and touhu for example, participants were required to demonstrate
moral virtue in addition to skill, so that winner and loser equally could gain
respect. Indeed Zhou (1991:71) suggests that, because of the special emphasis
placed on moral education and ethics in traditional Chinese society, ancient
Chinese sports were overburdened with moral principles.
 Recreation and sport in Ancient China 25

The emphasis on thoughtful recreation is also revealed in a nine-level

hierarchy of competence in board games, with Wei Qi (Go), a game
played with black and white pieces on a board of a hundred squares,
representing the highest form of Chinese wisdom, being fully developed
by the Warring States period. Xiang Qi was played with sixteen pieces on
each side, and both games were attempts to represent forms of complex
military strategy.
As in most agricultural societies, festivals had a seasonal nature, often
integrated with crop production and seasonal rhythms. There were often
religious and contained superstitious undertones, particularly arising from
folk legends. Whatever the reason for festivals, however, they became a vital
ingredient in the social life of rural communities, and developed, according
to Gramet (1932:180), into ‘festivals of union in which people became aware
of the bonds which unite them and, at the same time, of their oneness with
their natural environment’. Many of the festivals incorporated forms of
physical expression. Dragon and Lion dances were both symbolic and
physically demanding, and were performed at certain festivals. Dragon boat
racing was the major activity on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month and
mountain climbing has been associated with the Double Ninth Festival since
the Eastern Han period (AD 25–220).
Dance forms are common in most early societies, and in Ancient China
served purposes in religious rites, recreation, education, health and fitness.
By the Western Han period (206 BC—AD 24) a variety of secular dances for
recreational purposes had emerged and involved all social classes. There was
a mimicking in early dance forms of animal behaviour, but gradually dance
as entertainment emerged, and dancers employed long sleeves, weapons and
musical instruments to accompany the dance to entertain audiences. The
Han court set up a special institution, Yue Fu (Department of Music), and
employed the finest artistes from the whole country as professional
entertainers.

Summary
This introduction has attempted to offer information on the nature of sport
and recreational activity in Ancient China. There are obviously major
differences in the nature of sport and recreation during different periods of
Chinese history, and in their availability in certain forms to different sections
of the population, aspects which need to be further explored. There appears
to be evidence, however, that the nature of sport and recreation was often a
product of philosophical directions, which stressed co-operation and harmony
at the expense of competition. Equally, religious and medical proponents
who stressed the therapeutic nature of exercise, breathing and mental state
as opposed to the development of strength, musculature and vigour had an
important effect on the direction of Chinese physical recreation.
26 Michael Speak

The variety of ethnic groups, geographic locations and traditional

occupations also influenced the range and natures of sports practised. In the
nomadic and mountainous peoples, more vigorous forms of physical activity
were adopted, often linked with horsemanship and preparation for warfare.
Conversely, in the agricultural and coastal populations, gentler forms of
recreation were practised, and co-operation was the watchword. Festivals
provided an opportunity for mass celebration and the practice of communal
forms of physical activity and entertainment.
The process of physical activity was often stressed at the expense of
outcome, and some activities reinforced the social hierarchy and concentrated
on the cultivation of virtue and good behaviour. The relationship between
recreation and mental stimulation should also be stressed and was evident in
a variety of board games and exercises which evolved. Dance and acrobatic
entertainment were prominent in a variety of forms throughout Chinese
history, in early times as a form of social expression, but later for the
entertainment of imperial courts and the aristocracy. These forms of physical
recreation and sport will be illustrated in subsequent descriptions, together
with commentary on the significance of activities undertaken.

PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES IN PRIMITIVE CHINESE

SOCIETY (3,000–476 BC)
The Neolithic stage of culture in China (8,000–2,000 BC) marked the end of
the mesolithic, hunting and gathering phase of history, and saw the start of
settled societies, the building of villages, farming, horticulture and the use of
pottery. By the eleventh century BC, the surge in social organization was
accompanied by sophisticated knowledge and techniques, bronzes,
architectural design, the chariot and forms of writing. Excavations of the
Shang civilization (sixteenth to eleventh centuries BC) have revealed royal
palaces, walled cities, chariots and bronzes reflecting an organized society
with a developed aristocracy. The Shang were replaced in power by the Zhou
(eleventh century to 771 BC) and evidence of the nature of this society is
provided by a chronicle added to the Annals of Lu, called Traditions of Tso.
Society was based on a hierarchy of domains and families who owed their
authority to the number of chariots owned, their religious privileges including
the right to dance, links with the royal household and possession of treasures.
During this period emerged the ideal of the noble warrior and the ethic of
honour.
Throughout history, the development of man’s physical skills and capacities
has served a number of purposes—military, social, educational and health.
There were strong links with military preparation during this period, and
charioteering, the most sophisticated form of warfare, formed part of the
education curriculum for young aristocrats. They were required to drive
skilfully, and the primitive design of the chariot and difficulties presented by
 Recreation and sport in Ancient China 27

the terrain required great skill. According to Shi Jing, the Book of Songs,
chariot races were held amongst the nobility and gambling was involved.
During the Zhou period, the emperor ordered his leaders and commanders
to give instruction in military operations, and exercise soldiers in archery,
charioteering and wrestling in the first month of the winter. Other natural
activities used for military purposes were running, jumping and throwing,
which increased in value with the decline of charioteering and the emergence
of the infantry soldier. In the state of Wu (sixth century BC), soldiers were
trained for seven years, and were required to run the equivalent of 300 Li in
full armour, carrying weapons, without resting. This form of endurance
training appears to have contributed to the Wu’s successful attack on the
Chu capital in 506 BC. In the state of Lu, a general selected 300 soldiers by
placing a jumping hurdle in front of his residence, selection being achieved
by those who cleared it three times.
There is also evidence during this period of the emergence of tug-of-war
as a military and social activity. This developed during the late spring and
autumn Period (770–476 BC) when, according to Jingchu suishi ji, a general
of the state of Chu taught his sailors the activity in preparation for combat.
There is a further suggestion that during the Warring States period, Gong
Shubau, a well-known engineer, designed a long rope made from the skin of
bamboo to help Chu warships in a naval battle. Gradually, the activity
developed into a recreational game, played initially in the south of China.
Two teams competed, accompanied by the beating of drums, and during the
Han period it became a custom to play the game in January.
Wrestling was yet another activity primarily used for military training.
Legend claims that when Huangdi tried to conquer Chiyou, the latter knew
how to wrestle, and wrestlers during the Zhou dynasty copied this style.
Certain styles incorporated head butting, and legendary battles between the
tribes of the yellow Emperor and the Chiyou were later synthesized into
entertainment, comprising music, dance, acrobatics, sports and magic.
During the mesolithic period, simple forms of bow and arrow existed for
hunting, and gradually refinements were made for military purposes. There
is evidence of archery 4,000 years ago in China, but by the period of the
Western Zhou, it had developed into an essential military skill and
encompassed ritual as well as martial forms. Archery was considered essential
for the strength and defence of the nation, but was also used for the selection
of feudal dignitaries and officers during the Zhou period. Ritual archery was
highly significant and was regulated by complex rules based on social rank.
There were several different forms of archery. Great archery formed part of
ceremonies to worship divinities and ancestors, and success was based not
only on accuracy but physical demeanour and harmony with music. Guest
archery was performed when kings paid respect to the emperor and recreation
archery took place when the emperor feasted his senior officers. District-
drinking archery took place during festivals, whenever the head of a district
28 Michael Speak

led people in archery practice, or every three years on the graduation of

aristocratic students. Boys of 15 years of age were required to learn
charioteering and archery.
Archery also served social and moral purposes. There was an element of
competition involved, although this was not regarded as important, and
winners were awarded a banner, but targets, bows, arrows and conditions
varied according to social status. Ritual archery was accompanied by music
and dance and served to confirm the social status and virtue of the archer.
Confucius claimed, ‘There is no contention between gentlemen. The nearest
to it is perhaps archery. In archery they bow and make way for one another
as they go up, and on coming down they drink together. Even the way they
contend is gentlemanly’ (Radice 1979:68). Also recognized in ritual shooting
was the archer’s propriety, good character, filial love and love of learning. In
Sheyi (The Definition of Archery) it is claimed that ‘archery can make people
virtuous…all the wise kings like it’.
Gradually, during the Zhou dynasty, as archery became more ritualized
and associated with ceremonies, constraints of space led to the creation of a
similar activity, held indoors or outdoors, called touhu. The game, which
consisted of throwing arrows into a pitcher, soon became popular and detailed
rules were drawn up. Confucius noted the changed nature of archery when
he claimed, ‘In archery, the point lies not in piercing the hide (equivalent to
the bull’s eye) for the reason that strength varies from man to man. This was
the way of antiquity’ (Radice 1979:70).
Outside privileged social circles, and forming part of everyday or festival
life, there existed a number of recreational activities. There is evidence of
swimming in a pictograph character inscribed on bones and tortoiseshells in
the Shang dynasty and, in Shi Jing (Book of Songs), there is a hint that women
were swimming in this period. Boating is referred to as a recreational activity,
and according to Tan (1987:2) there is evidence in the Book of Songs that
women enjoyed fishing, boating, singing and dancing, and certain activities
were engaged in beside the river in March, and linked directly or indirectly to
the concept of marriage and reproduction.
The period also saw the emergence of board games, which reflected the
frequency and complexity of warfare in Ancient China. Two popular forms
were developed, complex board strategies were involved, and these eventually
developed into forms of chess.
It is doubtful if football emerged during this period, but a popular outdoor
game was ‘board hitting’, consisting of a board being placed in the ground
and serving, at a distance of 30–40 paces, as a target for players with sticks.
It was traditionally a game for older country people, but was also played by
boys during the December festival.
Finally, and almost universally, dance was part of the fabric of social life.
A painted bowl dating back to 1,000 BC depicts dancing figures, and a cliff
carving in Yunnan Province, which is 3,000 years old, provides evidence of
 Recreation and sport in Ancient China 29

dance, running and pyramid acrobatics. In Shang Shu (Book of History), it is

claimed that people in primitive society danced in imitation of animal
movements, accompanied by the beating of a stone drum. Dance was divided
into several forms. The gentle dance praised virtue and kindness, whereas the
violent dance praised bravery and military achievement. The great dance,
popular during the Huangdi and Zhou dynasties, consisted of seven types of
dance, only available to those over 20 years of age. Younger people learned
the little dance, which consisted of six forms. During the Zhou dynasty, all
gentlemen and learned people danced, and dance served many purposes. Yoshi,
a scholar, suggested that the purpose of dance was to train the body and
regulate the spirit, to achieve peace of mind, quicken the senses and support
social harmony. It served as a means of recreation, as an accompaniment to
religious and ceremonial rites, and as a contributor to good health.
There is clear evidence during this early period of Chinese history of a
wealth of physical activity, linked often with military or courtly life, but
serving ceremonial, educational and recreational functions also. Many of
these early forms of activity were to grow more sophisticated and functional
as time passed.

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN CHINESE FEUDAL SOCIETY

(476 BC-AD 220)

A changing society
The age of the Warring States (476–221 BC) was one of transformation in
society, economy and culture. There was rapid movement towards a
centralized state, a clear division between civil and military functions, and
the emergence of a civil service. Uniform rules and laws replaced the rights,
privileges and customs of former regimes, and state institutions, reward,
punishment and collective responsibility characterized the new state.
There was further evolutionary change from 206 BC to AD 220 during
the Han dynasties. The first Chinese Empire was founded by armed unification,
and consolidated by the education of princes of other kingdoms at the Chinese
court. The administrative system in use in China was extended to the Empire,
which was divided into thirty-six, later forty-eight commandcries. Society
grew increasingly hierarchical and the whole population was classified into
twenty-four degrees of dignity. Measures of length and capacity were
standardized, new standard characters devised, common coinage agreed, a
network of imperial roads and canals constructed under harsh corvée, and a
Great Wall erected on the northern frontier. Scientific and mechanical
developments contributed to the increasing wealth of Han society. Steel
replaced bronze, progress was made in agricultural techniques and production,
the water mill and the wheelbarrow made their appearance, and some families
grew rich in the ownership of iron and steelworks.
30 Michael Speak

The period also witnessed the emergence of princely courts. After the
initial harshness of the Han and its opposition to learned enemies of the
state, culminating in the burning of books in 216 BC and the execution
of 400 opponents of the state, the princely courts became centres of
intellectual, literary, scientific and artistic activity. Information on the
social life of the earlier periods was available in a number of classical
documents produced by scribes and annalists. These include the Shu
(writings) from the Shang court, the Shih (poems or odes) sung at ritual
ceremonies, sacrifices and banquets, the Annals, which recorded events
announced in the temple, and the Analects produced by the disciples of
Confucius. The courts retained retinues of jugglers, acrobats and
musicians, and the fu describe in great detail and in rhythmic and grand
style the palaces, parks, hunts and entertainments of the courts.
The emergence of Taoism also gave rise to a change in life habits. Its
emphasis on longevity through various techniques of breathing, diet and
exercise known as the yang-sheng (nourishing the ritual principle), aimed
at refining the body to render it invulnerable and able to delay the ageing
process.

Physical activity in the military field

As society changed, so did its military organization. In previous eras, the
possession of chariots was restricted to a small privileged group, who took
part in battles and tournaments in open country to test the courage of
conflicting noble houses. In the expansion of the Empire, however, bravery
and ritual gave way to the serious business of conquering territory. The decline
of chariots and promotion of the infantry saw a growth in importance of the
sword, the crossbow and the cavalry. Social change also resulted in the
disappearance of the Shih, a noble fighting knight, and his remodelling as an
educated, politically aware citizen.
Ritual archery declined and the activity took on greater military importance.
The state of Wei issued an act which encouraged archery training. Legal
cases were decided by archery skills, with the consequence that people practised
regularly and the state military machine benefited. There were also major
technical developments. Several texts appeared on archery and an official in
charge of archery training was appointed. Skill was high at this time and it
was claimed that to miss a small target once in a 100 shots would have
prevented an archer from being classed as expert.
As charioteering declined, equestrianism increased in importance, and
by 307 BC, King Wu Ling of the State of Zhao developed the first
cavalry from the northern, barbaric tribes. By 119 BC, the Han put
100,000 cavalry and 140,000 private horses into the field in one
campaign, and in 111 BC, the emperor’s victory parade incorporated
180,000 cavalry. Training of the cavalry led to recreational offshoots, and
 Recreation and sport in Ancient China 31

polo, which is supposed to have begun during the Eastern Han dynasty,
proved popular as did acrobatics and archery on horseback. During the
Western Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 24) hunting became a recreational
activity for emperors and the nobility, and Liu Che (140–88 BC), the Han
emperor, opened a forest hunting park west of Xian which measured
hundreds of kilometres in circumference.
A number of sports appeared consisting of physical challenge. Fighting
with bare hands and feet emerged, and a form developed which allowed
kicking and striking but no holding. The development must have been
extensive, as there are references to six texts on hand fighting, which in turn
referred to 199 works of thirteen different schools on training hands and
feet. Quart (boxing) and Wushu (martial arts) were more representative of
individual forms of challenge, and their separation from collective military
training later allowed Wushu to incorporate elements from daoyin and
acrobatics and become a multi-functional activity for health, fitness, self-
defence and entertainment.
After the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC), wrestling, which had enjoyed some
popularity, lost much of its value and became an entertainment, but tug-of-
war and weightlifting grew in popularity. The latter has a long history in
China, and during the spring and autumn period (770–476 BC) and the
Warring States period (475–221 BC), kangding (tripod lifting) and tuoguan
(lifting a city gate bolt) were popular as demonstrations of strength. During
the Western Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 24), when a thriving economy and
stable political situation encouraged recreational activity, the court appointed
an official to be in charge of kangding, and contestants who were victorious
in a major competition would be granted an honorary title. Some kings
promoted strong men to positions as high officials, an early example of social
mobility through sport, and professional weightlifters thrived and
demonstrated a wide variety of feats of strength. Other forms of weightlifting
during this period were turning and lifting heavy stones and lifting a large
wheel.
Fencing and swordplay became increasingly popular and emperors and
officers alike carried swords. There were different schools of fencing in
different regions, and in the Han Shu there were thirty-eight chapters on
sword skills. Several physical activities which originated in military form
later assumed recreational or entertainment functions. This applied
particularly to the Jiao Di games which during the Han period became a
synthesis of music, dancing, acrobatics, sports and magic. These games were
held on various occasions, particularly on holidays and special celebrations,
and served to demonstrate to visitor and trade delegations the cultural
superiority of the Han. The games included feats of strength, acrobatics,
horseriding, pole climbing, balancing, juggling and dance and feats of hardship,
like sword swallowing, together with shuttlecock kicking, kite-flying and
dragon dances.
32 Michael Speak

Other forms of social recreational physical activity which added

sophistication to earlier raw forms were dance, touhu and board games. The
Han court greatly encouraged dance, and established a special institute, Yue
Fu, with eighty-three employees to entertain the court. Social forms of dance
emerged which involved all classes of people. In the separation of military
and civic authorities, touhu began to take on increasing importance for
celebrations and special occasions. A symbolic form of archery, it was mainly
played by the upper classes and adopted a complex system of rules and
behaviour. Lessons in virtuous behaviour, character development and social
skills were incorporated, and notions of respect for rank and elders, filial
piety, deference, reverence and purity encouraged. Another form of the game
was played by professional players and performed as an entertainment.
A rather more curious form of exercise and recreation emerged during this
period. The swing was originally used by northern tribes for agility. The
standard swing was introduced into central China between 770–476 BC,
and the rotating swing had appeared by 475–221 BC. During the Han period,
the swing grew more sophisticated and was introduced into the emperor’s
palace to be used by imperial concubines and their maids. The meaning of
swing resembles long life in Chinese pronunciation, and it became symbolic
to swing to please the emperor and encourage his long life.
It may be, however, that for western readers the most remarkable
development of the whole period was football. There are suggestions in the
literature that football may have been played in some form as early as 5,000
BC, but as cuju it first appears in historical literature in Sima Qian’s Shi Ji
(Historical Records) in the Han period. There is some doubt as to the precise
origins of the game, some historians claiming that the yellow emperor devised
the game for the purpose of military training, others that it emerged during
the Warring States period, when warfare grew increasingly important to settle
political conflict. The game was certainly in existence during this period as
both Shi Ji and Zhan Guo Ce (History of the Warring States) record that the
citizens of Linzi, a wealthy city, all enjoyed playing musical instruments, cock-
fighting, dog hounds, chess and cuju.
Reference has already been made to the increasing demand for cavalry
and infantry during this period. Conflict with the northern, nomadic Xiongnu
required the Han to improve both cavalry and infantry and, in addition to
training in both horseriding and archery, the military used cuju as a means of
fitness training and identification of talented athletes. The historian Pan Gu
(AD 32–92) recorded that when Huo Qubing, a general in the Han army, led
his soldiers to the northern borders, he allowed his soldiers to construct a
field to play cuju. The forms of cuju developed in the army had strong
competitive characteristics in which teams attacked and defended their goals.
There were various forms of cuju, some involving goals such as are used
today, others involving holes in the ground as the targets. The game was
controlled by referees who were expected to be completely impartial. The
 Recreation and sport in Ancient China 33

game is described in the Ju Cheng Ming of the poet Li You (AD 50–130) of
the later Han dynasty:

A round ball and a square wall,

Just like the Yin and Yang.
Moon-shaped goals are opposite each other,
Each side has six in equal number.

Select the captains and appoint the referee(s),

Based on the unchangeable regulations.
Don’t regard relatives and friends,
Keep away from partiality.
Maintain fairness and peace
Don’t complain of other’s faults,
Such is the matter of cuju.
If all this is necessary for cuju.
How much more for the business of life.

Li Yen, in an article called Cushiming, also describes the nature of the pitch,
surrounded by walls on all four sides. There were six goalkeepers on each
team, but the total number of players is unknown. The team who scored
most goals was the winner. The game was not only used for military training
but also for entertainment purposes. The emperor Gaozu built a huge football
pitch (cujong) in his palace, and in the preface of Luji’s Cugehang he mentions
that football pitches were not only built at the imperial court, but that the
nobles and wealthy citizens also had private pitches.

Festival recreations
A number of physical activities related to seasonal festivals also appear to have
originated or evolved during this period. With origins often integrated with
legend, and with growing multicultural influences in the Chinese empire, these
festivals became an important feature of social life. The Lantern Festival dates
from this period and brought the lunar new year holidays to an end. Among
the activities associated with the festival, some were of a physical recreation
nature, including the dragon dance, in which ten people take on the form of a
dragon and cause it to move in different directions. Physically demanding, the
activity is still popular in Chinese culture, and a variety of dragon dances can
be seen on formal and festival occasions. A dance of similar nature is the lion
dance, which required a high level of physical fitness among participants, and
which reputedly originated from combining two dances from the western regions
of the Han empire. The dragon boat festival, which takes place on the fifth day
of the fifth lunar month is supposed to have originated in the Warring States
era, when Qu Yuan (340–278 BC), a minister of the State of Chu, urged reforms
34 Michael Speak

on a despotic prince. His counsel refused, he wrote a famous poem, Li Sao,

which expressed his anxieties, and then committed suicide by drowning in the
Milo river. Local fishermen tried unsuccessfully to save him or recover the
body, and the day has been commemorated by the staging of dragon boat
ceremonies and rituals since that period.
The festival of the double ninth, held on the ninth day of the ninth lunar
month, originated during the Eastern Han period (AD 25–220), when Huan
Jing and his family were advised by his teacher to escape disaster by going into
the mountains and drinking chrysanthemum wine. On his return, he found that
all his dogs and poultry had been killed. The festival was thereafter celebrated by
climbing mountains on that date. The activity of kite flying, which became
extremely popular during the Tang dynasty (AD 618–907), can be traced to the
Warring States period when, according to Han Fei Ji, Mo Zi constructed a wooden
kite which took him three years to complete, to fly for one day.

Health and exercise

There were also important developments in exercise and health during this
period. Reliable literary evidence, according to Ren Hai (1991), began to
appear about the nature of Dao yin,

To pant, to puff, to hail, to sip, to spit out the old breath and draw in the
new, practising bear-hangings and bird-stretchings, longevity his only
concern—such is the life favoured by the scholar who practises Dao Yin,
the man who nourishes his body, who hopes to live to be as old as Pen-Zu.
(Ren 1991:70)

It was believed that Dao Yin and massage came from central areas in China,
but exactly what the exercises comprised was uncertain. In 1973, however,
archaeologists discovered a painting on silk in a tomb in Changsha, Hunan
Province. The painting, measuring 50 cm×100 cm, was dated to the early
Han dynasty, according to the burial date of the tomb occupant (168 BC).
From the forty-four figures in the painting, several categories could be
identified; movements for the treatment of disease, movements imitating the
movement of animals, and movements with instruments. It is also worth
noting that half of the figures are female, and the variety of dress suggests
that figures are from a range of social groups. Exercises were not only
characterized by an emphasis on breathing and imitation of animals, but by
the harmony of mental and physical effort.

Summary
There is little doubt that the Han period was particularly influential in the
proliferation and sophistication of recreational, physical and sporting activities
 Recreation and sport in Ancient China 35

in Ancient China. The changing requirements of both civil and military life
led to the evolution of forms of physical activity to serve increased demands.
In the military field, these were provided by new and improved forms of
activity and training; horseriding, archery, tug-of-war, strength training,
martial arts and cuju, which aimed to increase the fitness of both cavalry and
infantry. In the civil field, recreational forms grew more sophisticated, with
touhu establishing itself, archery serving social as well as military needs, and
dance and a wide variety of entertainments becoming firmly established as
part of court and social life. Board games were resurrected and many of the
forms of physical recreation also adopted behavioural requirements which
were the forerunners of rules, regulations and fair play.
This period, however, was to make its most significant contribution to the
future of world sport and physical recreation by the establishment and
formalizing of many activities which in modified forms are now part and
parcel either of everyday life or competitive sport. Activities which now form
part of the Olympic Games or world championship programmes were clearly
evolving during this period—fencing, gymnastics, martial arts, archery (which
underwent major technical advances), polo, arising from the increased
demands for competence in cavalry, weightlifting, boxing, wrestling and
football. Other activities which have become part of Asian or world culture,
such as tug-of-war, dragon boat racing and board games, were also introduced
during this rich period.

THE CHINESE MIDDLE AGES (AD 220–589)

Introduction
The period from the end of the Han dynasty to the period of the aristocratic
empires of the Sui and Tang was marked by the decline of the state,
dismemberment of Empire and collapse of urban economies. The Chin
withdrew to the Yangtse valley, centralization disappeared with the emergence
of an hierarchical aristocracy, which held the real power both at court and in
the provinces, and state military strength was replaced by half-official, half-
private armies of mercenaries recruited by local officials and aristocratic
families.
By the fourth century, there were profound differences between warlike,
populist, almost illiterate North China and aristocratic, refined, Yangtse China,
with its court life, coteries and hermitages. The arrival of Buddhism, from
AD 200, brought with it a deep and general transformation in sensibility,
and a taste for sumptuousness and ornamentation. The Taoist interest in
nature, and its search for procedures capable of prolonging life and sublimating
the body, continued alongside the new layman’s religion of Buddhism, with
its own yoga practices of breathing, contemplation and visualization.
36 Michael Speak

The period was marked also by frequent wars and social unrest, which
were to have an effect on the continued development of sport and
recreation. No less stifling was the affirmation, according to Gernet
(1982:202), of a sort of literary and artistic dilettantism, a pursuit of
aesthetic pleasure for its own sake, which was in complete contradiction
to the classical tradition. This emphasis adversely affected the pursuit of
the physical in Chinese life.

Physical activity in military life

Archery remained an essential component of military training, and during
the period of the Northern Zhou (AD 557–581), archery ceremonies were
held during troop reviews. One of the most remarkable persons of the period
was the Chongwa, the empress dowager of Emperor Su Zong of the Northern
Wei (AD 386–534). The daughter of an army officer, she practised archery as
well as the classics, was summoned to the palace to teach Buddhism, became
a concubine and, as mother to Su Zong, was proclaimed Empress Dowager
in AD 515. She took an interest in the affairs of state but continued to practise
archery, and during a hunting expedition, she set up an archery contest and
required all officials, whether civil or military, to participate. Some officials
apparently were unable to even draw the bow and, after rewarding or
punishing officials according to their results, she demonstrated her own skill
as an exceptional archer.
There was general antagonism to the martial arts from the literati and
officialdom, belittlement affected their development, and there is evidence of
literati who enjoyed military exercises being derided for their interest.

Religious and social influences

One of the benefits of the arrival of Buddhism into China for the sports
historian is its tradition of depicting scenes from everyday life. Some of the
finest examples are in the Mogao Grottoes in Gansu Province, which contain
paintings, sculptures and works of decorative and architectural art from AD
386 to 1368. Amongst the various scenes depicted can be identified
horseriding, archery, wrestling, wushu, swimming, boating, weiqi and qigong.
According to Xie Yunxin (1989:45), many of the murals depict events in the
life of Satyamuni, the prince of Nepal, who founded Buddhism and was fond
of sports as a child and young man.

Exercise and Health

The spread of Buddhism and ideas of fatalism, according to Ba (1987a:47),
appear to have had a negative influence on people’s faith in the value of
health-oriented physical exercise. Many of the writings on health during this
 Recreation and sport in Ancient China 37

period advocated physical immobility and showed a disdain for strenuous

activity. There was a shift in emphasis from daoyin to medication, and the
new belief in medicine led people to put faith in medicaments rather than
exercise to bring longevity.
Despite opposition however, daoyin still had several advocates. Tao
Hou-jung (AD 452–536) reviewed the work of his predecessors, and
advocated six different ways of practising daoyin. In a book entitled
Records On Ways to Keep Fit and Prolong Life, he introduced a wide
range of health maintenance theories and practices handed down through
the centuries, including exercises devised by the celebrated physician Hua
Tuo (AD 208). A further significant development in the field of exercise
occurred with the arrival in China in AD 527 of an Indian monk called
Budhidharma. After a stay of nine years at the Shaolin Temple in Wei, he
grew to realize how physically weak and spiritually dejected his fellow
monks were. He recommended morning exercise daily, and taught them a
drill consisting of the eighteen exercises of Arhat, which was eventually
incorporated into the book Boxing of the School of Shaolin.
The influence of the literati can be noted in the strengthening of intellectual
games and refined physical activity. Both weiqi and touhu grew in popularity
among scholars while they enjoyed luxurious feasts and idle talk. Weiqi,
supported by the emperors, grew popular in all social classes. Contests were
frequently arranged for well-known players and games were recorded to
provide entertainment. Public appraisals were made, sometimes of as many
as several hundred contestants, and players were divided into nine grades,
according to level of performance, no doubt like today’s gradings in the martial
arts.
The division between the military and the scholars and their respective
attitudes to physical activity is confirmed by Wu (1975), who has described
how archery contests during this period served only military purposes. In the
preface to a military archery tract, it claims:

As literary men call themselves scholars, so we should call ourselves

military men. On account of this division, later, scholars…will all be
womanish.

According to Wu, this division, similar to the division between courtly life
and monastic life in the West, may have accounted for centuries of Chinese
attitudes towards physical fitness, and in turn have affected attitudes towards
competition and preparation for physical challenge. Spectatorism grew in
popularity at the expense of participation, and the pursuit of pleasure for its
own sake, artistic and literary dilettantism, and the religious fervour which
characterized the period, led to a sublimation of the physical.
38 Michael Speak

THE ARISTOCRATIC EMPIRES: THE SUI, TANG AND

FIVE DYNASTIES PERIOD (AD 581–960)

Introduction
This period was a time of transition from the medieval to the modern world,
particularly in East Asia. The empires of the Sui (AD 581–617) and the Tang
(AD 618–907) were based on the strongly sinicized empires of the Western Wei
(AD 535–557) and Northern Chou (AD 557–581), and were regarded as
generally Chinese, as opposed to the barbaric kingdoms and empires which
ruled during the fourth to sixth centuries. The reunion of Yangtse China with
North China gave the new empires an opening to the sea, a tropical zone and
territories in South East Asia. During the Tang dynasty, major administrative
reformation was carried out, and the Empire was divided into ten regions under
the control of ministers of administration, finance and justice. Academies and
higher education institutions were set up in the two capitals, Chiang-an and
Loyang, and schools were established in the prefectures and sub-prefectures.
Major public works were carried out, including canals and granaries, and the
two capital cities were rebuilt on a grandiose scale circa AD 600.
In military life, the military successes of this period were substantial, with
expansions into Turkey, Cambodia, Korea and India amongst others. The
core of the armies was aristocratic. The aristocrats’ taste for military affairs,
love of horses and action grew out of prolonged association, and the influence
of the horse and its armed riders was substantial during the Tang dynasty;
5,000 horses in AD 618 had grown to 700,000 by the middle of the seventh
century, and regulations governing the militias insisted that soldiers provide
their own horses. During the seventh and eighth centuries, the northern
aristocracy had a passion for horses, and polo, doubtless imported from Iran,
was extremely popular in Chiang-an.
Over the next two centuries, a series of political upheavals, internal
rebellions and military defeats marked a general retreat from the period of
expansion. Administrative changes led to exploitation of the poorer peoples,
and independent regional military authorities, famines and bands of robbers
led to the decline and eventual fall of the Tang. The Five Dynasties period
ensued, Chiang-an lay in ruins and Loyang was depopulated by the tenth
century. In cultural terms, the Sui and Tang dynasties were renowned for
Buddhist studies and poetry. In the seventh and eighth centuries, China had
welcomed foreign influences, but thereafter, as an ebbing of military fortune
began in the middle of the eighth century, China withdrew once again into
itself, became hostile to foreign cultures and returned to a classical Chinese
tradition. During the Tang, the upper classes were enamoured of barbarian
influences—dances, music, games, cuisine, clothes, houses. Chiang-an became
the meeting place of the peoples of Asia, and this invasion of cultures could
not fail to affect the sensibilities of the age and enrich the Tang civilization.
 Recreation and sport in Ancient China 39

Physical activity in the military

The Tang emperors considered riding and archery to be important attributes,
and in the Original Record of Emperor Taizong, in the Book of Tang it
claims:

In September AD 622, the emperor summoned all his bodyguards and

horsemen to learn shooting in the courtyard of Shien Teh Palace. There
were hundreds of people learning archery in front of the Emperor each
day. Bows, swords, cloth and silk were awarded to those who could hit
the target.

During the same reign, certain posts were assigned to those skilled in archery,
and tests for both military and civilian selection were conducted by the
Ministry of National Defence and the Ministry of Education respectively.
Tests included weightlifting and load carrying, and soldiers had to be able to
lift a huge city gate bolt five times, and carry five Lu or decalitres of rice on
their back for a distance of thirty paces. Similar tests formed part of the wuju
system of selection under Empress Wu Zetian (AD 690–705), and stature
and physique became important criteria for selection.
The influence of the horse and its armed riders during the Tang dynasty
has already been noted, and the link between horsemanship, exercise and the
military was reflected in jiju or the game of polo. The Tang armies used polo
as a means of military training, much as the Han armies had played football.
All prefectural governors had standard polo grounds for training military
horsemen, and the playing of polo formed one of the important ceremonies
for reviewing troops.

Civilian recreations
The sport of polo quickly entered civilian and social life. The game was
favoured by all sixteen Tang emperors, some of whom were excellent players.
The Emperor Zhongzong built two polo grounds at his palace near Xian,
many high officials had their own grounds, and even the scholars used the
annual polo match at the Moonlantern Palace as one of three activities to
celebrate success in imperial examinations. Poems were written on the sport,
centres were established to breed horses for the sport, and a large number of
artefacts testify to its popularity, encouraged in several regions by the spread
of trade and emphasis on the horse.
The game was one of the most technically advanced of sports at this stage.
Polo fields were 1,000 paces long by 100 paces wide, with level surfaces, often
treated with oil to prevent dust flying. Matches were played with equal but
sometimes indefinite numbers of players, with one or two goals, and points
were scored for driving the ball into the goal(s). Twenty-four red flags were
40 Michael Speak

placed around the field at the start of a match. They were awarded for the
scoring of a goal, and a match was won by the team having the most flags at
the end of a given period of time. Playing equipment was sophisticated, the ball
was of hard wood or bone, and wooden mallets had crescent shaped heads.
There was massive spectator interest in the sport, playing techniques and
skills reached a high level and, in January AD 821, a match was played in
Tokyo before a banquet between a team of envoys from Bohai and a team
representing the Emperor of Japan. This may well prove to be the first truly
international sport event, and it so captivated the interest of the Emperor
that he recorded it in verse:

Mallets are raised like so many crescent moons in the sky.

While the ball darts to and fro like a meteor.
The players hit right and left before the goalmouth,
Amidst thundering claps of the horses’ hoofs on the ground.
The spectators cheer and beat their drums at each goal,
Never having enough of the spectacular sight.

Liu Lingling (1993) has provided evidence of the sport being played by women
in this period throughout China. According to historical records, Li Shimin,
the Tang’s second emperor, ordered fifty maids in the imperial palace to form
polo teams, and eunuchs were recruited as coaches. Wu Xetian, then a maid,
but later the sixth monarch in the dynasty and the sole empress in Chinese
history, was made captain of the team. Liu describes a match held in August
633, when Wu Xetian led her team to perform for the Emperor.

Amid the sound of music and drums, the team, divided into two groups,
rode into the court. The players were all dressed in men’s clothes. One
group was in red satin and their hair was decorated with red flowers.
The other group wore green satin and green flowers, and they all wore
white boots. They made three circuits around the court before starting
the performance, paying homage to the spectators. Finally they came up
to the Emperor, dismounting and shouting ‘Long live the Emperor’ three
times. After that, the match began and proceeded with the beat of hoofs,
the crack of sticks against balls, and applause from the spectators. The
result was that the red team, led by Wu Xetian, beat the green team 2–1.
(1993:48–50)

A variation on polo (jiju) was luju, in which a form of polo was played on
donkeys, often by women and children who found the donkey less violent,
smaller and more manageable than the horse. The activity was popular during
the Tang and Song dynasties. Many literati believed polo should be proscribed,
in view of its violence, but its popularity among the emperors and its value as
a form of military training helped preserve its popularity. By the time of the
 Recreation and sport in Ancient China 41

Southern Song dynasty (AD 1127–1279), it had declined as a form of training,

but remained popular as a palace entertainment and recreation until the early
Qing dynasty in the 1600s. During the Tang dynasty, extensive literature,
particularly poetry, and a large number of pictorial representations appear,
attesting to its popularity.
Another ball game, which had almost vanished during the period AD 265–
589, was revived successfully during the Tang dynasty. Football (cuju) had
changed its nature dramatically from the form introduced in the Han dynasty.
Sasajima (1975) has recorded the changes which took place from 91 BC,
when it was first mentioned in Ski-ji, the oldest existent Chinese text, to its
evolution by the time of the Tang dynasty. In the early stages, goals were
scored by kicking the ball into a hole in the ground within a designated playing
area (third to seventh century AD). The next development was football played
by one to nine players, within or outside a designated area, whose purpose
was to keep the ball in the air. Two kicks were allowed per player, after
which the ball was passed. Rules were adopted and this form was in evidence
from the second century AD up to the nineteenth century. Further
modifications saw the emergence of two goals, one at each end of the field,
and the use of air-filled balls, and finally the form with only one goal in the
middle of the field like modern volleyball (twelfth to eighteenth century AD).
The game was popular with court officials, soldiers, children of the rich
and even scholars. Baoding Zhiyan records that, in AD 806, all candidates
who passed the court examination gathered at the palace and played football.
In AD 877, a number of scholars are reported to have held a contest on a
makeshift pitch, and Liu Tan, who was awarded the title of Jinshi, or advanced
scholar, displayed superb football skills, to the amazement of military
onlookers.
A number of other ball games are reported from this period. The game of
buda qin (ball striking on foot), also known as woodenball, was popular and
was played by children and shepherds. The game developed later into ball-
beating and was similar to golf or field hockey, and its refinements will be
described in the next chapter. Another prevalent form of social recreation
was wrestling, which was popular during festivals and fairs. Wu (1975) has
reported that during the Ghosts Festival, the people held wrestling or tumbling-
down contests. Because these became so popular and began to incorporate
wagers, there were those who sought their proscription. Wrestling was also
popular as an entertainment at court, and wrestling teams often gave
demonstrations. A celebrated wrestler, Meng Wanying, ‘ever-victorious’,
wrestled undefeated for several decades and, in special training sessions, passed
his skills on to young wrestlers. Emperors themselves wrestled and success in
wrestling was often a means to career and social mobility.
Dance forms grew in variety and popularity. As Chiang-an became the
meeting place for the peoples of Asia, the consequent invasion of cultures
could not fail to affect and impress native tradition. The dances and music of
42 Michael Speak

Central Asia and India found favour, in particular the dances from Turfan,
Kashgar, Bukhara and Kucha. The Tang and Five Dynasties period has been
referred to as the golden age of dance, but despite popularity and variety,
there is evidence that dancing as a form of social intercourse, particularly
after the drinking of wine, declined.
Miscellaneous recorded recreations included the use of the swing by
concubines and girls attached to palaces as a form of relaxation and physical
pleasure. Tug-of-war continued to be popular, kite flying grew in popularity
and kites were built in the forms of birds, butterflies, animals, insects and
even human beings. Some kites incorporated bamboo flutes and became
known as wind harps. In Northern China, skis made of wood were available
for hunting and recreation. Board games, particularly weiqi (chess), developed
further, and there was an explosion of interest in acrobatics, which enjoyed
immense popularity both at court and in public places. There were exchanges
of acrobats between China and India in AD 710. According to Zheng Chuhai’s
Anecdotes of Emperor Xuan Zong every banquet included performances of
somersaults, balancing, rope-walking and wrestling, and pictorial
representations from various periods attest to the levels of skill achieved.
One of the remarkable factors to emerge from a study of sport in Ancient
China is the almost universal acceptance through time of the right and
desirability of women to take exercise, particularly in royal circles. There
were, obviously, restrictions, but as already identified and further confirmed
by Tan (1987), games enjoyed by women were in vogue, such as swing, kites,
shuttlecock, throwing balls, kicking balls, shooting arrows, throwing arrows,
buda, weiqi and polo. Nobles and many local officials allowed their maids to
indulge these activities in their residences. Tan further records that:

In the Tang and Song dynasties, a special team of maids was formed in
the Imperial palace, who learned dances accompanied by music, hitting
balls and other games in a special school, and on big occasions and festivals
performed such activities as treading balls, playing polo and dancing for
the Emperor and nobles.
(1987:94)

These activities developed from generation to generation, by means of custom,

convention and imitation, but, according to Tan, declined after the thirteenth
century.

Health and exercise

In terms of activities associated with general exercise for health, the emperors
of the Sui and the Tang continued to support previous work. The emphasis
was still on longevity, and famous doctors were invited to give lectures on
exercise and health. Books and essays were published, including one by the
 Recreation and sport in Ancient China 43

court doctor Chao Yuanfang, entitled A Discussion of the Origin of Different

Diseases, which included 300 examples of daoyin exercises and also exercises
to imitate the actions of animals. According to the System of a Hundred Official
Posts in the Book of Suli, it is recorded that special posts associated with hygiene
and medicine were established, and titles of honour were conferred upon doctors,
masseurs and other therapists. Many specialized in daoyin and massage and
gave instruction to younger exponents. According to Ba (1987b: 42), Sun Simiao
(c. 581–682), a celebrated physician and expert on health, advocated that,
despite adaptation to a changing natural environment, citizens should seek to
retain tranquillity and mental control. This could be achieved by the development
of energy and the practice of daoyin.

Summary
The transition of Chinese society from medieval to modern times during this
period was reflected in sport and physical recreation. Forms of physical and
mental activity became more refined. Tests for military selection, for example,
included measurable components. Polo emerged as a universal sport with
regulated boundaries and targets, cuju evolved from a form of military training
to an activity easily participated in and popular amongst the military, courtiers,
scholars, women and children. Other ball games emerged which were to be
the forerunners of later, more sophisticated international sports, and which
could be played equally by the court or the populace.
Forms of simple recreation emerged, in particular the swing and kite-flying,
which would have long-term influences on leisure and pleasure, particularly
for children. The acceptance and promotion of activities for women further
reflected the social maturity and tolerance of this society. Wrestling enhanced
its popularity at court and became increasingly part of folk festivals and
occasions. Foreign influences on forms of dance and acrobatics were evident,
leading to increased variety, and chess grew increasingly sophisticated. The
comparative prosperity and stability of the Sui and Tang dynasties (581–
907) allowed these activities to flourish, but frequent wars between warlords
seeking to establish independent feudal dynasties during the Five Dynasties
(907–960) were to result in a decline of some of the activities so popular at
this time.

REFERENCES

Ancient Chinese texts

Not all of the texts referred to are available in English. Those available are:

Shang Shu (Book of History) (1960) ed. and trans. by J.Legge, The Book of Historical
Documents, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
44 Michael Speak

Shi Ji (Historical Records) (1961) ed. and trans. by B.Watson, Records of the Grand
Historian of China, 2 vols, New York: Columbia University Press.
Shi Jing (Book of Songs) (1960) ed. and trans. by J.Legge, The Chinese Classics,
Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

Other texts which may be of value to readers and researchers are:

Han Shu (History of the Western Han dynasty) (1938, 1944, 1955) ed. and trans.
H.H. Dubs, The History of the Former Han Dynasty, 3 vols, Baltimore: Waverley
Press.
Li Ji (Book of Rites) (1967) ed. and trans. by J.Legge, The Book of Rites, 2 vols, New
York: University Books.

Secondary sources
Ba Shan (1987a) ‘An outline of sports history’, China Sports, 19 (1):47–8.
Ba Shan (1987b) ‘An outline of sports history’, China Sports, 19 (3):47–8.
Gernet, J. (1982) A History of Chinese Civilization, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Gramet, M. (1932) Festivals and Songs of Ancient China, London: George Routledge
& Sons.
Liu Lingling (1993) ‘Women’s polo in Ancient China’, China Sports, September, 27
(9):48–50.
Radice, B. (1979) Confucius: The Analects, London: Penguin.
Ren Hai (1988) ‘A comparative analysis of Ancient Greek and Chinese sport’, Thesis,
University of Alberta, Canada.
Sasajima Kohsuke (1975) ‘Ancient sports and games brought into Japan in ancient
times and their Japanisation’, Proceedings of the Asian and Pacific Congress on
Health, Physical Education and Recreation, Taipei, ROC.
Tan Hua (1987) ‘Movement and sport in Chinese women’s life, yesterday, today and
tomorrow’, Proceedings of the Congress on Women’s Movement and Sport, volume
1, Jyvaskyla, Finland.
Wu Weng-chung (1975) Selections of Historical Literature and Illustrations of Physical
Activities in Chinese Culture, Taiwan, ROC: Hanwen Bookstore.
Zhou Xikuan (1991) ‘China: sports activities of the ancient and modern times’,
Canadian journal of Sport History, 22 (2), December: 68–82.
Chapter 3

The emergence of modern

sport
960–1840
Mike Speak

A NEW WORLD: THE SONG, LIAO AND

JIN DYNASTIES (AD 960–1279) AND THE
SOPHISTICATION OF SPORT

Introduction
Gernet (1982:300) suggests that not a single aspect of political, economic or
social life remained untouched by change during this period. The transition
from a semi-mediaeval society under the Tang to a new world, whose basic
characteristics reflect the China of modern times, was apparent in political
attitudes, class relations, urban and rural societies, the military and the
economy. During the eleventh century, the state’s need for civil servants, the
spread of education, the growth of agricultural production and the subsequent
increase in incomes from land all led to an increase in the number of wealthy
families. Armies were no longer conscripted, but mercenary, and the governing
class had considerably expanded. In the rural districts, the wealthy families
provided the guards (Kung shu) or archers to ensure order, and many from
the rural districts were recruited into the mercenary army.
There also appeared during the Song period large commercial centres,
heavily populated, with a diversified class of small and large merchants. K’ai-
feng, capital of the Five Dynasties, and also the Northern Song, was the first
example of an urban agglomeration where commerce and entertainment
became predominant. From 1063, following the abandonment of a general
city curfew, places of entertainment (Wa-Ksu) were greatly expanded in
Hangchow, and remained open until dawn. In all classes apparently there
was a tendency to form associations of people from the same region which
helps to explain the spread of individual cultures. All manufactures expanded
rapidly, a network of navigable canals was established and the economic
expansion was fed by the evolution of a wealthy urban bourgeoisie who
began to enjoy the luxuries formerly only available to imperial palaces. It
was not coincidental that architecture, landscaping, dress, cooking, ceramics,
46 Michael Speak

weaving and products affecting daily life made such rapid progress during
the eleventh to thirteenth centuries.
Economic, technical and social change was accompanied by a return to
the classical tradition, the end of Buddhist domination and a return to a
concept of man in a fully comprehensible world, represented by a practicality
evident in experiment, invention, ideas and their application. There was a
major change, equally, in attitudes towards physical effort and the pursuit of
skilful athletic activities. Gernet summarizes the situation as follows:

Whereas in the 7th and 8th centuries, an aristocracy in which there was
a good deal of ‘barbarian’ blood had imposed its love of violent games
(polo, riding, hunting), the governing class of the 11th-13th centuries,
consisting of rich, educated families usually living in an urban environment
on the income from their estates, despised physical effort and wished to
stand aloof from the traditions of the steppe and from popular
amusements. The profession of arms, so highly regarded at the beginning
of the Tang age, had lost its prestige ever since the armies had consisted
of mercenaries recruited from the dregs of society.
The intellectual, contemplative, learned, sometimes even esoteric
aspect of arts and letters among the Chinese upper classes asserted
itself in the Song period and was to remain dominant under the Ming
and Ching dynasties, in spite of reactions tending towards a return to
practical knowledge and physical activities in original and isolated
thinkers in the 17th C.Henceforth, the lettered Chinese, apart from a
few exceptions, was to be a pure intellectual who thought that games
of skill and athletic competitions were things for the lower classes.
This deeply rooted contempt in the governing classes for physical
effort and aptitude was to persist to our own day; sports were re-
introduced into China only in fairly recent years, under the influence
of the Anglo-Saxon countries. From the Song period onwards, only
learned literature, painting, calligraphy, the collection of books and
works of art, and the designing of gardens found favour with the
educated classes.
(1982:331)

Yet this attitude could not influence the need or provision in the new urban
centres for popular entertainment. The towns of the Song period, especially
the capitals—Kai-feng, Hangchow, Peking—became permanent centres of
entertainment. Amusement districts, separate from those where actors and
musicians reigned supreme, served as a stage for professional showmen—
storytellers, mime artists, puppeteers, animal trainers, specialists in shadow
theatre, animal imitators and presumably acrobats—and became centres of
popular leisure and entertainment.
 The emergence of modern sport 47

Military influences
The Chinese world of the eleventh to thirteenth centuries saw remarkable
progress in military techniques, which remained unaffected by the attitudes
of the governing classes and intelligentsia. The emergence of gunpowder,
whose formula was reported in 1044, some 241 years before it was mentioned
in the West, was to have a considerable influence on the physical preparation
of the military in later periods.
A military academy was set up to train Song officers, in which 200–300
students trained over a three-year period. Examinations covered military
history and strategy, the analects of loyalty, filial piety, kindness and love,
but also practical tests in archery, riding and weightlifting. There is evidence
according to Wu (1975:43) that the emperors were heavily committed to
military progress. Sung Tai Chung (AD 967) restored the shooting ceremony,
Jen Chung (AD 1022) examined warriors in riding and shooting, Sheng Chung
(AD 1008) held shooting meets and feasts and Kao Chung of the Southern
Song (AD 1127) established a law whereby common people could obtain
official positions by learning shooting. In the move to mercenary armies,
soldiers were chosen after a series of tests of physical aptitude—running,
jumping, skill in shooting, eyesight—and classified according to height, the
tallest being posted to crack units.

Social recreations
Ba Shan (1987b:37–8) claims, in contradiction to Gernet, that from the Song
to the Yuan dynasties (AD 960–1368) a growth in health-oriented activities
and physical recreations followed in the wake of economic success and urban
development. Distinctions must obviously be drawn between the recreations
of the court and those of ordinary folk, but there is evidence of universal
interest and even participation.
Many of the popular activities continued from earlier periods. Dance
continued to follow the basic rules and forms established by the Tang, although
modifications were made to both the Gentle and the Violent Dances. Touhu
was revised by Simaguang, new, complicated rules devised involving nine
people in judging, marking and organizing ceremonials and playing music
for every two players. Fairness and etiquette were emphasized. Shuttlecock
became a popular activity, especially for children, who also played hide and
seek, pa-hitting (a game like ‘peggy’ in the West) and a variety of games and
activities vividly recorded in a genre of paintings called Ying-histu (paintings
of children at play).
Wrestling continued to be popular and became commonplace in the streets
and lanes, and public performances by women made their appearance. Skating
in northern climes grew popular, but bull fighting which had originated in
the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC), and become popular under the Han, now
48 Michael Speak

began to decline, possibly to prevent valuable livestock being destroyed, but

possibly as a result of society’s interest in increasingly sophisticated forms of
entertainment. Dragon boat racing continued in popularity during this period
and was very common in the Song capital of Kaifeng, where races took place
on Jinming Lake. Long-distance or cross-country running was also a popular
activity, and those who displayed prowess were selected as couriers to carry
military information.

Health and exercise

The tendency towards realism and the concept of man in a comprehensible
world was reflected in patterns of exercise and health. The mystery and folklore
which had governed earlier forms of exercise and which often sought ‘esoteric
recipes for longevity’ (Ba 1987b:37) disappeared, and exponents began to
investigate and develop more practical forms of exercise, based on actual
physiological principles. There were still those, however, who advocated
unrealistic forms of breathing and exercise. Chen Ro, or Chen Shi-i as he was
described by Emperor Tai-Chung (AD 967), lay in bed for more than 100
days practising breathing, and adopted a 24-exercise routine of quiet sitting
with exercise over a twelve-month period.
More realistic and practical however were the ideas contained in Bao Sheng
Yau (Lu Essentials of Maintaining Health) by a Song Taoist priest, Pu
Chuguan, who reflected that in the case of a healthy person, the blood
circulates likes flowing water. He designed simple exercises for limbs, trunk
and head which could be carried out at any place and at any time. The period
also saw the introduction of Ba Duan Jin or Exercises in Eight Forms which
are still in vogue today, and popular for effectiveness in health maintenance.
The systems varied according to the influence of northern, hard actions, or
southern, soft actions. These exercises were aimed at mobilizing, digestion,
strength, elimination of disease, circulation and kidney efficiency.
Another form of activity associated with health was the practice of
sunbathing. Until its recent association with skin cancer, sunbathing, particularly
in the West, was regarded as a healthy practice, associated with beaches,
swimming and self esteem. Ba Shan (1987c:45) records how it has been described
in the work of Bai Juyi (AD 772–846), a Tang poet whose poem ‘Sunbathing’
describes its relaxing and therapeutic effects, of Zhou Bangyan (AD 1056–
1121) a poet of the Northern Song whose description of sunbathing in winter
likened it to the drinking of wine, and Zhou Mi (1232–98). In his Notes on the
Southern Dynasty, it claims ‘sunlight is no doubt conducive to good health, as
it can give a sudden boost to a person’s vital energy’. The ancient Chinese,
without scientific evidence in support, were not in favour of exposure to the
hottest of the sun’s rays, and traditionally bathed the back which, according to
Chinese medicine, provided the main channels for the circulation of vital energy,
blood and nutrients and key acupuncture points.
 The emergence of modern sport 49

Sport forms and growing sophistication

One of the signs of growing sophistication in the field of sport was the use of
the new art of printing which resulted in more and better texts on sporting
forms, rules and regulations and techniques which, although in existence,
had not been recorded in detail before the Song dynasty.
Another proof of the emergence of organized sport was the formation of
sports associations. The emergence of Xiangpu (wrestling) societies, with
their own rules and regulations and archery societies, with strict entry
requirements, reflects the growing sophistication of society and sport. Archery
was as popular in civilian life as it was necessary in the military and, in what
must be one of the earliest pieces of research into sports participation, Shu
Shi (AD 1037–1101) surveyed participation in Hebei’s Dingshou and Baoshu,
and discovered the existence of 588 archery societies with a membership of
31,411 people, or nearly 15 per cent of the population.
Further evidence of sophistication in sport is provided in the History of
the Song Dynasty which records that Emperor Taizong ordered his officials
to draw up definite rules for polo. Standard sizes for playing area and goals
were adopted, players of each team wore different colours and umpires and
referees took charge.
The best example of the emergence of sport, as opposed to recreation, is
provided by the classic text Wanjing (1282) which contains the most detailed
regulations covering an activity which we would now call golf. There was an
earlier reference to woodenball, wherein a ball was struck with a stick, which
developed over time into chiuwan (hitting the pellet), in which players using
clubs made of wood and bamboo competed over a terrain by hitting a solid
wooden ball into holes. Details of the game which provide evidence of its
golf nature are of interest to the sports historian.

Chiuwan, an ancient form of golf

The course or f ield of play

The course consisted of tees and holes, which could be as close as ten feet or
as far apart as 100 paces, but there was no absolute limit. Holes tended to be
in hollows, were marked with coloured flags, and locations were changed
regularly. Players and spectators were not allowed to approach within five
feet of holes to prevent cheating.

The equipment
Clubs were made of wood coated with animal ‘muscles’ and glue and had a
bamboo handle. Clubs were of different length to suit the height of players,
and different shapes. Players could select a club on arrival, but it could not be
50 Michael Speak

changed during the course of a game. The balls were made of hard wood for
durability, were proportional to the size of club used and were kept in a
leather bag.

The players
The number of players could vary and different numbers were differently
described. There was a big game (9–10), a middle game (7–8) a small game
(5–6), a group (3–4) and a couple (2). When numbers were even, players
formed couples and groups, but when odd, no groups were formed.

The playing system

Players gathered at the tee and the partner with the longest drive teed off.
When the ball stopped, its location was marked. The next player then hit the
ball where it lay but was not allowed to use a tee, and so on until the hole
was reached. Once a ball rolled into the hole, the hole was won and no more
shots were allowed.

The result
Players collected counters before the start of a game and, according presumably
to the number of holes won, counters were given for holes won, accumulated
and at the end of the game the players with most counters were the winners.
Prizes were available donated by the players, and ranged from valuable items
offered by the wealthy to cheap articles offered by poorer players. Ties
apparently were possible.
The text also describes in great detail the techniques of striking the ball,
and lists at least twenty-one rules and regulations mainly covering technical
matters but some concerned with etiquette (see Wu 1975:62–8). The text
also covers attitudes, selection of partners, correctness of action, the value of
harmony, how to recognize the characters of different players and deal with
proud players—laying stress on fairness and morality in sport. The game, it
was also claimed, helped players relax, recuperate health and become cheerful,
and the similarities with the modern game of golf are remarkable.

Summary
The period described above made its impact felt on the field of physical activity.
The growth of towns, wealth and spread of education provided a need for
forms of entertainment during increasing leisure time. Gernet’s view that the
governing classes despised physical effort may have been true for the literati
and intelligentsia, but there is sufficient evidence of a range of activities enjoyed
by the court and the people during this period to dismiss it as a valid perception
 The emergence of modern sport 51

of the whole society. It is true that the literati rejected these physical expressions
of leisure interest, but they themselves continued to enjoy touhu and weiqi
and, as in any society, exceptions in both directions was probably existed.
In the field of health and exercise, new, more rational forms were devised,
ball games continued in popularity and significant new sports like chiuwan,
a forerunner of golf, emerged. The growing sophistication of the society is
reflected in three main ways in the development of sporting forms: first in the
growing sophistication of rules and regulations in such activities as polo,
chiuwan, xiangpu and buda ball; second in the increasing number of texts
available on sporting activities, a subject worthy of documentation in its
own right; and third in the formation of special societies in archery, xiangpu
and cuju.

THE YUAN (AD 1271–1368) AND MING (AD 1368–1644)

DYNASTIES

Introduction
The general impression left by a survey of China in the eleventh to thirteenth
centuries is one of an amazing economic and intellectual upsurge, and a
comparison with the West leaves Europe backward in almost every respect—
trade, technology, scientific knowledge, political organization and the arts.
Marco Polo’s surprise, according to Gernet, at what he discovered was not
simulated. The Ming dynasty was preceded by a Mongol invasion which
relied for its success on a combination of the warrior tradition and military
expertise. The Kingdom of the Western Liao was destroyed by Genghis Khan
in AD 1218, alliances between the Song and the Mongols had finally destroyed
the Chin by AD 1234, and the whole of North China fell under the Mongols.
It took them another forty years to gain possession of the Yangtse and the
Southern provinces. They had however a very undeveloped administrative
system. Territories were divided into private domains, and the situation was
summarized by Liu Pingchung (AD 1216–74), an unfrocked buddhist monk
who was summoned to the Kublai’s court at Karakorum in AD 1249. He
presented a long memorandum on policy and administration, quoting the
famous Han saying ‘one can conquer the world on horseback; one cannot
govern it on horseback’.
The Yuan dynasty of the Mongols had inherited a China in full economic
expansion, from which they were to profit, but the indiscipline of the Mongol
nobility, the corruption of civil and local authorities in the provinces and the
growing hostility of the Chinese masses, fuelled by harsh and insensitive actions
and supported by the establishment and growth of secret societies, was to
culminate in its collapse by AD 1355. During the period a number of envoys,
merchants and missionaries made inroads into China, including the Venetian
Marco Polo. The Ming dynasty (AD 1368–1644) consisted of three clearly
52 Michael Speak

defined periods. The Hung-wu (AD 1368–98) and Yung-le (AD 1403–24)
periods saw economic reconstruction, new and original institutions and
diplomatic and military expansion. The late fifteenth century and early
sixteenth century were periods of withdrawal and defence, before the third
period, from AD 1520 onwards, saw a further Renaissance, marked by a
whole series of economic, social and intellectual changes.
The founder of the Ming dynasty, who adopted the name of Hung-wu
(1328–98) was the son of a goldwasher who had become a monk in 1344,
then a rebel leader who between 1365 and 1367 eliminated rivals and
established the Ming dynasty in 1368 at Nanking. By 1387, the whole of
China was re-unified. A massive effort at reconstruction was undertaken
between 1370 and 1398 to repair the ruination and destruction of the Mongol
period. Irrigation, the restoration of land, the construction of reservoirs,
repopulation of devastated areas and reafforestation were all contributions
to repair the agrarian economy and form the basis of both the Ming and
Ching empires’ reliance on agriculture. The Ming period saw the emergence
of the functional division of the working population into peasant, soldier or
craftsman who were dependent on three main ministries: finance, army and
public works. Hung-wu’s background gave him an instinctive distrust of the
literati and intelligentsia and impelled him to control the government and
civil service by recruiting and promoting officials from the lower classes.
This tendency to centralize power in the hands of the emperor, govern by
limited, restricted and secret councils, isolating imperial authority and
developing secret police permeated the Ming dynasty and the climate of
distrust it engendered grew worse with time. In AD 1421, the Ming dynasty
transferred its seat of government to Peking from Nanking. Gradually, the
early functional division of the population disintegrated and social mobility
on the part of much of the population created major change from the start of
the sixteenth century. The lowest strata of peasantry moved to the towns,
seeking employment in small business and handicrafts or as servants for rich
families.
There was considerable technical progress during the period, obvious
in the number of technical treatises which appeared, particularly in
weaving, publishing and ceramics. New machines for agricultural
processes and the introduction of new crops and soil improvement led to
massive progress and, by the sixteenth century, regional economic
specialization had emerged to service a population which had grown from
70 million at the start of the period to 130 million at the end. Technical
progress was accompanied as it had been in earlier epochs by social
change: the rise of a proletariat and urban middle class, the evolution of
a class of important merchants and businessmen and the transformation
of rural life, influenced by the habits of the towns. Social progress was in
turn accompanied by a remarkable development in artistic culture, in
particular the theatre, the novel and a semi-learned, semi-popular culture
 The emergence of modern sport 53

of an urban middle class eager for entertainment and education. There

was a proliferation of schools and centres of study endowed with libraries
and a revival of interest in many branches of practical knowledge:
agronomy, military techniques, hydraulics, astronomy, mathematics, etc.
Amongst the works published on medicine (hygiene, dietetics,
acupuncture and moxibustion) special mention should be made of the
treatise on botany and pharmacopoeia by Li Shih-chen (AD 1518–98),
the Pen-tiao Kang Mu completed after sixteen years research and
containing notes on 1,000 animals and 1,000 plants with medicinal uses.
The literature of leisure was addressed to an urban public anxious for
diversion, but whose lack of classical education required literature closer
to the spoken language.

Military influences and the emergence of the martial arts

At the outset of this period, the Yuan dynasty of the Mongols had inherited a
wealthy, well-organized empire. Their victories were achieved by military
vigour and prowess, and examples have been recorded by Marco Polo (Latham
1958):

They are stout fighters, excelling in courage and hardihood. They are of
all men in the world the best able to endure exertion and hardship and
the least costly to maintain and therefore the best adapted for conquering
territory and overthrowing kingdoms… Their weapons are bows and
swords and clubs; but they rely mainly on their bows for they are excellent
archers.
(1958:99)

He describes not only the quality of archers, but also their quantity. One of
their tactics was to feign flight, during which: ‘When they are fleeing at top
speed, they twist round with their bows and let fly their arrows to such good
purpose that they kill the horses of the enemy and the riders too’ (1958:101).
He further describes how Kublai Khan went into battle, ‘his troops marshalled
in thirty squadrons of 10,000 mounted archers each, grouped in 3 divisions’
(1958:116).
Zhong Bian (1987:17–19) further described how Polo served in the court
of Kublai Khan for seventeen years and travelled extensively. His Travels
offer several insights into the leisure lives of the court and the Yuan dynasty
and, as already indicated, their prowess as warriors. Their skill in archery in
particular was praised and explained. ‘Their arms consist of bows and iron
maces and in some instances spears, but the first named is the weapon at
which they are most expert, being accustomed, from childhood, to use it in
their sports’ (1987:39). Another skill of the Tartars which is referred to by
Polo was their ability to ride and train horses. He noted that ‘the men are
54 Michael Speak

trained to remain on horseback for two days and two nights without
dismounting, and to sleep in that position whilst their horses graze’ (1987:39).
One final illustration from the Travels emphasizes the physical nature of
the Mongols. Kaidu, one of the Mongol kings, had a daughter Aiyaruk who
was so strong that she was able to defeat all comers in combat. She refused
marriage until she found a nobleman who could beat her in combat, and had
the message broadcast. If defeated she would marry, if she won she would
gain 100 horses. It is claimed that she acquired more than 10,000 horses by
this means. In AD 1280, she was challenged by a son of King Pumar, who
was not only young and handsome, but also of a wealthy and respected family,
so much so that Kaidu her father, urged her privately to lose—which she
refused outright. The outcome was defeat, mortification and shame for the
prince, and deep sorrow in the palace (see Latham 1958:317–19).
Wrestling was a popular activity among the Mongols. Li Xiaofei (1991)
has indicated that, in AD 1209, a sports meet was held at the Oldos grassland,
in what is now Inner Mongolia, in celebration of the coronation of Genghis
Khan. There is evidence that the emperor used wrestling as one of the tests to
recruit and promote officers. The brother of the emperor, Puligudai, one day
defeated an arrogant champion named Bok, and there is the suggestion that
on his death, one of his cervical vertebrae was retained as a divine artefact,
so large was the hole in it that a man’s fist could enter. Bok, as a form of sport
wrestling, has survived to this day in Mongolia and was in 1991 included in
the Fourth National Games for Minority People.
There is little evidence in the literature to suggest that forms of military
training during the Ming dynasty were very different from those of the Song.
One of the martial arts which developed during this period was the art of
boxing which, in its Shaolin form, grew from eighteen actions to seventy-two
and later to 170. The development, however, was apparently accompanied
by fighting, troublemaking and general indiscipline on the part of its exponents,
so much so that its masters were forced to produce ten regulations to control
exponents. Summarized, they instructed:

1 The main purpose of boxing is for health and strength, and it should be
practised morning and evening, without suspension.
2 Boxing is used for self-defence, not for aggression. Bear in mind the
Buddhist principles of pity and kindness. Those who violate this principle
will be punished.
3 Disciples should respect masters and elders, resist pride and show
conformity, care and prudence.
4 Show kindness and gentleness to colleagues.
5 Bear insults and do not attempt to show off boxing skills to non-religious
people in the community.
6 Do not compete with other Shaolin boxers, but learn the code signs of
recognition, which indicate you belong to the same sect.
 The emergence of modern sport 55

7 Do not drink wine or eat meat—forbidden by Buddhism and likely to

lead to unconsciousness.
8 Do not enter into contact with women. This is a strict rule.
9 Do not teach boxing to non-religious people, it could be harmful.
You may teach it to a person of good character, who has no previous
record of roughness, cruelty and ill-temper, but he must observe the
rules carefully.
10 Refrain from being arrogant, covetous and boastful, which has already
destroyed some exponents and harmed others.

The 170 actions devised by Pai Yu-fung were collected into five major
forms or styles of boxing. They were represented by Dragon (spirit) for
relaxation, quiet and liveliness of action, Tiger (bones) for exercising all
body parts, Leopard (strength) incorporating jumping, fists clenched and
fast rising and falling actions, Snake (breathing), softness and activity of
body, and finally Crane (energy) for steady actions with the emphasis on
concentration. Detailed explanations are given in a text The Secrets of
Shao-Lin Boxing but they are extremely abstract. These forms of boxing
were used for military training. During the Ming dynasty, there emerged
two schools of boxing philosophy, described as the ‘inner’ and ‘outer’
schools. The former stressed the defensive aspects of boxing whereas the
‘outer’ school taught aggressive aspects.
The development of various styles of martial arts during the Ming dynasty
was accompanied by texts on boxing and martial arts, Yu Daiyou’s Book of
the Sword, Cheng Zoi-gyou’s Method of Shaolin’s Spear and Qi Jiguang’s
Jixiao Xinshu for military training. Some Confucian scholars such as Gu
tinglin, Huang lizhou and Yan xixhai, practised martial arts, advocating a
more practical approach to education, reading, writing, boxing, the arts, as
opposed to a theory of inactive study.
Although boxing’s traditions and practices developed during the Ming
dynasty, society at large despised it. However, within the military, it was
included in the examination system for officers. In AD 1457, before the
examination, the government ordered officials to seek out those versed in
boxing, fencing and strategy. They were examined by provincial governors
and then sent to the Ministry of Military Affairs for the standard examination.

Social recreations
Marco Polo records some of the leisure interests of the Mongol leaders,
including their passion for palaces and parkland. ‘At this end [of the city]
another wall encloses and encircles fully 16 miles of parkland’ (Latham
1958:108), stacked with game for the pleasures of hunting and falconry. Within
the palaces, entertainment was often provided. ‘When they have fed and the
tables are removed, a great troupe of acrobats and other entertainers comes
56 Michael Speak

into the hall and performs remarkable feats of various kinds. And they all
afford great amusement and entertainment in the Khan’s presence, and the
guests show their enjoyment by peals of laughter’ (Latham 1958:137). Polo
also reveals how the Great Khan invited a troupe of jugglers and acrobats in
AD 1277, supported by a leader and troops, to go and conquer the province
of Mien (Burma). This was successfully done. Zhong Bian (1987) describes
the hunting parties of Kublai Khan, which were often held during the three
months hunting season from March to May. They were mammoth events,
often to the East, involving tens of thousands of people. The main aim was
recreation and the maintenance of physical fitness, but they also served as a
review of the armed forces.
The Travels provide information on the lifestyle of women at court at the
time. Polo describes the emperor’s leisure during the Southern Song dynasty
and narrates:

the emperor amused himself in the company of his damsels, some in

carriages and some on horseback, and no male was allowed to take part
in these parties. The damsels were skilled in the art of coursing their
hounds in pursuit of antelopes, deer, stags, hares and rabbits. When
fatigued with these exercises, they retired into the groves on the banks of
the lake, threw off their clothes, jumped into the water and swam joyously
about in the nude.

The Travels also give an insight into the interest in general health of the
people in Hangzhou in East China. Polo observed that the people, often
servants, took daily baths at public cold baths. The men and women who
frequented them always bathed in cold water, and it was their practice to
so bathe daily, especially before meals. In the bathing establishments were
rooms providing warm water for visitors who could not tolerate the cold
water. The Travels also reveal how long-distance runners became couriers
in the Khan’s postal service, running at full speed for a distance of more
than 3 miles. Post was carried at a speed of ten normal days in a day and
a night, and clerks at each post station noted the start and finish time of
each runner.

Summary
There is extensive pictorial evidence to suggest that a variety of sophisticated
forms of recreational and sporting activity continued throughout the period.
The painting series Pleasures of Emperor Xuan Zong depicts buda ball which
was a favourite game of young people in many cities, archery, cuju, chiuwan
and touhu. The traditional Chinese painting of Beauties by Du Jin portrays a
number of recreational activities enjoyed by women, including chiuwan and
cuju (football).
 The emergence of modern sport 57

During the Ming dynasty, the levels of skill in chess and board games were
raised and several instructional manuals produced. Cuju continued its
evolution, and could be played by one to ten people without a goal, aiming
to keep the ball in the air by kicking, or use of shoulders, abdomen or back,
similar to shuttlecock. Another form followed the rules of the Song dynasty
with a goal in the middle of the play area and players divided into two teams.
Some emperors prohibited the game, but according to Wenli Yehuopian, most
generals, high officials and emperors during the Ming dynasty enjoyed cuju.
Emperor Xuangong even castrated a soldier who was a good player so that
he could play in court as a eunuch. Chiuivan, which had been popular amongst
high officials during the Song dynasty, became more widespread during the
Ming, and very popular with the lower classes. Wanjing (The Classic of Ball
Games) was reprinted during the Ming dynasty, and confirmed the popularity
of chiuwan.

THE QING DYNASTY (AD 1644–1840) AND THE

MANCHU’S EMPHASIS ON ACTIVE MAN

Introduction
The later stages of the Ming empire makes it relatively easy to understand
how the Manchu had little difficulty in seizing power. Gernet (1982) has
recorded a scenario of general anarchy, collapse of public finances, central
government panic reinforced by the suicide of the Emperor Chang Hsienchung,
the weakness of the armies stationed to defend the capital, division amongst
the Chinese, and complicity which the Manchus found in parts of the
population.
The people who in 1635 became known as the Manchus were descended
from the tribes of north and north-east China who founded the Chin empire
(AD 1115–1234). By 1644 they had acquired the military capacity, political
cohesion, administrative organization and strategic bases to seize power in
China. They settled in China like a race of overlords, aiming to reign over a
population of slaves, much as their Mongol forebears had done, but their
early harsh treatment of the labour force was forced to give way later to a
more moderate treatment and climate. The Southern Ming had been unable
to resist the Manchu onslaught. After early oppression, however, the emperors
Kiang-hsi (AD 1661–1722), Yungcheng (AD 1723–36) and Chien-lung (AD
1736–96) showed enough adaptation, openmindedness and intelligence to
earn the title of enlightened despots.
By their study of classical works and Chinese culture they won over the
educated classes and sponsored the writing of the History of the Ming, a
compilation of catalogues of paintings and calligraphy, dictionaries and
anthology of the Tang poets, providing an opportunity for the literati to
58 Michael Speak

display their talents. They revived the concept of a neo-Confucian empire,

which not only extended over a large part of the continent of Asia, but saw,
of all countries in the world, the greatest increase in population, wealth and
territory. By 1759, the empire covered 11 million square kilometres, compared
with the 9.7 million of today’s PRC. The conditions of internal peace,
improved agriculture and general prosperity led to the growth of China’s
population from 143 million in AD 1741 to 360 million in AD 1812. Europe’s
growth in the same period was from 144 million in AD 1750 to 193 million
by AD 1800. China dominated the continent, had uncontested power and
moral order, and the period saw an upsurge in agriculture, manufacturing
and commerce.
There was a veritable revolution in agriculture. Vegetables and fruit came
to be part of ordinary people’s diet, and pigs, poultry and fish provided from
fish farming were all common dietary elements. The Chinese peasant in the
mid-eighteenth century was generally better off than his French equivalent.
He was better educated, the result of numerous public and private schools
which provided a sound education. Some of the great literati of the eighteenth
century were of humble origin. Technical progress kept pace, and great strides
were made in the textile, porcelain, furniture, paper and steel industries, and
foreign trade developed substantially.
The scientific and literary life of the nation was to flourish equally. The
general tendency of the second half of the century was to criticize the
intellectual traditions of the Ming age and return to the concrete. Gernet
nominates Yen Yuan (1635–1704) as one of the harshest critics of neo-
Confucian traditions who rejected classical culture as false in its principles
and harmful in its consequences. According to Gernet:

His researches into antiquity led him to the conviction that ancient culture
had been essentially practical in nature; it made room for archery, chariot-
driving and the science of numbers. Yen Yuan rehabilitated physical effort
and manual dexterity. He wished to replace the bookish education that
produced only timorous, introverted individuals, unsuited to action and
incapable of taking decisions, with a training that would call on the whole
man and give a proper place to practical skills. In 1696 Yen Yuan became
head of an academy in Hopei and included in the timetable military
training, strategy, archery, riding, boxing, mechanics, mathematics,
astronomy and history.
(1982:502–5)

Yen Yuan was however an exception, practically unknown to his counterparts.

Gradually, as Manchu rule became more entrenched, Chinese patriotism,
hatred of the Manchu and attachment to the Ming faded. Examinations were
restarted to restock political and administrative personnel, private academies
were restored and their control formed the habits of a general system of
 The emergence of modern sport 59

education. There was a reaction against popular literature, however, which

stifled works of entertainment. The official History of the Ming Dynasty
(Ming Sheh) was completed between 1679 and 1735, and contains 366
chapters. Whatever judgement is passed, however, on the political and social
systems of eighteenth century China, power and culture were the privilege of
a mere fraction of the population, but that privilege did not depend alone on
the privilege of birth or social class.

Military influences
To strengthen its influence, the Qing government set up a system which
combined political administration with military affairs. The examination
system which was revived applied to military and civilian officers alike, and
even civilian candidates were tested in their ability to shoot from horseback.
The army comprised garrisons of the Eight Banners stationed in Beijing and
its vicinity, as well as in certain strategic points throughout the country. The
units flew banners in eight different colours, led a Spartan way of life receiving
vigorous military training from early childhood, and were known as the
bannermen. There were drill grounds in many residential areas, and Xie
Yunxin (1991) describes how local able-bodied male residents were required
to undertake early morning exercise and participate in fencing, archery and
horse-riding.

Even between spells of concentrated military training, they would take

up a variety of civilian sports and games in the courtyards surrounded by
houses on four sides, or in open spaces near the compounds, all for the
purpose of building physical strength.
(1991:45)

Emperor Dao Guang claimed that the most fundamental skill for the
bannermen was archery on horseback. From Nurhachi, who defeated all his
foes and steadily expanded his power and influence, to Fu Lim who led the
Manchu forces into North China and established himself as Emperor Shum
Shi of the Qing dynasty, victory had depended on the expertise of horseback
archers. When the Manchu rulers settled in Beijing, they regarded the annual
Mulanquimi—a comprehensive autumn military festival featuring archery
on horseback—as part of the heritage they should uphold and carry forward.
Following the enthronement of Emperor Qing Long, he re-introduced the
autumn military festival in AD 1782 and maintained the custom throughout
his reign.
Xie Yunxin (1991) describes the most popular sport amongst the
bannermen as exercises with the padlock, made of stone with an iron bar for
the grip, and weighing between three and thirty catties (1–45 kg). Exercises
were of three types—swinging it in circular paths, lifting it overhead with
60 Michael Speak

one or both arms, and tossing and catching it repeatedly. Competitions were
held in each category based on the weight of the padlock, either between
barracks or between banners, or as a regular feature of large-scale military
sports meetings sponsored by the imperial court. Winners were often promoted
or received higher wages. The Qing dynasty also considered wrestling as an
important training activity. The emperor K’ang Hsi was an accomplished
wrestler and set up a special camp to recruit and train outstanding wrestlers.
In Xinjiang, the Mongols had a regular wrestling contest for youths during
the mid-autumn festival. There were five separate ranks, prizes were awarded,
and those who could defeat ten people were put into the top rank.
One of the most interesting and spectacular developments in sport during
the Qing dynasty was the progress made in ice sports. It is suggested that
such sports enjoyed popular success, but the absence of records means that
evidence is often confined to activities organized by the court or the army. It
is reported that Nurhachi (1559–1626), father of K’ang Hsi, the first Qing
emperor, conducted skate training among his troops. On entering Central
China, he made it a custom to review the Eight Banners on ice. This must
have become a tradition, since during the reign of Ch’ien-Lung (1736–96)
the government encouraged the spirits of the soldiers by organizing ice-sports.
In the footnotes of a royal poem, one such occasion is described:

The ice of Tai Yi Pool was very thick every winter, and the Eight Banners
and Three Banners armies of the royal court were ordered to practise ice-
sports. The skaters were divided into groups and threw a coloured ball at a
target on a flagged door. The emperor inspects the result and awards prizes
according to merit… The skating ceremony is a tradition in our nation. The
skaters line up, and wear coloured clothes and shoes with teeth.
(see Wu 1975:69)

There are further references to ice-sports in Dijing Suishiji (Seasonal Records

of the Capital). During the reign of Chien-Lung, it is recorded by Pan
rongsheng that:

In front of the Five-Dragon Pavilions, the water in the middle sea froze
into ice in winter. The emperor ordered the manufacture of wooden beds,
beneath each of which two steel bars were inlaid. One bed carrying three
or four persons was pulled by people with ropes. It ran as fast as flying
and is called ‘Pulling Bed’… There were iron teeth on the soles of the
shoes worn by the pullers. They made the pullers slide on the ice as
quickly as lightning. It was called skating. The quickest would get prizes.
(Wu 1975:68)

Further evidence of the nature of skates is available in Seasonal Records of

the Capital.
 The emergence of modern sport 61

Skating shoes are made of iron. In the middle of each there is a leather
lace, to fasten the iron shoe to the leather shoe. As soon as the player
stood up, the shoe went onward at once without stopping. The skilful
players are like dragon flies touching the surface of the water, or the
purple swallows flying over the waves.
(Wu 1975:69)

During the Qing dynasty, ice sport meetings were held every year in the Tai
Yi Pool (presently the Beihai Park and Zhongnanhai in Beijing) during the
winter solstice. There were several further forms of sport on ice at the time,
traditionally watched by the emperor. There was the class race, in which
1,000 soldiers stationed by a banner a mile from the royal sledge skated as
fast as possible to reach the sledge. The emperor’s bodyguards caught them
as they arrived and prizes were awarded. Another game was called ball seizing,
in which soldiers dressed in different coloured costumes would line up facing
each other. A guard would kick a ball into the middle and soldiers would
rush to acquire possession and throw it to teammates. A third game was
called ball shooting by winding dragons in which a procession of about 400
skaters curved around the ice like a dragon. The procession was made up of
small groups of three, led by a skater with a small flag followed by two
companions carrying a bow and arrows. Close to the royal seat was a flag
door, on which two balls were suspended, a high one called the sky ball, and
a lower one called the earth ball. Those successful at hitting the targets won
prizes. Figure skating also formed part of these occasions, during which skaters
performed difficult routines on the ice. The ice inspection of the Eight Banners
by the emperor was an annual affair, undertaken on different days, with
prizes awarded according to classes. Gradually, as the Qing dynasty reached
its close, these royal games disappeared.
Poems were written about skating, and there are suggestions that Emperor
Qinglong and Queen Mother Gixi used to watch the skating in Beihai, Yilankang
and Qingxiaolou in the Forbidden City as a ceremonial activity. There is also
evidence of the utility of skating. According to Pingjin gulao, skaters in Tianjin
during the time of Emperor Guangxu would act as postmen, and could reduce
the normal delivery time to Hebei of half a month to a single day. Tuochuang
was also popular, an activity where individuals towed sledges carrying three or
four people for picnics in the country on sunny days.
Physical activity, which had long been closely associated with military
preparation, took many forms. During the Yuan dynasty, government contests
had been abolished, as military officers inherited their posts from their fathers,
but contests were revived during the Qing. Only those who had passed a
local government examination could participate in the universal contest, from
which candidates were selected to take the Imperial Examination. This
consisted of practical and theoretical elements, and only those who succeeded
in the practical examinations could progress to the theory examinations. Wu
62 Michael Speak

Weng-chung (1975:49–50) describes the content of the examinations, and

gives present-day archers some idea of the demands.
The practical component consisted of four elements:

1 Shooting on foot at a target 150 paces away with a bow weighing 10

catties and with ten bamboo arrows. Successful candidates had to hit the
target once in the local contest, twice in the universal contest and three
times in the imperial to gain a class A grade.
2 Shooting from horseback at two small targets five inches high placed fifty
paces apart within a course of 150 paces. Shots had to be fired twice during
each run of the horse, which consisted of four runs in the local and twice in
the imperial. Successful candidates had to score two hits in each contest.
3 Long distance shooting at a clay wall 220 paces distant. Three shots only
were allowed, of which one hit was acceptable.
4 Spearing on horseback at four wooden figures each three Chinese feet
tall with a five inch target on the head, and thirty paces apart. One hit in
a run over 150 paces was acceptable.

The theoretical questions consisted of ten questions on Shun-tze’s strategy,

and successful candidates were allocated to classes 1, 2 and 3 depending on
their success rate.

Martial arts and the influence of Shaolin

Physical training was not only encouraged for the military, but came also to
be associated with forms of nationalism. Those loyal to the Ming dynasty
who saw a need to restore it laid great emphasis on physical training. A
number of scholars, among them Ku Ting-Lin (AD 1613–82) and Wang
Chuan-shan (AD 1619–92) encouraged boxing. Their writings reveal sadness
at the enfeeblement of the nation, and detestation of the Manchurian invasion.
Other scholars, like Huang Li-chow (1610–95) and Yen Shi-chai (1635–1704)
advocated practical elements in the curriculum, including boxing and the
martial arts. Yen’s philosophy was based on the view that inactivity was
ruinous to the body. He considered courage to be the highest virtue, and
practised archery daily in the garden with his disciples. He considered physical
toil beneficial for the muscles, bones, respiratory and circulatory systems,
but his view that exercise can contribute to a strong individual, family, nation
and even world was not generally acceptable at the time. Despite his efforts,
the old ways and distaste for physical effort in general society could not
accommodate ‘activity theory’. One of Yen’s disciples, a scholar named Li
Shu-Ku (1619–1733), attempted to promote his activity philosophy, and
criticized the notion of scholars who had little experience of the real world
and whose only knowledge was from the classics. He ascribed the failure of
the Sung and Ming dynasties to this weakness.
 The emergence of modern sport 63

P’ng and Donn (1979:14) describe the influence of boxing as a martial art,
and the impact of the Shaolin monks. As the Fukien Shaolin temple’s fame
spread, exponents of the combative arts began to converge on it. The Qing
government had reason to be grateful to Shaolin when, during the reign of
Emperor K’ang Hsi in 1672, 108 monks volunteered for military service
against marauding bands on China’s western borders. The monks’ skill and
heroism expelled the invaders, but a short time afterwards it was discovered
that the Fukien monks were actually rebels who aimed to restore the Ming
government by popular uprising. The Qing ordered the destruction of the
monastery and the massacre of its occupants, but five monks escaped, were
joined by others and eventually fought the Manchu at Hebei. It may be logical
to assume that monks from both Shaolin temples, at Honan and Fukien,
participated in political and combative activity against the Manchus, right
up to the Boxer Rebellion at the start of the twentieth century.
Brownell (1991) confirms that muscular Buddhism preceded muscular
Christianity by at least 1,200 years, and cites the importance of the Shaolin
temples in support of political causes. Brownell claims that the dispersal of
monks from Shaolin and their teaching of Shaolin arts (Kung-fu) caused the
Qing to enact strict bans on the people practising Kung-fu and weapons
practice. There is a suggestion that all of China’s secret societies were linked
to Shaolin, and led rebellions against the Manchus, but also that the spread
of martial arts was also linked to high levels of violence in local communities.
This was the case apparently in Guandong and Fujian, where in most villages,
guan or small halls were established for the practice of Kung-fu. The skills
were necessary, it is claimed, for family feuds, battles between villages where
disputes over water lines were regular, in the cities where Kung-fu masters
were hired by trade guilds to teach their workers, form protection units and
resist bullying and corruption, or to protect merchants in cross-country
journeys. Large groups of skilled martial arts experts were also used against
invaders and, in 1841, 10,000 villagers attacked the British troops in
Guandong, killing 200 soldiers.
Brownell points to a discrepancy in the view held of martial arts. On the
one hand, there are those who see the arts imbued with philosophical,
meditative practices typical of the non-aggressive Chinese character. This
was necessary, since outside the imperialist forces, Buddhist or Taoist temples
were the only places where their practice was officially tolerated. The view
from the other end of the social scale was of a society characterized by endemic
physical violence, in which martial arts were necessary to survive.

Social recreation
Hunting activities during the Qing followed the pattern of previous dynasties,
although Xie Yunxin (1991:46) has recorded the emergence of falconry as a
past-time among a newly emerged Manchu leisured class. The Manchus also
64 Michael Speak

revealed a fondness for keeping birds as pets, some for their birdsong and
others for the beauty of their plumage. During the Qing dynasty, this privilege
was first confined only to the nobles of the Eight Banners, who would flaunt
their caged birds in public places, often accompanied by a large retinue. Later,
the practice was adopted by many citizens and is currently a common sight.
Of greater significance, however, was the establishment by Emperor Qing-
Long (1735–96) of five major and numerous smaller hunting grounds.
Although primarily established for the pleasure of hunting, expeditions
also served the purpose of consolidating Manchu rule, safeguarding border
areas and maintaining national unity. The autumn hunting tours, known as
mulanquimi, also involved local chiefs and senior officers to encourage unity
of purpose. The most massive hunting exercises had the character of military
manoeuvres. Tian Ma (1991:41–2) describes how during the reign of Kang-
Xi (1661–1722) the emperor and senior officials would visit a castle and
hunt daily, accompanied by 70,000 horsemen and 3,000 archers. A circle
with a diameter of 1.5km around a mountain was drawn by the positions of
the archers, all moved forward together and large numbers of animals were
trapped and killed in this way.
Kang-Xi was a keen huntsman and had learned riding and archery as a
child from a guard called Muergen. In old age, he estimated he had killed
135 tigers, twenty bears, twenty-five leopards, ten lynxes, fourteen David’s
deer, ninety-six wolves, 132 boars and hundreds of deer. He ruled that all
children of imperial families and the Eight Banners officers must learn archery
on horseback and, after they reached the age of 10, they would have to undergo
an annual test examined by the crown prince and chief ministers. During the
test, the crown prince would shoot first. Emperor Ching-Long followed the
example of Kang-Xi. In fact, he was commended as a 12-year-old by Kang-
Xi and awarded a yellow vest for accuracy when he hit the bulls-eye with all
five arrows in a contest. He followed the practice of Kang-Xi in improving
military and diplomatic skills by the annual mulanquimi, which he staged
forty-one times in his sixty-one year reign. There is also evidence, from the
painting, Banquets at a Frontier Fortress, during the reign of Qian Loy (1735–
96), that wrestling activities also formed part of these occasions, and continued
evidence of weightlifting competitions, which during the Qing dynasty
consisted of lifting stone barbells classified under three categories, 200 jin,
250 jin and 300 jin.

Summary
The impact of the Qing dynasty had been in a continuation of the exercises
and skills emanating from the military, a sophistication of forms of boxing
which were to have an impact not only on political events, but later on the
lives of ordinary people, and no small contribution to the development of ice
sports. The attitude of the Manchus to physical exercise and skilful pursuits,
 The emergence of modern sport 65

particularly horseriding and archery, was very positive. Their inclusion of

archery and riding in public examinations bore evidence of their stress on the
active man, but their anxieties about the political implications of the ordinary
man exercising and shooting led to abolition on grounds of national defence.
The influence of Shaolin and its muscular Buddhists is worthy of further
study in the historical search for links between exercise, sport and religion.

RECREATION AND SPORT IN ANCIENT CHINA:

SOME OBSERVATIONS
Chapters 2 and 3 have attempted to outline the main strands of physical
activity, recreation and sport within ancient Chinese civilizations. The
range of geographic, climatic, political and socio-economic influences has
been vast over a broad time scale, and activity has been influenced by
many different cultural groups. What emerges, however, from this
pioneering survey are some fascinating strands which merit further
detailed and analytical study.
Gernet’s observation, referred to at the outset, that ‘the West, which
has borrowed from China right down to our day without realising it, is
far from recognising its sizeable debt to her’, is supported strongly in the
field of sport. We have noted the development and sophistication of
forms of archery, wrestling, weightlifting, football, hockey, golf and polo
and which quite separately from any development in the western world
enjoined advanced skills, rules and regulations and behavioural
characteristics sufficient to classify them as sports in a modern sense.
Other activities, such as board games, dance, acrobatics, tug-of-war, kite-
flying, swings and dragon boat racing have made a massive impact on the
leisure and pleasure of citizens throughout the world without really
becoming world championship sports, and martial arts, in a variety of
forms, are now practised throughout a range of civilizations.
There is evidence that the link between religion and exercise was
established in China and the East long before the crusades and some
1,300 years before muscular Christianity became a popular concept in
Victorian England. In its later stages, religion became associated with the
defence of the motherland as Shaolin monks and exponents of their arts
sought to restore the Ming dynasty and were key players in the Boxer
Rebellion in the twentieth century.
The influence of the military in the development of Chinese sports and
challenges was all-important. Many of the athletic activities practised during
the whole of the period under observation derived from the military:
horsemanship, archery, running, hurdles, throwing, jumping, martial arts,
charioteering, wrestling, tug-of-war, football, weightlifting, polo, ice skating,
boxing, all owed their development and eventual spread into the civil
community to their military origins. The military were also responsible for
66 Michael Speak

tests of physical ability and capacity which became part of the examination
system in schools, academies and government service.
The contribution of Chinese forms of exercise and knowledge of health
procedures and practices has in recent years come under severe scrutiny from
the medical profession and exercise scientists in the West. There is a need for
intensive study in this field to ascertain what lessons might be learned from
Chinese practices which stretch back in time more than 4,000 years. The
Chinese health philosophy stressed longevity, good health and serenity of
mind and, throughout its history, proponents of exercise for health have
stressed breathing, harmony of movement and consciousness as quintessential.
There has been little emphasis throughout the period on musculature, strength
and vigour, and an affinity with nature in all its forms has been stressed.
Chinese physicians throughout history have recommended gentle, non-
vigorous exercise so that the harmony of breathing, movement and mood
could be achieved. Specialists have been employed throughout Chinese
civilization to serve the emperors and society in medicine, hygiene, massage
and exercise.
Evidence has suggested that the dispersal of population within China’s
vast agricultural base has not been conducive over the millennia to regular
large gatherings of people. However, wherever opportunities arose, citizens
and villagers came together in festive pleasure. Such occasions were often the
scene for Jiao Di games, during the Han dynasty, incorporating music,
acrobatics, dancing and magic. Other activities on these holiday occasions
were feats of strength, horse-riding, pole-climbing together with shuttlecock,
kite-flying, lion and dragon dances.
During the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties period, polo, whether jiju or luju,
was popular, as were football, hockey and golf, which was played even by
herdsmen. Wrestling was often part of the entertainment during festivals and
fairs and gambling was associated with it. Archery varied as a popular
recreation, but by the time of the Song dynasty there is evidence that in
Dingshou and Baoshu, 588 archery societies had enrolled 31,411 members
or a seventh of the population. Bullfighting has a long history of popularity,
but the earlier practices of man against bull eventually changed to bull against
bull. Board games, particularly forms of chess, were popular throughout the
periods under scrutiny, and hunting was practised in a number of different
ways at different social levels.
Three areas of special interest merit further study. First, it is surprising
what evidence exists for the presence of women in sport throughout the
long period under scrutiny. In most early societies there is evidence of
female involvement in dance, but in the Chinese civilization as early as
the sixteenth to eleventh centuries BC, there are reports of women
swimming, fishing and boating. There is pictorial evidence of women
using the swing, and during the period of the Aristocratic Empires women
played both polo (jiju) and luju on donkeys. Teams were formed and
 The emergence of modern sport 67

eunuchs appointed as coaches, and the game remained popular with

women until the early Qing dynasty. There is evidence of participation by
the leading females in the nation, in particular by Wu Wetian in AD 633
who was captain of a team which entertained the emperor, and who later
became Empress herself. Poetry was written about the game by women
themselves. Tan Hua (1987) has further confirmed female participation in
throwing balls, football, golf, shuttlecock, archery, polo, buda, weiqi,
touhu, kites and swings. Some were highly talented, in particular Hu
Chongua who became Empress Dowager in AD 515 and whose skill as
an archer surpassed most of her officials and of course Aiyurak, daughter
of the Mongol King Kandu, who acquired more than 10,000 horses by
defeating suitors in unarmed wrestling combat. There was positive
encouragement, particularly within royal and courtly circles, for females
to enjoy recreation, and many of the illustrations reveal the extent of
their participation, including wrestling (AD 220–80) and during the Song
(AD 960–1368).
Second, there is evidence which suggests that, outside of the military,
there was a lack of emphasis on pure competition, and more interest in
etiquette and good behaviour which were supportive of a harmonious,
patriarchal social structure. Many activities throughout the period
concentrated on the cultivation of virtue as a priority and on the process
rather than the outcome. In archery and touhu for example, participants
were required to demonstrate moral virtue in addition to skill, so that
winner and loser equally could gain respect. Zhou (1991:71) has indeed
suggested that, because of the special emphasis placed on moral education
and ethics in traditional Chinese society, ancient Chinese sport was
overburdened with moral principles. During the time of Confucius, ritual
shooting in archery served to confirm the social order and the virtue of
the archer—propriety, good character, filial duty and love of learning. As
archery was substituted by touhu, it grew to adopt an even more complex
system of rules and behaviour, incorporating lessons in virtuous
behaviour, character development and social skills. Within the activity
were also encouraged notions of respect for rank and elders, deference,
reverence and purity. During the Song dynasties, AD 960–1368, the
importance of fairness and etiquette was emphasized in the rules.
The game of football also encouraged an acceptance of good behaviour
and, as early as AD 100, the poet Li You during the Han Dynasty wrote:

Keep away from partiality

Maintain fairness and peace
Don’t complain of others’ faults
Such is the matter of cuju
If all this is necessary for cuju
How much more for the business of life.
68 Michael Speak

This may be the first reference to the notion of sporting behaviour reflecting
or influencing behaviour in society at large. In the class text Wanjing,
completed in 1282 on chiuwan or golf, sections deal with the etiquette of the
game, and include advice on players’ attitudes, selection of partners,
correctness of action and how to deal with proud players. The emphasis is on
fairness and morality in sport. The monks of Shaolin, who practised boxing,
were also mindful of its moral value, and stressed kindness, pity, gentleness,
care, prudence, respect for masters and elders and the need to refrain from
arrogance and boastfulness.
The third area of interest which merits further study is the publication of
texts on sport, recreation and exercise. A starting point would obviously be a
comprehensive bibliography on relevant texts. We know that Nei Jing (Internal
Medicine) as early as the Warring States period (475–221 BC) provided a
theoretical basis for physical exercise, and during the same period according
to Ren Hai (1988) reliable literary evidence began to appear about the nature
of Dao Yin, exercise and breathing. Tao Hou-jung (AD 452–536), in a book
entitled Records on Ways to Keep Fit and Prolong Life, reviewed the work of
predecessors and introduced a range of health maintenance theories and
practices, together with six different forms of daoyin. During the Sui and
Tang dynasties a number of essays and books on health and exercise were
published, including one by the court doctor Chao Yuanfang, which included
300 examples of daoyin exercises. During the Song dynasty, further practical
and realistic ideas on exercise and health were produced in Bao Sheng Yao
Hu (Essentials of Maintaining Health). The concept of blood circulation was
explored, and exercises designed for different parts of the body.
There is also evidence of early texts for specific activities. Shenyi (The
Definition of Shooting) during the time of Confucius was an early example
and during the Zhou (eleventh century to 771 BC) detailed rules were drawn
up to govern the practice of touhu. In Han Shu (History of the Western Han
Dynasty) (206 BC-AD 24), there are thirty-eight chapters on sword skills.
During the same period, Pan Gu (AD 32–92) has recorded six texts on hand
fighting, which in turn referred to 199 works of thirteen different schools on
training hands and feet. From the previous chapters, it is obvious that many
texts have references to forms of sport, but it is the specialist texts which are
of interest to the sport historian. During the Yuan dynasty (AD 1271–1368)
the new art of printing resulted in the emergence of more books on sport,
especially on the rules and methods of play, which had not been recorded in
detail before the Song dynasty (AD 960–1279). Wanjing, a classic text on
chiuwan, or golf, was completed in 1282, and contained detailed regulations
on the nature of play, techniques and etiquette. Wanjing was reprinted during
the Ming dynasty (AD 1368–1644).
These three strands are of special importance in the study of sport history
in China and merit fuller treatment in the future. There are other aspects of
interest, particularly the influence of the military on the development of
 The emergence of modern sport 69

sporting activities, the attitude towards competition on the part of the Chinese,
and the very real need to harmonize evidence of activities with the social,
economic and political backgrounds of the societies they served.
At the end of the Qing dynasty, wholesale changes were brought about by
the influence of western incursion. In 1842, the Treaty Ports were opened to
foreigners, Christian priests poured into China, foreigners brought their sports
and customs to China, but it was to be much later before these activities
would be practised wholesale by Chinese people.

REFERENCES
Ba Shan (1987c) ‘Sunbathing in ancient times’, China Sports, 19 (12):45.
Ba Shan (1987b) ‘An outline of sports history’, China Sports, 19 (3):47–8.
Brownell, S. (1991) ‘The changing relationship between sport and the state in the
People’s Republic of China’, in Fernand Landry, Marc Landry and Magdelaine
Yertes (eds) Sport: The Third Millennium, Proceedings of the National Symposium,
Sainte-Foy: Les Presses de l’Université Laval.
Gernet, J. (1982) A History of Chinese Civilization, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Latham, R. (1958) Marco Polo: The Travels, London: Penguin.
P’ng, C.K. and Donn, F.D. (1979) Shaolin, An Introduction to Lohan Fighting
Techniques, Tokyo: C.E. Tuttle.
Ren Hai (1988) ‘A comparative Analysis of Ancient Greek and Chinese Sport’, thesis,
University of Alberta, Canada.
Tan Hua (1987) ‘Movement and sport in Chinese women’s lives, yesterday, today
and tomorrow’, Proceedings of the Congress on Women’s Movement and Sport,
vol. 1, Jyvaskyla, Finland.
Tian Ma (1991) ‘Hunting as a sport in the Qing dynasty’, China Sports, 22 (3):40–2.
Wu Weng-chung (1975) Selections of Historical Literature and Illustrations of Physical
Activities in Chinese Culture, Taiwan, ROC: Hanwen Bookstore.
Xie Yunxin (1991) ‘The Manchu’s sports life’, China Sports, 23 (8):45–7.
Zhong Bian (1987) ‘Sports in Ancient China as described by Marco Polo’s travels’,
China Sports, 19 (3).
Li Xiaofei (1991) ‘Bok: the Mongolian style wrestling’, China Sports, 23 (2):36–8.
Zhou Xikuan (1991) ‘China: sports activities of the ancient and modern times’,
Canadian Journal of Sport History, 22 (2), December: 68–82.
Chapter 4

China in the modern world

1840–1949
Mike Speak

RECESSION, DECAY AND THE INTRUSION OF THE

WEST (1840–75)

Social, economic and political background

The first half of the nineteenth century in China had seen a worsening of
both social and economic climates, in which rash expenditure, corruption in
the ruling elite and the military, continuous growth in the population, and
over-extension of empire were eventually to lead to massive social upheaval
and recession. According to Gernet:

the political and administrative system, the techniques of production and

commercial practices…had become inadequate in an Empire which
controlled vast territories and whose population seems to have more
than doubled in a century.
(1982:531)

Financial weakness was exacerbated by the trade in opium which, despite

vetoes, involved corruption at every level of society, serious political, social
and moral consequences, and a massive outflow of capital.
According to Schirokauer (1991:266), ‘the encroachment of the foreign
powers, serious as it was, constituted only one of the threats facing the Qing
dynasty’. The population had increased to 430 million by 1850 without any
comparable rise in productivity or resources. The neglect of public works,
the uneven distribution of land and the opium crisis left many in despair, and
famine, poverty and corruption often gave rise to banditry and coercion.
The Tai Ping rebellion from 1850 to 1864 aimed at a revolutionary
programme of political, economic and social reform, incorporating
egalitarianism in all its forms, common ownership of land and production,
monogamy and regular Christian services. Opium, tobacco, alcohol, gambling,
prostitution, sexual misconduct and foot-binding were all prohibited. Hatred
of the Manchus and the coalition of anti-Manchu secret societies provided a
focus for the rebellion, but despite massive support, it was eventually put
 China in the modern world 71

down. The Bannermen and other central forces had been powerless to stop
the insurgency, and it was left to strong, regional, well-disciplined armies
with some support from western powers after the ‘generous’ treaties of 1860
to suppress the revolt and restore the Qing.
The weaknesses indicated above facilitated intrusions into China by
foreign powers, particularly those from the West. China was forced to
compromise itself in the aftermath of civil war, a need for foreign capital,
military and scientific expertise, and necessary industrial development.
The sheer size of China was to make rapid development difficult, and
there were those in society, both traditionalists and progressives, who
sought to resist foreign influence. Backwardness was exemplified in the
crushing defeats of the Chinese army and navy in the Opium Wars and
later by the Japanese in 1894.
One of the most significant elements in the development of sport in China
was obviously the influence of western powers, some of whose cultures already
embraced a variety of developed and developing forms of sport. The Treaty
of Nanjing (1842), which ended the first Opium War, ceded Hong Kong to
Britain, opened the ports of Amoy, Shanghai, Fuzhou, Ningbo and Canton
to foreign traders, and gave consular jurisdiction and concessions to western
powers which allowed them to establish political, economic and cultural
footholds in China. Later treaties allowed churches and hospitals to be
established in the treaty ports, and the French to propagate Catholicism. By
the Treaty of Tianjin (1858) and the Conventions of Beijing (1860) following
further skirmishes between the western powers and China, eleven new treaty
ports were opened, rights to travel in the interior granted, foreign envoys
allowed to reside in Beijing, and missionaries allowed to buy land and erect
buildings in all parts of China. These were all to have some significance for
the eventual spread of sport.

THE INTRODUCTION OF WESTERN PHYSICAL

EDUCATION AND MODERN SPORT
One of the most engrossing pleasures for the sport historian is to dip into
personal accounts of people living in a particular community at a given point
in time. The question of cultural or even racial bias has to be balanced against
government, official statements and stated policy. Somewhere in between
may lie the truth!
Before the introduction of new, western sports, the Chinese had
enjoyed a long tradition of games, play activities and popular festivals.
Many of these have been described in preceding chapters, but it may be
helpful to consider the views of contemporaries as to those activities in
evidence during this particular period. Hunter (1911) and many other
authors of the period refer to processions and the racing of dragon-boats,
and Werner (1919) refers to activities from the past which were still alive,
72 Michael Speak

either associated with festivals or activities in their own right: archery,

chess, shuttlecock, kite-flying and walking on stilts. He also comments on
the recreations of the Manchus, who

do not seem to have introduced many new games, though their emperors
were fond of sport. Most of the ancient forms of recreation continue to
be in use, but the significant fact to be observed is that generally they
have given up most of the more manly sports formerly practised. In open
spaces could be seen men lifting poles headed with heavy stones, or playing
the old foot-shuttlecock, or flying kites… The games of children, contrary
to the impression which would be made on a superficial observer, are
numerous and varied, and tend to develop strength, skill, quickness of
action, the parental instinct, sagacity and accuracy.
(Werner 1919:51–2)

There is little doubt that those activities practised as part of festival, ceremonial
or folk-occasions continued to be part of the fabric of life, particularly in
rural areas. The influence of the westerner, however, was beginning to make
itself felt, particularly in the cities, among the wealthier Chinese, and in the
educational and social institutions of a changing China. Ch’en (1979:122)
describes how, even in the earliest missionary schools, ‘the boys and girls
learnt to play Chinese and foreign games’. Brownell (1995) claims that Chinese
people are still coming to terms with the clash of cultures that characterized
the encounter with the West.
Correspondents of the day reveal how sports were quickly established by
foreigners within the security of the treaty ports and the reasons behind their
institution. Hunter (1911) in Bits of Old China confirms that in 1837 the
younger members of the thirteen factories set up the Canton Regatta Club,
and organized races, much to the consternation of the local Chinese responsible
for foreigners, since their experiences of races on the water involved the use
of oars and boat-hooks, and the Chinese term for competing with boats was
tow-sam-pan, literally ‘fighting boats’.
Crew some time later, in his book Foreign Devils in the Flowery Kingdom
(1940), explains the process and the reasons for such apparent preoccupation
with leisure and sport:

So far as amusements were concerned, the foreigners were left to their

own resources… They had the choice of growing morbid and melancholy
through boredom and loneliness, or organising games, tournaments and
parties which would help them pass the time between the infrequent
calls of ships bringing new faces and letters from home…
The organisation of sports and establishment of multitudinous
clubs followed… There was only a handful of foreigners in Canton
before they built some small boats and organised yacht races, much
 China in the modern world 73

to the confusion of the Chinese officials, who couldn’t see any fun in
a boat race not accompanied by the beating of drums, like the
dragon-boat races.
(1940:208–307)

He continues by describing some of the activities available to the international

community:

I believe the Shanghai Baseball Club is older than any similar organisation
in America, for it was in existence before Lincoln was elected President…
Sports were organised along ‘hong’ (company) lines, and jockeys, golfers,
bowlers, cricketers and oarsmen competed for the glory of the ‘hong’
just as college athletes compete for the Alma Mater …Dozens of clubs
connected with some sporting or athletic event flourished; clubs devoted
to baseball, cricket, lawn bowls, bowling, billiards, golf, polo, hockey,
rowing, swimming etc. But the most important of all the Shanghai
organisations was the Race Club.
(1940:298–307)

Percival (1889:8–12), in his Land of the Dragon, describes how the Shanghai
Yacht and Boat Clubs’ annual regattas in the spring and autumn saw the
‘Scotch, German and English crews pulling for their laurels’. There were also
three lawn tennis clubs ‘and most of the private houses have beautifully kept
lawns attached, with from two to four nets, and three small boys to each net
for running after the balls’. He also refers to the rifle butts, with practice
from 6 am to 9 am, and to matches with men from Hong Kong. Perhaps his
most telling comment is that ‘Many young and wealthy Chinese, from various
parts of the interior, look upon Shanghai as Europeans look upon Paris or
London’.
Although Shanghai was the model for other treaty ports, each in turn had
its own leisure and sporting provision. Tientsin, according to Feuerwerker
(1976), had eight tennis clubs, swimming, hockey, cricket and golf clubs, and
the race course with a fine new grandstand to replace the older structure
burned by the Boxers. At Hankow, he describes how the British, French,
Russian, German and Japanese concessions stretched along the Yangtze River
for miles, and how each afternoon the foreign community gathered at the
Race Club for tea, followed by tennis or golf. Hankow’s eighteen-hole golf
course was the best in Asia and the club house contained games rooms and a
swimming pool.
Werner (1928), in somewhat more critical vein, draws attention to what
he sees as excess:

Not only to social intercourse but to sport also is too much time devoted.
This might be excusable when survival depended on physical
74 Michael Speak

efficiency…but the progress of civilisation in the future will depend more

on mental and moral development…longevity does not necessarily depend
on indulgence in athletic games.
(1928:713)

However, the combination of large available leisure time, cheap servants and
an excellent climate, together with a need for both social and commercial
intercourse, ensured that Old China Hands, from all foreign parts, indulged
in and thrived on their sport and recreation. The model for sporting
development was available in the treaty ports and we shall note its influence
following the establishment of the Republic, but Werner (1919) indicates
that the absorption process was already underway before the turn of the
century:

During the last score of years or so, the Chinese have shown an
inclination to adopt Western sports and games, but not generally or
independently, and chiefly in connection with schools, colleges and
clubs, owned or conducted by, or in association with foreigners. Here
they may be seen acquitting themselves admirably at tennis, football,
baseball and other manly outdoor sports, and proving that a race
popularly supposed to be able to ‘do without exercise’ can take up
such comparatively violent forms of it without apparently suffering
any injury. And it is to be noted that those who are doing so are
largely recruits from the families of the literary class, whose ‘burning
of the midnight oil’ for many centuries has rendered them, as a class,
anaemic and wanting in physical stamina.
(1919:105)

Ch’en (1979:216–17) commenting on Shanghai at the end of the nineteenth

century, explains how the Chinese, quickly ‘took up betting at race meetings,
organised their own clubs, and how ‘pool rooms and bowling alleys for Chinese
clients first opened in 1881’.

THE SELF-SUFFICIENCY MOVEMENT AND THE END OF

THE OLD ORDER (1875–1912)

Social, economic and political background

The Qing empire had come close to extinction, and the consequences of
innumerable rebellions, culminating in the Tai Ping, were loss of wealth, a
loss of life unparalleled in modern history and estimated by Gernet (1982) at
between 20 and 30 million, and a recognition of the need for change. The
agrarian economy became a priority, followed by a need to re-establish and
develop commerce and industry. The rebellions had seriously weakened
 China in the modern world 75

China’s resolve and highlighted the weakness of the Bannermen and central
forces. The commanders of the new regional armies, through their contact
with western powers, had become strongly persuaded of the need to modernize
both industry and the military.
According to Hughes (1937), the concept of self-strengthening grew
through the 1860s, but proponents remained conscious of the fact that ‘behind
the technical achievements which seemed to make the West so strong, there
lay a Western culture which was worth consideration’ (1937:36). This view
was supported by a steady increase in the education of Chinese abroad, in
the USA, Europe and Japan.
A territorial dispute over Korea in 1894, which ended in the defeat of
China by Japan, followed by the punitive Treaty of Shimonesekin 1896,
resulted in foreign powers seizing further initiative and the leasing—almost
colonizing—of additional territories: Wei-Hai-Wei to England, Kwangchow
to France, Tsingtao to Germany and Dairen to Russia. This persuaded some
Chinese that, if China was not to be ‘carved up like a melon’, urgent reform
was necessary. A rising in the South organized by Sun Yat-sen was put down,
attempts at reform by the young emperor were thwarted by the Empress
Dowager and her advisers, and an insignificant secret society called the I-
Ho-Tuan (known in the West as the Boxers on account of their interest in the
martial arts) suddenly assumed alarming proportions.
Brownell (1995) explains how the spread throughout the countryside of
peasant uprisings, anti-Qing rebellions and secret societies was associated
with the spread of martial arts training in village martial arts halls. The Qing
attempted to outlaw martial arts training but this proved impossible.
Eventually, the Boxers were given imperial support and, in 1900, orders were
issued from Peking to provincial governors that foreigners were to be executed.
Over the next few weeks, it has been estimated that 200 missionaries, 30,000
Catholic and 2,000 Protestant Chinese were killed. Many governors refused
to obey the instructions, the Powers intervened and an international force
took Peking. Brownell (1991:287) explains how the Boxer Rebellion was the
last stand of kung fu as a technique of warfare, and the defeat of the Boxers
at the hands of westerners armed with modern military technology relegated
the martial art ‘to the symbolic realm along with other sports’. Peace was
concluded by the signing of the ‘Protocol’ on 9 September 1901. The terms
of the agreement were harsh, and an indemnity of £67,500,000 was demanded.
Beneficial reforms included a radical reform of the state examination system
and the establishment of a Ministry of Education in 1902. The USA devoted
half of its allotted indemnity to provide opportunities for Chinese to study in
American universities.
In 1909, the Emperor Kuang Hsu died, followed shortly afterwards by the
Empress Dowager. The provinces declared their independence, in October
1911 the troops mutinied and, in February 1912, the child emperor resigned
the throne. The revolutionary leaders assembled in Nanking declared Dr Sun
76 Michael Speak

Yat Sen President of the Republic of China, and China hoped to appear before
the world as a new, democratic nation.

The modernization of education, physical

education and sport
Before 1902, Chinese education was very much a local affair, with the
exception of the state examination system for public office. The underlying
principle was the development of personality and the training of moral
character. The steady growth of the missionary movement after 1860 produced
an increase not only in the number of schools, but in the quality and breadth
of education available. The education of girls was not really accommodated
until 1902, but the defeat of China by Japan hastened the demand for a
broader education. The pace of education can be assessed from the growth
of schools; in 1905 there were 4,222 schools with just 102,767 scholars. By
1911, 52,650 modern schools were educating 1,625,534 students.
A change of policy towards foreign intrusion favoured the development of
physical education in schools, and the British, German and Swedish systems
of gymnastics were introduced and eventually adopted by the police and the
armed forces. Programmes were introduced in the Nanjing Military College
in 1875, in Tianjin’s Naval Academy in 1881 and in the Hubei Military
Academy in 1895.
Students returning from universities and colleges in America and Europe
also brought back an awareness of, and sometimes an interest in, physical
activity and sport. Ch’en (1979:158) suggests that ‘the generation of
returned students of the 1870s broke away from the Confucian restraints
by learning to sing and engage in sports’, but according to Hackensmith
(1966:273) the major influences on the acceptance of physical education
and sport in schools at this time were the missionary schools and the
YMCA. It was here that western sports such as athletics, baseball,
basketball, gymnastics, table-tennis, tennis and volleyball were introduced
to children, and Chai and Chai (1969) indicate that modern sport helped
to break down traditional Chinese society, which thitherto had been based
on Confucian principles. Indeed, Zhou Xikuan (1991:72) claims that the
confrontation of traditional Chinese activities and new western sports
became a main theme of physical education in China. He also points out
that, in the cities, schools tended to adopt western sports, but in rural areas
it was the traditional sports activities which dominated and even grew
more popular. At the Museum of Chinese Sport History in the Olympic
Stadium in Beijing, considerable attention is paid to both forms.
In 1902, following reorganization of the education system, many ‘western’
subjects were introduced into the curriculum and, in 1905, physical education
became a required subject. Legislation required three to five hours each week
of exercise in elementary schools, and the same later for middle and normal
 China in the modern world 77

schools. However, Rizak (1989), citing Glassford and Clumpner, suggests

that for the majority of Chinese this was a theoretical provision, since only 5
per cent of children attended school. ‘For those few of the Chinese upper
classes given the opportunity to attend schools, the government moved to
imitate Western methods’, 1989:103).

Problems facing the introduction of modern PE and

sport in China
Brownell (1995), however, draws attention to some of the problems facing
the acceptance of western physical education, and particularly sport, on the
part of the Chinese. Both military drill or gymnastics and sport entailed
elements directly counter to the dominant Qing concept of culture, which
was shaped by intellectual ideals. Men of culture wore long gowns with long
sleeves to signify they were not involved in physical labour. When Chinese
students first took up western sports at missionary schools, they wore long
gowns. Hughes (1937:176) claims that, ‘Athletics have their way in China
today, but 25 years ago, it was an effort for a schoolboy to shed his long
gown to take part in a game of football’.
In the scholar-official view of the world, sports were an activity for the
lower classes. Brownell also draws attention to the cultural significance of
the ‘queue’ or long pigtail, required of all men by imperial decree, and its
incompatibility with modern sport. At the first National Games, high jumper
Sun Baoxin twice dislodged the bar with his queue. A western official advised
him to ‘cut it off, which he did, returning next day to win with a jump of 5’
5.25? (Kolatch 1972:12–13).
For women, bound feet constituted an obstacle to sport participation.
Reformers argued that western women were able to produce stronger
offspring, since they were able to practise callisthenics. Because of the
prevalence of foot-binding, lack of opportunity for girls to attend school and
the organization of sport by westerners who did not particularly encourage
female participation in sport, it was not until the late 1920s that Chinese
women took part in significant numbers (Brownell 1995:39–43).
Another factor in resistance was the attitude of parents. Except in small
circles, sports were not encouraged. If the parents had experienced sport,
some encouragement was possible, but generally, sport and its teachers were
looked down on. Equally unacceptable was the ‘medals and trophyism’ aspect
of competitive sport.
There was also a further, more elementary reason for resistance to the new
sports. Bonavia (1989:62) suggests that the Euro-American ideal of violent
sport as an integral part of moral training and formation of character was
quite alien to the traditional Chinese ethic.
There was also pressure, given the political situation of the day, for
schools to include military exercises and for compulsory national service at
78 Michael Speak

the expense of sport. Hsu (1975:127) states that, in 1911, the education
authorities of various provinces ‘advocated that all pupils be given strict
and intense training to make them brave and loyal to the country’. The
military in their proposals for national military education, put forward in
1911 and 1915, strongly emphasized gymnastics and Chinese martial arts
to inculcate diligence, obedience, endurance, morale and national
consciousness, characteristics which reformers claimed could be generated
by the new sports.

The growth of competitive sport

Hughes (1937) describes the impact made by western educators at this time:

The YMCAs and YWCAs also began work at this time, along definitely
educational lines, at first slowly, and then, after the foundation of the
Republic, with immense speed of expansion. They drew their foreign
staffs almost exclusively from America and this brought into the country
a body of keen, alert young University graduates, all conscious of the
need for healthy minds in healthy bodies, and the superlative values of
democratic institutions.
(1937:169)

Clumpner and Pendleton (1981) indicate that athletics appeared at St John’s

University in Shanghai in 1890 and basketball at Tianjin YMCA in 1896.
The YMCA was instrumental not only in establishing recreation programmes,
but also for laying the foundation for China’s national athletics programme
and training instructors and sports administrators in Shanghai and Tientsin.
A series of provincial and national championships were pioneered by the
YMCA under the direction of Max J.Exner from Shanghai, which culminated
in the sending of a Chinese team to the Far Eastern Games in 1913. Ch’en
(1979) comments:

The YMCAs’…leading role in promoting organised sports were

particularly pronounced successes. The first soccer match in Tientsin,
1904, was between the YMCA and Western soldiers. By the 1920s, soccer
was a popular sport among the Chinese. Without the assistance of the
YMCA, especially that of Dr. Exner, it was doubtful whether the first
Chinese National Games of 1910 could ever have been staged. Thereafter,
the physical appearance of Chinese campuses changed with the addition
of sports grounds, signifying a changed attitude.
(1979:134)

Gu Shiquan, in Knuttgen (1990:63), indicates that, from 1899, regular sports

meets were held between St John’s College and the Nanyang Public School
 China in the modern world 79

and that the first All China Colleges and Schools Sports League Games were
held in 1910. He further comments that:

The Western influence in athletics eventually went so far that China’s

athletics world became dominated by foreigners. Sports organisers,
coaches and referees at athletic competitions were all foreigners; regional
and national sports organisations were established and managed by
foreigners; and foreign priests handled the preparations and arrangements
for the Far East Games. Even the heads of the physical education
departments at Chinese Colleges and the leaders of Chinese sports teams
sent abroad were foreigners. It was an American who made a speech on
behalf of China at the opening ceremony of the 6th Far East Games in
1923.
(1990:17)

The implication was certainly that it was unacceptable for the long-term
future of Chinese sport for this situation to continue. The influence of the
YMCA, however, was exerted not only in colleges and schools, but also
through city associations, which came to have great club buildings in which
day and night schools were carried on. Hughes (1937:169) praises the work
of the young staff members: ‘Since these young, energetic men and women
came as helpers and not competitors, they were very popular and, in the
matter of physical training and games, were instrumental in arousing the
interest of students.’ He also makes the telling point that, since facilities were
paid for by Chinese money, subscribed locally, they were considered by the
Chinese as ‘their facilities hosting their programmes’.

POST-IMPERIAL CHINA AND THE ESTABLISHMENT

OF THE REPUBLIC 1912–49

Social, economic and political background

The downfall of the Qing government had been a consequence of several
factors: the defeat by Japan in 1894, the aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion,
waves of anti-Manchu and anti-monarchist feeling, growing patriotism in
the provinces and a series of economic disasters which combined to produce
disaffection of conservatives and modernists alike. The ‘revolution’ of 1911
and the almost unexpected success of the Republicans were, according to
Gernet, merely ‘an interlude in the break-up of political power in China’
(1982:17).
Although Sun Yat-sen had been elected president of the new Republic, he
offered the presidency to Yuan Shih-k’ai, in the hope that his military strength
could defend a powerless and penniless new regime. The government was
transferred from Nanjing to Beijing, Yuan strengthened his personal influence
80 Michael Speak

and grip on power until 1916, but gradually came under pressure from
disaffected provinces and Japan which, on the outbreak of the world war,
seized railways, military bases and territories and took hold of Mongolia,
Manchuria and Shantung.
After the war, China fell into the grip of independent military governors
with their own resources and armies and christened ‘warlords’ by the western
press. Their armies, with modern weapons and transport at their disposal,
exploited and pillaged the country, and China was thrown into turmoil. At
the same time, China was having to stave off competing foreign nations and
their economic, political and military demands.
By 1927, the situation had stabilized somewhat with the establishment in
Nanjing of the Kuomintang Nationalist Party under the command of Chiang
Kai-shek. The foreign nations with Chinese interests were ready to support
the new regime since revolution could now be disregarded. The regime also
attracted the support of property owners, the banks and the commercial middle
class, guaranteeing financial stability, and the one party system ensured control
of the government, civil service, the army and the political police. Unification
made rapid progress and China began to win back some of the concessions
made by the Manchu government. Little effort was made, however, in the
countryside, and the majority of the population continued to live in abject
poverty.
The Chinese Communist Party, founded in 1921, soon won the
support of the peasant unions and rural Soviets. The ultimate goal was
the triumph of the rural world, which was seen as the victim of foreign
capital and the Chinese bourgeoisie. The method was confrontation with
the Nationalists from 1927 to 1937 and, more importantly in the long
run, the patriotic struggle against the Japanese invader from 1937. Japan
had invaded and occupied the north-east territories of China in 1931–2.
These lands of 40 million people with good ports, coal mines and the best
rail network in East Asia increased Japan’s economic and industrial
strength at the expense of China’s, and gave Japan an excellent strategic
base for a future invasion of China.
Japan invaded in July 1937, bombed Shanghai in August and the
Kuomintang withdrew to Hankow and then Chungking. The Nationalist
government found itself deprived of its main sources of revenue, cut off
from the great economic metropolis of Shanghai and the banking and
international circles who had offered so much support. There was little
support from the West until Japan attacked the American fleet at Pearl
Harbor in 1941. The Communists appeared to be the only ones offering
resistance to the Japanese, but were themselves being hounded by the
Nationalists.
Following the end of the Second World War, during which the Chinese,
under pressure from the USA, had accepted the principle of a united front
against the Japanese, the Communists gradually overcame the Nationalists,
 China in the modern world 81

until, by 1949, their armies took Beijing and Tientsin, were in Shanghai in
May, Canton in October and Chungking in November to end a bitter civil
war. The Nationalists sought refuge in Taiwan whilst the People’s Republic
of China was proclaimed on 1 October 1949, to open a new chapter in the
history of China which was to have remarkable repercussions for sport, in
different ways and at different junctures, before the new millennium.

PE and sport in the service of the Republic

Physical education had become a required school subject in 1905 and
teachers’ courses to support the new programme were launched at Nanjing
Teachers’ College (1916), the National Peking Normal University (1917),
Gingling Girls’ College in Nanjing, Soochow University and several private
institutions. Abby Mayhew of the University of Wisconsin, who went to
China in 1912 to set up the YWCA programme, established a Physical
Training School for Chinese Women in Shanghai, since girls were now to
be included in all programmes.
The democratization of education in China was to gain massive impetus
from the work of distinguished visitors from the West, particularly Professor
John Dewey and Paul Monroe of Columbia University, who went to China
in 1919, and Bertrand Russell of Cambridge University in 1920. In the field
of physical activity, distinguished specialists were also at work, and Van Dalen
and Bennett (1971:622) refer to the work of Dr C.H.McCloy, who left the
USA for China in 1913, promoted physical education and sport through his
work for the Chinese National Council of the YMCA, as director of a physical
education school in Nanjing (1921–6), as editor of the Chinese Journal of
Physical Education and Hygiene (1922–4) and as author of several books
published in Chinese. Gradually, the influences of German and Japanese ‘drill’
systems declined and were replaced by American-style physical education,
with the individual the focus.
Brownell (1995:46) indicates that physical education in nineteenth century
Europe and sport more recently throughout the world were a way of linking
the individual with the nation-state. In China, ‘it developed alongside efforts
to turn a dynastic realm into a modern nation-state according to the political
ideas of the time’. Riordan (1991) also suggests that many developing states
stress the idea of physical culture in the interest of both the individual and
the state. He draws attention to Mao’s classic support in 1917, when he
claimed:

Physical culture is the complement of virtue and wisdom. In terms of

priorities, it is the body that contains knowledge, and knowledge is the
seat of virtue. So it follows that first attention should be given to a child’s
physical needs; there is time later to cultivate morality and wisdom.
(1991:52–3)
82 Michael Speak

Kanin (1978:264) opined that Mao saw sport as a tool for ideological
education and national rejuvenation—the national spirit would be awakened
by means of strenuous physical activity. He hoped to strengthen China ‘by
taking Western forms and giving them Chinese content’. He was unable to
put his views into practice until much later, but was always a strong proponent
of the value of physical activity.
The Kuomintang, no less than Mao, saw the value of a strong, centralized
programme to assist China to develop a strong spirit of national unity which,
according to Semotiuk (1974), would enable her to emerge as a modern state
capable of defending her sovereignty. Zhou (1991) points out that during
this period, three regimes were operating in China: the dominant Kuomintang,
the People’s Regime of the Chinese Communist Party and the Puppet Regime
in Manchukuo. They all favoured the promotion of sport and physical activity,
but with different philosophies on goals and ideology.
The 1920s had seen the formation of the Chinese Communist Party, and
increasing criticism of the western presence in China by both Nationalists
and Communists. According to Brownell (1995:48) ‘sports came to be
identified with the culture of the treaty-port bourgeoisie who were viewed as
Chinese—Western hybrids’. Communist revolutionaries criticized both
western and Nationalist sports for their obsession with trophies and medals
but used sport themselves to recruit young people, improve the fitness and
morale of soldiers and celebrate significant occasions. Gu Shiquan in Knuttgen
(1990) describes in some detail the importance of sport in the revolutionary
bases and the Red Army, which even organized sport activities during the
Long March (1990:18–20).
Nationalistic fervour had accompanied the establishment of the
Republic, and there was widespread agreement that sports served the
good of the state. As with education and the earlier debate on the relative
merits of gymnastics or sport, there was now a good deal of debate over
whether traditional activities or the new sports were more productive.
Brownell (1991) explains how kung fu was reshaped to fit the western
model with the inauguration of a newly-named ‘national martial art’—
guoshu—as a competitive sport in 1928. In the 1930s, a conflict arose
between those who supported guoshu and proponents of western sports,
traditionalists arguing in favour of the martial art as a means of
strengthening the race and the nation, reformers claiming that traditional
methods were ineffective. Traditional activities however, were particularly
popular on festive occasions, among the working classes and within the
secret societies. Gu Shiquan in Knuttgen (1990) claims that the Northern
Warlords government (1912–27) considered forms of wushu to be
compulsory in schools and institutions in China and that, until 1940, they
remained integral components of many physical education courses.
In 1929, the National government enacted the Physical Education Law,
establishing a National Committee for PE within the Ministry of Education.
 China in the modern world 83

Krotee and Wang Jin (1988) indicate that this formalized many of the
influences operating within the new Republic and that it reflected the growing
importance of physical activity for the state. They cite two extracts from the
law which reflect its socio-cultural significance:

Article 1: The main purpose of physical education programmes in the

Republic of China is the development of a sound body and a sense
of justice and fair play, with a view to training the people to be
able to defend themselves and the nation.
Article 2: All Chinese, regardless of sex and age, shall be given proper
physical training, which shall be carried out in families, schools
and public organisations under the supervision of parents, teachers
and officers so as to achieve a balanced and rapid development of
physical education.

According to Lui (1932), supervisors of PE were appointed and

programmes organized systematically throughout the country.
Programmes in the elementary schools consisted of gymnastics, drill and
games, but in the secondary schools Swedish gymnastics was
supplemented by athletics, baseball, basketball, soccer and swimming,
although Clumpner and Pendleton (1978) suggest that sport was mainly
an extra-curricular activity. Facility provision was gradually made, but
despite a proliferation of schools and teachers, according to Hughes
(1937:175) ‘there was no strong government to implement the plans of
the Ministry of Education in Beijing. Very little progress was made with
the training of teachers or improvement of teaching methods. Ideas such
as practical science teaching, handwork and physical training were
adopted in theory on instructions from HQ’.
The traditionalists, as in 1911 and 1915, and against a background of
serious political events and threats to national security, tried to ensure that
military training was part and parcel of physical education. Hsu (1975) cites
Article 7 of the 1929 Aims and Principles of Education of the Republic of
China as evidence of a perceived need.

For school education of all levels and social education, national

physical education must be universally emphasised. For high schools
and college education, military training must be sufficiently applied.
The purpose of developing physical education is to enhance national
physical strength, to culture sound spirit and to foster regular habits
of life for our nationals.
(1975:131)
84 Michael Speak

Sport administration, national and international

competition
In an attempt to ensure the smooth development of modern Chinese sport,
Wu and Que in Knuttgen (1990) describe how the All China Sports Promotion
Association was formed in Nanjing in 1924. Its tasks were: to conduct
exchanges on sport issues with other nations; to draw up rules for various
amateur sports; to organize regional soccer matches; and to host the Far East
Games in China. Zhou (1991) describes how, in addition to the establishment
of a Guiding Commission of Physical Education in Nanjing in 1927 and the
issuing of National Sports Regulations in 1929, the government also
established a Sports Committee in 1932 under the Ministry of Education to
be responsible for guidance and supervision. In addition, the first national
physical education conference was convened in 1932, and the government
assumed responsibility through the China National Athletic Association for
the sponsorship of the 4th to 10th National Athletic Meets (Pendleton 1984).
Van Dalen and Bennett (1971) indicate that official regulations to establish
playgrounds were promulgated in 1939 and, in 1942, the Ministry of
Education authorized the formation of provincial and municipal PE
committees.
Sewell (1933) in The Land and Life of China records how many of the
young Chinese at this time were taking to the new sports at the expense of
more traditional play activities. Shuttlecock, kite-flying, shadow boxing and
lion dancing were still practised, but:

these old sports were strangely out of favour at the school… Chinese
boys and girls have taken up new games with zest—football, volleyball,
basketball, and to a certain extent baseball, but especially tennis. Athletic
contests, running, jumping, throwing, are also popular. Every school has
its sports day, and there are large gatherings in the district and in the
province. Every successful competitor hopes to be chosen for the National
Track Meet or the Far Eastern Olympic Games where China, Japan, the
Philippine Islands and other lands in the East compete with each other.
(1933:106–7)

Whatever the strengths and weaknesses of the education system and its
promotion of sport, at least physical activity was part of the new education,
and children were being introduced either formally or informally to sporting
forms, particularly in the schools.
Outside the education system, new ‘National Games’ organized mainly
by the YMCA in 1910 in Nanjing and 1914 in Beijing helped to change
the perception of sport in the minds of the Chinese. Brownell (1995)
records that these games were watched by over 60,000 spectators in all,
partly due to the novelty of sport to most Chinese. The format of the
 China in the modern world 85

sports meet included such practices as parading behind the school flag,
listening to speeches, raising the national flag and singing the national
anthem, now standard practice in many Asian countries. They no doubt
gave a sense of occasion to the meet, which Brownell claims ‘quickly
made its way into public life’ (19:42).
After the war, the third National Games were held at Wuchang, Hubei
in 1924 with the Republican government building on the YMCA
tradition, but attempting to use the sports to support the development of
the nation-state. They were the first games organized exclusively by the
Chinese, the scale was unprecedented with attendances of 40–50,000 for
each of the three days, and the inclusion of three exhibition events for
women. Hackensmith records that ‘athletes representing schools, colleges,
clubs, merchants, clerks and labourers competed in athletics, soccer,
baseball and tennis’ (1966:274). There were also regional, provincial and
municipal games but all games were to come to an end in 1937 when
war with Japan was declared.
Sports facilities were constructed in major cities, and in 1930, the
government supported the All-China National meet at Hangchow, which
hosted over 1,000 athletes, of whom 200 were women. Women’s participation
in sport in China, as previously indicated, was affected by the practice of
footbinding, the small number of girls attending missionary schools and the
organization of sport mainly by westerners whose attitudes were not generally
in favour of female sport competition. Although women’s first entry in the
National Games was in 1924 with basketball, softball and volleyball, it was
not until the late 1920s that significant numbers of women participated in
sport (see Brownell (1995:43–4).
A massive impetus was given to the development of sport in China and the
Far East by the inauguration of the Far Eastern Olympic Games. China sent
forty athletes to the first meet in Manila in 1913, 200 to the games in Shanghai
in 1915, and competed regularly until 1934 when the Games were dissolved
over the political issue of whether or not Manchukuo should be affiliated.
Japan tried to enter athletes from Manchukuo as a separate team, but China
refused to allow this challenge to its integrity.
Clumpner and Pendleton find it hard to assess the significance of the
Far Eastern Games, but claim that ‘they did encourage participation in
sport, indirectly caused the government to promulgate laws on PE and
convene conferences, and may also have contributed to enhancing
national pride among the Chinese’ (1981:108). They draw attention also
to a further factor in the emergence of sport—the consolidation of a
national Chinese government. From 1928 to 1949, the Kuomintang,
despite a troubled political climate which was hardly conducive to a
fully-fledged national development of sport, did enact the 1929 law and,
according to Zhu (1936), establish weekly allocations of time for PE,
morning exercise and after-school recreation and military training.
86 Michael Speak

Semotiuk (1974) confirms the view that the Kuomintang accorded

physical training, particularly of a militaristic nature, high priority
during their rule. Part of the 1929 law stated: ‘The young men and
women of the Chinese Republic have a responsibility to be the recipients
of physical education, and parents or guardians have the responsibility
of enforcing it.’
However, Clumpner and Pendleton add that, despite these measures,
‘by the time the Communist Party came to power in 1949, the vast
majority of Chinese had never stepped into a classroom, much less
participated in physical education and sport’ (1981:109). Kanin (1978)
further points out that although Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang
took an active part in the spread of western sport, the Japanese invasion
came before national sport could prepare national defence and ‘the
Kuomintang never could complete its plan to use sport to advance
national unity’ (1978:263)
On the international front, China joined the International Olympic
Committee in 1923 but did not attend a meeting of the Olympic body until
1928. It had been invited to take part in the Olympic Games of 1896 in
Athens, but the Qing government apparently did not entertain the invitation.
By 1920, the IOC had formally recognized the Far East Sports Association
and China sent an athlete, Li Changchun, to the Games in Los Angeles in
1932 as a diplomatic gesture to forestall Japan’s attempt to send participants
under the name of Manchuria (see Hsu 1995). Chiang Kai-shek soon
recognized that the Olympics were an increasingly important ‘political forum’
(Kanin 1978:264), recruited a German coach to train the Chinese team and
the delegation to the Berlin Olympics of 1936 totalled 107.
This was the acme of the Kuomintang presence in international sport
and only seven athletes attended the London Olympics in 1948. As
Riordan (1991:85) points out however, no medals were achieved during
this period. Wu and Que in Knuttgen (1990:51) indicate that the quality
of performance in Chinese sport at this time was low, and claim that the
designation of China as the ‘sick man of Asia’ was related to ‘China’s
backward physical culture and sports and her accompanying failure in
international sport competitions’. In 1936, a German newspaper carried a
cartoon depicting several Chinese searching for Olympic medals beside a
large goose egg, symbolizing zero, and it was not until 1984 that China
won its first Olympic gold medal.

SUMMARY
The period 1840 to 1949 saw China move from a totally introspective dynasty,
with an unrealistic belief in its own power and importance, to a member of
the international community of nations. Its sheer size and its inherent
conservatism operated against it being able to modernize as rapidly as other
 China in the modern world 87

Far Eastern powers, but a series of military defeats at the hands of western
powers and Japan, together with its observation of the industrial and scientific
superiority of foreign states in the treaty ports and concessions, forced it to
see the necessity for change and modernization. The Qing dynasty gave way
to the Republic of China in 1912, and a Nationalist government, supported
by international and Chinese bourgeois interests, steered a path through the
1930s and 1940s, but the invasions by Japan and the securing of massive
popular support from patriots and the rural population, led to the declaration
of a Communist People’s Republic of China in 1949.
In the field of sport, the early influences of the missionary schools were
reinforced by the establishment of sporting cultures in the treaty ports and
the gradual absorption of sport by the Chinese bourgeoisie. Under the new
Republic, support for western forms of physical education was tempered by
a belief in some quarters of the need for military training and the superiority
of the indigenous Chinese martial arts. The influence of western educationists
and in particular the work of the YMCA in promoting sport, establishing
associations, training sports administrators and coaches, and in organizing
municipal, regional and national Games, cannot be underestimated in the
modernization of Chinese sport.
Under the Republic, the Chinese gradually, but deliberately took over the
organization of these Games and, through experience with the Far East
Olympic Games, were able to register with the IOC and send representatives
to the Olympics themselves. The speed with which the Nationalists were able
to use sport to enhance the concept of a new, modern Chinese nation-state
was hampered by the extreme political, economic and military circumstances
of the period, but progress in laws on sport, programmes in schools, at least
in theory, the training of PE and sport teachers, the establishment of national
sports associations, the organization in Chinese, by Chinese, of national and
regional sports meets and their popularity amongst the population at large,
the construction of large sports facilities particularly in the major cities, and
the opening of competitive sport to females, were all indications of the value
which the Nationalists placed on sport, in the service of either the nationstate
or individual fulfilment.
Their political opponents, the Communists, were also convinced of the
value of physical health, fitness and sport, and the declaration of the People’s
Republic of China in 1949 was to usher in a period of sport development
which, in its contrasts over the subsequent fifty years, will probably never be
matched in any society.

REFERENCES
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Brownell, S. (1995) Training the Body for China: Sports in the Moral Order of the
People’s Republic, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
88 Michael Speak

Brownell, S. (1991) ‘The changing relationship between sport and the state in the
People’s Republic of China’, in Fernand Landry, Marc Landry and Magdelaine
Yertes (eds) Sport: The Third Millennium, Proceedings of the National Symposium,
Sainte-Foy: Les Presses de l’Université Laval.
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Clumpner, R.A. and Pendleton, B.B. (1981) ‘The People’s Republic of China,’ in
James Riordan (ed.) Sport under Communism. London: G Hurst
Crew, C. (1940) Foreign Devils in the flowery Kingdom, New York and London:
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Feuerwerker, A. (1976) The Foreign Establishment in China in the Early Twentieth
Century, Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan.
Gernet, J. (1982) A History of Chinese Civilization, Cambridge: Cambridge University
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Hackensmith, C.W. (1966) History of Physical Education, New York: Harper &
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Hsu Yi-hsiung (1975) ‘Formation of the philosophy of Chinese physical education
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 China in the modern world 89

Sewell, W.G. (1945) [1933] The Land and Life of China, 3rd edn, London: Edinburgh
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Chapter 5

Sport and physical education in

school and university
Robin Jones

Although it might be expected that the Chinese education system is

homogeneous, there is considerable diversity within and between the different
parts. Both physical education in schools and universities and sport in special
schools and institutes are considered in this chapter.
Education in modern China suffered a significant setback during the Cultural
Revolution (1966–76) when a whole generation of young people lost years of
opportunity. During the same period, sport also suffered because the young people
who would have become the sports stars of the future were also prevented from
developing their talent. Coaches and administrators of sport also lost their futures
to the dogma of the time and the whole physical education movement came to a
virtual standstill. The years since the Cultural Revolution have seen education
become an important part of the government’s reforms. The Chinese Communist
Party’s Central Committee in May 1995 said: ‘A vital factor for the success of
our cause lies in the availability of skilled people, which requires the vigorous
development of education as economic growth allows.’1
At state level, physical education in schools and universities is
governed by regulations drawn up in 1995, and signed by President Jiang
Zemin. 2 These regulations identify crucial areas where schools are
required to follow state policy and are important in setting out the way
physical education is presented and taught (see Appendix at the end of
this chapter). The hierarchical structure of the Chinese education system
is apparent in the regulations and, although provincial autonomy has
increased in recent years, schools are still obliged to conform to the
national pattern. The system is carefully controlled by the government,
and displays a surprising amount of selection.

THE OVERALL SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY SYSTEM

Schools
As China surges forward economically and industrially, there is a pressing
need for a trained labour force. Thus, for the last decade, the Chinese education
 Sport and PE in school and university 91

system has been addressing the problem of training skilled people at all levels
by creating specialist schools for various categories of students: key schools
for academic students, technical and vocational schools for professional,
administrative and clerical jobs, skilled trades and technical work; and special
sports schools for the gifted. A consequence of this policy is that Chinese
schools are selective in their intake of students, and there is considerable
pressure on students (and their families) to ‘make the grade’. Key schools are
found in both the primary and secondary sectors of education; a school is
designated ‘key’ on the basis of the quality of the teaching and its facilities,
and about 15 to 20 per cent of schools meet these requirements. Figure 5.1
shows the general pattern of Chinese education.
For both key and non-key schools, six years of primary education is
followed by three years of junior middle school, at which point further selection
takes place for the transfer to either senior middle school or vocational school.
At the age of 15, about 15 per cent of students leave junior middle school for
direct entry into work. Of the remainder, about 40 per cent of students transfer
to senior middle school for three years, whilst the other 60 per cent go to the
vocational and technical schools (there are three or four variations of these
schools, according to the particular trade, profession or clerical work on
which they focus). Nine years compulsory education, i.e. primary, plus junior
middle school, is the universal pattern in China, and this period covers two
important transfer points. First, primary to either key or non-key junior middle
school, at 12, and second, junior middle to either key or non-key senior middle
school, at 15. Primary schools themselves may be key or non-key, so there is
considerable differentiation and selection of students between the ages of 6
and 15.
From key middle schools, the transfer rate to senior middle schools is
virtually 100 per cent. However, from non-key junior middle schools to senior
non-key middle schools, the transfer rate is lower at around 60 per cent. In
practice, there are relatively few students who transfer from a non-key school
to a key school, but it is possible. The situation is confused also by some
schools allowing fee paying students to bypass the examination system, even
though this is discouraged by the government.
Following senior middle school or vocational school, students may then
enter the work force, or take the State Examination for entrance into higher
education.

Table 5.1 Kinds of key and non-key schools in China

primary, key primary, non-key

junior middle, key junior middle, non-key
senior middle, key senior middle, non-key
Figure 5.1 The Chinese education system
 Sport and PE in school and university 93

Table 5.2 Transfer rates from middle schools to universities, vocational schools and work
(approximate figures)

From To % Remainder to
Key, senior middle school University 80 Work
Non-key, senior middle school Senior vocational school 60 Work
Vocational school Senior vocational school 60 Work

Universities
There are several different kinds of universities:

• General universities covering a broad spectrum of subjects

• Subject-specific universities, e.g. transport, medicine, sport
• Normal universities that are responsible for training teachers
• Special universities (a few) for ethnic minority groups in China
• Institutes of various kinds that cater, as in the universities, for different
aspects (including sport)

Undergraduate courses are usually of four years’ duration.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is a structural part of the university
system. Departments, besides having a head of department, also have a party
leader whose task is to liaise with those students who are or who wish to
become party members (usually around 10 per cent of the group). Alongside
the work of the CCP, all new students at university are required to undergo
two weeks of basic military training on arrival at university. The training,
alike for men and women, is campus based and involves squad training,
marching, weapon training, martial arts drills, parades and so on. There is
no doubt that this is taken seriously by the leaders and the military instructors
who organize the activity. It is seen as providing discipline and cohesion for
the students, who respond readily to the instructions, even if, privately, some
admit to disliking the requirement.
Communal life for students differs markedly from western university
campus life. Dormitories for students are typical (six or eight undergraduates
to a room, or three or four postgraduates), with tight institutional controls
over such things as access for visitors. Student accommodation is cheap (about
10 yuan per month), but student grants of 80 yuan per month for
undergraduates and 260 yuan per month for postgraduates are well below
the cost of living. Even 260 yuan is barely sufficient to cover food and basic
clothing, so undergraduates are usually heavily dependent on their families
for additional funds. Luxurious student union buildings, pop concerts, discos,
bars and a busy social life are not the pattern of Chinese student life!
Key primary and key middle schools may be attached to universities as
part of the hierarchy of provision in Chinese education, helping to ensure
94 Robin Jones

that education is highly prized by families and leading to quite intense pressure
on students at each level. As China moves away from the cosy security afforded
by the system that guaranteed jobs for virtually everyone, at any cost, the
‘prize’ of education is much sought after. In a rather perverse way, this has
allowed institutions to meet some of the cash shortfalls (created as the
government pushes forward with the reforms) through schemes whereby places
at middle schools and universities can be bought.
In 1995, 49.7 per cent of those middle school students taking the university
entrance examination were enrolled at university. The same year also saw
the introduction of a unified system of university fees (ranging from 1,000
yuan to 1,500 yuan per year) to try to prevent the universities charging higher
fees to those students with low grades in the entrance examination. But in
spite of discouragement by the government, it seems unlikely that schools
and universities will abandon this established practice altogether; it is, after
all, a source of additional revenue.

Physical education in the overall structure

Throughout the education system, physical education is compulsory for all
students. In primary and middle schools, pupils have physical education lessons
on two or three days each week, plus extra curricular activities on other
days. Following senior middle school, university students during their four-
year courses are required to include two hours sport a week in the first two
years. For all ages from primary up to university or adult level (according to
the sport), sports schools are part of the education system, and exist in addition
to, but separate from, normal schools. Students combine a general curriculum
with sports training. Institutes of Physical Education are the principal centres
for the training of specialist teachers and coaches. Like universities, their
courses follow on from senior middle school, and are of four years’ duration.
Both theoretical and practical work is covered and the final qualification is
equivalent to a degree.

PRIMARY SCHOOLS
Children in China attend primary school from the age of 6 to 12 years,
during which time their PE focuses largely on basic athletics, games and
gymnastics. Transfer from middle school to primary school is controlled by
examination; academic potential is the major factor in the selection process
(Chinese and mathematics are central to these tests). Sports tests are also
part of the physical education programme in primary schools, and from
the age of 9, national age group norms are applicable across a range of
activities. The National Sports Standards Tests, or age group norms, span
all years from 9 to 19, covering primary, junior middle and senior middle
school (see also Chapter 13). For most years, there are up to seventeen
 Sport and PE in school and university 95

tests that, with some changes and modifications at different stages,

continue throughout the span and, of course, boys and girls have different
tables and standards. Students are tested on five or six of the seventeen,
according to their abilities. Table 5.3 gives an example. These tests are
routinely used by schools as part of the physical education programme, but
they are also formally recognized when students transfer from one school
to another, benefiting the physically able student and acting as a
motivation for others. Minimum standards are required from everyone at
primary and middle school. There may also be local variations of these
tests that differ only slightly from the national standards.
In conjunction with the Sports Commission, middle schools may also be
identified with a particular sport, according to their strengths (which may be
a combination of facilities, PE teacher strengths and the decision of the Sports
Commission) and the primary school pupils are then matched as far as possible
(on the basis of their sporting potential) with the relevant middle school that
specializes in the particular sport.

MIDDLE SCHOOLS
Middle schools, covering the ages 12 to 18, comprise the secondary stage of
Chinese education; key middle schools cater for those students at the top end
of the academic ability range.
At age 18, the end of senior middle school, students are eligible to take the
State Examination for entrance into university. Every year, the state sets the
marks that are needed for entrance and, according to their total marks,

Table 5.3 National age group standards—female, 9 years

Test Points 100 75 50 25 5

50 metre sprint 8.5s 9.0s 9.5s 10.5s 11.3s
25m shuttles—m. in 10s 48m 46m 43m 38m 34m
4×10m shuttle 11.6s 12.7s 14.2s 15.7s 16.9s
8×50m shuttle 1m33s 1m48s 2.03s 2.18s 2m 30s
Skipping, 60secs 180 145 110 75 47
High jump 0.96m 0.85m 0.75m 0.65m 0.57m
Long jump 3.12m 2.72m 2.32m 1.92m 1.60m
Standing broad jump 1.76m 1.56m 1.36m 1.16m 1.0m
Shot put 6.0m 5.0m 4.0m 3.0m 2.20m
Softball throw 23m 18m 13m 8m 4m
Medicine ball throw, 2 hand 20m 15m 10m 5m 1m
Sit ups 44 34 24 14 6
Inclined chins 38 28 18 8 2
Press ups—20 sees 14 12 9 7 5
Source: Chengdu (1997)
96 Robin Jones

students are allocated a place at university. In this, sport has a place that is
quite unlike that in Britain, because sporting ability is formally used in the
selection process for university entrance. A gold medal in the Olympic Games
gives access to any university in the subject choice of the student, whilst in
lower competitions there is a well-defined range of sports performances or
rankings for which students are awarded a number of points in the State
Examination, thus enhancing their chances of gaining a university place. To
gain these rankings, students must achieve the required standard in an ‘official’
competition at city level or above (see Tables 5.4 and 5.5).
Between 500 and 600 points are usually required in the State Examinations
for entry into the best universities. Therefore, the fact that performance in
sports tests and sports competitions is recognized gives added status to the
PE programme.
Up to the Cultural Revolution (1966–76), China operated a scheme of
physical tests for students that was a close match with the GTO/PWD3 scheme
of the former Soviet Union. During the years after the Cultural Revolution
this was replaced by a ‘sports level for teenagers’, or physical proficiency test
(based mainly on running, jumping and throwing), and which is now part of

Table 5.4 Points awarded for standards achieved in official competition

Source: Chengdu (1995) Handbook of Middle School

Table 5.5 Middle school PE standards for ‘graduation’. Minimum 45% required for ‘Pass’.
Distances in metres

Source: Chengdu (1995) Handbook of Middle School

 Sport and PE in school and university 97

the National Age Group Norms. At the end of senior middle school (age 18/
19), when students are about to enter tertiary education (universities, institutes,
senior vocational or technical colleges), they are required to have reached the
minimum standard in these physical tests before being allowed to proceed.
There is some inconsistency in saying that everyone must reach a certain
physical standard, whilst also saying that there is a pass-fail threshold because
it could imply that the fail level is so low as to be meaningless, or that the fail
level is ‘flexible and arbitrary’. As will be mentioned later, in practice there is
some flexibility in applying the marks to the entrance examination; students
are allowed (and expected) to take the physical proficiency aspects on more
than one occasion so as to reach the overall pass standard for graduation
from middle school, which is set at 45 per cent.
A further example of National Age Group Norms is given in Table 5.6.
It can be seen from the tables that fifty, thirty, or twenty points for first,
second or third grade in sport can provide a significant boost to an overall
score of perhaps 570 required in the State Entrance Examination for a top
university. However, outstanding performance in sport may be recognized
much further, and lower overall scores of around 350 may be accepted (with
an extension of the length of the university course also possible).
The fact that students going to university have to continue with weekly PE
for the first two years of their studies gives weight to the requirement for
middle school students to reach a pass standard in PE, but there are obviously

Table 5.6 National Age Group Norms, male, 18 years

Source: National Age Group Norms, 1989

Note
* Points for intermediate distances, times and scores are possible.
98 Robin Jones

students for whom PE is a trial rather than a tribulation! In contrast to some

programmes of PE in other countries, Chinese schools do not offer students
options in selecting their sports, but rather present a programme based on
the general and specific requirements of the State Regulations, the decisions
of the Provincial Sports Commission on the appropriate sports for their school
and the lead given by the school principal and PE staff. Teachers are required
to conform to the national rules for physical education, and students are ‘in
receipt’ of the curriculum rather than being partners to it. Physical education
is based on four components: health, fitness, the mastery of basic sports skills,
and knowledge of the basic rules and techniques of sports. Use of the National
Age Group Tests continues throughout the junior middle school in running,
jumping and throwing and, at the end of junior middle school, the standards
achieved become part of the student’s academic profile, which is then used to
decide whether a student continues into senior middle school. Because it is
from senior middle school that university education follows, the junior middle
to senior middle school transfer is critical. It is the determining point at which
future careers are largely settled. The following tables give the standards for
the physical tests which one key middle school uses for the junior to senior
middle school transfer. The school has 3,300 students and sends around 90
per cent of its students to university each year, including five or six to sports
institutes. Table 5.7 shows the details.
The standards in these tables were established and set by the Provincial
Sports Commission and, in general, are slightly higher than those in the

Table 5.7 Standards for transfer from junior to senior middle school (age 15)
Table 5.7 Continued

Source: Xindu, 1997

100 Robin Jones

national standards lists. The minimum pass standard for the three activities
is a cumulative total of eighteen points (as listed in the tables), the average
for all students in the final year of junior middle school being about twenty-
five. Usually two or three students achieve a maximum score of 300. A score
of 100 points in any or each of the three physical activities is then translated
as ten points in the transfer test from junior to senior middle school. In 1997
460 points were needed for the transfer at this particular school; thus a student
who scored a maximum of 300 on the physical tests would be credited with
thirty points out of the required 460 for the transfer test, i.e. a potential 6.5
per cent credit for good performance in physical tests.
In key middle schools, there is considerable emphasis on academic success
and university education (which accounts for about 90 per cent of the
students), but the importance attached to academic lessons has resulted, in
the opinion of one PE teacher, in negative consequences for physical education
in the middle schools and even in the primary schools. The PE teacher
complained of lack of time for the subject, content that had become boring
by its narrowness, teaching methods that suffered from large class sizes and
mixed sex groups (he did not explain why this was detrimental and, in fact,
not all middle schools teach mixed PE; one explanation may be the limitations
of facilities and staff) and students who had little choice in their physical
education and who were not streamed by physical ability. To understand this
further, the organization of the other subjects should be explained.
Within key middle schools, students are grouped, according to their
academic strengths, into the sciences or the humanities; their studies in middle
school are divided into junior and senior blocks of three years. Those slightly
weak in Chinese and mathematics may be restricted to junior middle school
(unless they demonstrate progress) and thereafter they would transfer into
vocational or technical schools. Students with demonstrable ability in Chinese
and mathematics and the potential for university will continue into senior
middle school, by which time they will have been grouped broadly into either
science or arts/humanities, following a curriculum that has, in the 1990s,
been largely influenced by the requirements of the State Examination for
university entrance. Until 1998, the State Examination was relatively narrow,
allowing virtually no choice of curriculum by the students (there is no
psychology, sociology, sports studies or computer studies, for example) and
consequently, even though a school may actually have taught a broader range
of subjects and have an active physical education department, the strictures
of the State Examination were dominant; it influenced the PE programme
and student attitudes to the subject. A new pattern of State Examination is
being introduced in 1999, referred to as the ‘3 plus X’ system. Chinese,
mathematics and English will form the core of this new system, plus ‘X’, one
(or more) other subject(s) chosen by the school. The ‘X’ subjects will be
divided into a section on arts and literature (politics, history and geography)
and one on sciences (physics, chemistry and biology), thus giving some
 Sport and PE in school and university 101

flexibility to individual schools. Also being introduced in 1999 is a new senior

middle school curriculum that is no longer aimed exclusively at university
entrance, and will allow students to choose certain courses.4
A view commonly expressed in China is that sport requires little intellect
and this is underlined to some extent by the separation of schools into special
sports schools, middle schools and key middle schools. Equally, there are
schools where physical education, supported by the principal, is seen to
contribute to the total education of the students. The 1999 changes to the
curriculm and new examinations structure, together with a greater awareness
of opportunities for professional sport, and a growing leisure market, might,
therefore, herald a shift in this attitude of low respect for physical education.
Table 5.8 shows the balance of the timetable at one key middle school.
A further element of selection has occurred in some key middle schools
with the establishment of express streams for the academically able student,
which reduces the normal six-year secondary programme by two years.
A key middle school particularly well equipped with facilities, including a
fifty-metre, eight-lane outdoor swimming pool, a new 400-metre shale athletics
track, a full size soccer pitch in the middle of the track, outdoor volleyball
court and fitness equipment comprising parallel and horizontal bars, contrasts
sharply with another key middle school that possesses no track, no field, and
only marginal outdoor space for volleyball, basketball or general exercise.
For the well-equipped school, the PE curriculum, spanning three years
junior and three years senior middle school, is based on five areas:

1 Swimming (few schools have their own swimming pool, so an eight-

lane, fifty-metre pool is a luxury)
2 Track and field
3 Gymnastics
4 Wushu
5 Ball sports (table tennis, basketball, soccer and badminton).

Table 5.8 Overall content of a key middle school timetable

Lessons per week

Mathematics 9
Chinese 8
English 8
History 5
Physics 5
Chemistry 5
Geography 3 (in grades 7, 8, 10 and 11 ; none in grades 9 and 12)
Music/art 1 (the same as geography)
Physical education 2 (plus extra curricular activities on three days)
Source: Xindu, 1997
102 Robin Jones

Whilst teachers may exercise some choice over lesson content, students are
not given options in their timetabled lessons. Each week, students have two,
forty-five minute lessons, and daily extra curricular sport opportunities for
about one hour (afternoon games). Informal inter-school competitions are
held every month or so, but state regulations require annual competitions to
be held for the schools in each area.
Although the precise pattern may vary from place to place, a typical weekly
programme of PE in a middle school includes:

1 Mass exercise for the whole school, either at the start of the school
day or at morning break. It is conducted, outdoors, by the PE staff,
the students lining up in rows, perhaps in the centre of the running
track, with amplified music to co-ordinate the timing of the exercises.
A routine of swinging, stretching, stepping or jumping on the spot is
undertaken by the students, in the limited space. The exercises last
for about twenty minutes.
2 Routine eye exercises are required on three to five days per week. These
are done in the classroom, again to music, supervised by the class teacher.
The object of the exercises is to relieve eye stress by massaging the eyes
and the surrounding tissue with the fingertips in a regular and prescribed
manner. Students sit, with their elbows on the desks, their eyes closed
and for around ten minutes gently massage their eyes.
3 The school day starts at 7.45 am with fifteen minutes of private reading
(some schools use this time for exercises). Four lessons in the morning
are split by an exercise break of about twenty minutes, and a two-and-a-
half hour lunch break is followed by three afternoon lessons, again split
by a twenty-minute break, which may be used for eye massage. Within
this overall framework, junior 1 students have up to four timetabled PE
lessons a week in a class of around fifty, whilst for the remaining five
years of middle school the students have up to three PE lessons a week.
The PE curriculum is based on: gymnastics, track and field, table tennis,
badminton, soccer, volleyball, basketball, wu shu, swimming and dancing.
Schools have limited choice over which sports they can offer, and are
also subject to the Sports Commission designating a particular sport to
the school. The PE teachers see the aims of PE as:

i) to improve the general quality-of PE for all

ii) to produce excellence in performance for the able student
iii) to teach sportsmanship, diligence, teamwork and co-operation
iv) to train future PE teachers

School inspectors visit schools on an annual basis to monitor progress

and standards. Key middle schools typically have up to 2,500 students
and twelve to sixteen PE teachers.
 Sport and PE in school and university 103

4. There is a (selected) extra curricular sports programme where students

can practise their sport to a much higher level than timetabled lessons. It
is almost certain that the school will have better facilities in that sport.
Membership of the ‘clubs’ demands regular commitment; they are not
for the student who just wants a little recreative fun. Students may spend
up to three hours a week in their sports training.

By the end of senior middle school, all students are expected to have reached
the minimum standard in the relevant national age group tests. The tests
allow everyone to reach the minimum standard with reasonable application.
Students who are injured or sick must apply for exemption from the test by
applying to the Sports Commission on the following form:

School: Grade/class:
Name: Male/Female Age:
Reason for application for Parent’s signature:
exemption from PE test:
School remarks: Principal’s signature:
Medical report: Doctor’s signature:
Education Commission Signature/Stamp/Date:
remarks:
Source: Xindu, Sichuan 1997

Whilst PE lessons may not have the same high status as, say, mathematics,
PE is promoted in a positive and enthusiastic manner in the schools themselves.
The following (from a middle school physical education notice board) shows
how one school brings the question of standards to the attention of its students:
As students, you should:

1 Love communism, love the country, love physical education. Upgrade

your standard of physical education for the glory of class and school.
2 Obey the school rules and take classes seriously.
3 Work hard towards the set goals. Take physical education seriously. Take
an active part in all activities. Improve yourself and strive for outstanding
standards.
4 Respect teachers, show care for your community, foster team spirit, dress
properly, do not fight, do not use vulgarities, do not scold, do not sport
strange hairstyles, enhance personal development.
5 Take sport and competition seriously, display sportsmanship and respect
judges and opponents.
104 Robin Jones

6 Work hard, observe good standards of hygiene, take care of equipment

and public property.
(Beijing 1993)

The direct and all embracing message contained in the Chinese school rules
certainly leaves little room for misunderstanding if taken literally by the
students. But there is hardly any indication how some aspects should be
implemented or interpreted, such as care for the community or strange
hairstyles. There is an implied hierarchy of compliance that stresses the
subordinate relationship of the individual to the rest of the system—
government, country, school, teacher, class, community, team, subject—
with only brief mention of ‘self. In this respect, therefore, the rules are very
much a reflection of the traditional ethic of Chinese society, Confucianism,
where ‘self plays a subordinate role to ‘others’. Although modern China
under Mao Zedong challenged the dominance of Confucian ethics in the
new society, eradication was neither possible nor (it may be argued)
desirable.
Schools in China are allowed to seek additional school funding from
commercial activity such as manufacturing or trading, the income from
which may be used in a variety of ways, including sports facility
development. Schemes that middle schools have initiated include the
manufacture of small laboratory equipment, the raising of chickens for the
food market, a taxi scheme, the building of small office and shop units for
leasing, and a car wash scheme. The schemes do not use student labour but
are set up as normal commercial ventures. Middle schools may also impose
certain charges on the students, adding further to the money raised locally
for education. In key schools, these charges are typically: accommodation
fees (boarders), up to 400 yuan for each five-month semester, depending on
the standard of accommodation; school lunches (all students), 150 yuan
for each five-month semester; school books/materials (all students), 80
yuan per school year.
Boarding at key middle schools is not uncommon. Students share
dormitories of up to ten to a room, each room with bunk beds, study tables,
shower and toilet.

BEYOND SCHOOL: THE TERTIARY LEVEL

There are three elements of sport and physical education in higher education.

General sports classes

Government regulations determine that students of all subjects in higher
education receive two hours of general sport per week during the first two
years of the four-year undergraduate course. Students are obliged to follow
 Sport and PE in school and university 105

the programme set by the sports department of the university. For universities
with a student population of 10–12,000 this means catering for 5–6,000
students a week, and requires sports departments of forty to fifty staff.
Essentially, such departments are service departments, providing practical
classes for all students; the courses are not theoretical and, with a few
exceptions, the staff have no major academic function (exceptions include
specialist Institutes of Physical Education, and PE departments in Normal,
i.e. teacher training universities). A university week comprises thirty or thirty-
five time slots, so a staff of forty, working with groups of forty students twice
a week (or one, two-hour slot), would mean a staff load of around eight
hours per week. Sports facilities in universities generally include: outdoor
volleyball and basketball courts, an athletics track (cinder) and central playing
area, usually the football pitch. Tennis courts (shale), table tennis tables
(concrete), outdoor badminton courts and fitness stations of parallel bars
and single bars of various heights are also widely seen. Some universities also
have indoor facilities for basketball and volleyball. The facilities are heavily
used and, given that China has many other priorities that call on its resources,
it is easy to understand the problems that universities face over facilities in
the rapidly developing climate of high cost, hi-tech education.

Normal universities
Throughout China, there are about 200 universities charged with the specific
task of training teachers. These universities are referred to as ‘normal
universities’ or teachers’ universities (shi fan da xue). In Shanghai, East China
Normal University is one such university and, along with Beijing Normal
University, North East Normal University (Jilin province), Central Eastern
Normal University (Wuhan, Hubei province), South West Normal University,
(Chongqing, now a municipality, but before 1997 part of Sichuan province)
and Xian Normal University (Shaanxi province) belongs to the group of six
teachers’ universities that are funded directly by the State Education
Commission (now Ministry of Education). In the majority of normal
universities, only bachelors degrees are offered (which would include some
curriculum physical education as a non-specialist course). Around 10 per
cent of normal universities offer masters degrees in physical education (or at
least some aspect of physical education), and in one, East China Normal, it is
also possible to go on to PhD studies in sports psychology.
East China Normal University (ECNU) has more than 10,000 students
across all subjects. Physical education on the campus comprises the department
of PE (with 200 bachelor students, eight masters students and four PhD
students in 1997), and the Sports Division, which deals with the service
teaching of the students in all the departments of the university.
Although one of the six state-funded normal universities, ECNU, also
receives some funding from the Shanghai government, but in 1997, the physical
106 Robin Jones

education department received only 60,000 yuan per year to run the teacher
education programme, excluding staff salaries. This is less than 300 yuan per
student and puts enormous pressure on the department to raise money by
other means. A new sports hall, built on the campus for the Eighth Chinese
National Games (Shanghai, October 1997), will provide greatly improved
indoor sports facilities, after the Games, to augment the minimal indoor
facilities already in use. Staff ratios for the PE department are generous, with
forty staff comprising thirty-one lecturers and nine office staff. By comparison,
the sports department, which provides the basic two hours a week sports
programme for students in the other departments of the university, has forty-
one staff.
Students in the physical education department follow a comprehensive
curriculum to prepare them to teach in schools, including a period of school
based teaching practice. Tables 5.9 and 5.10 give details of the course for PE
majors at ECNU.

Table 5.9 Courses followed by physical education students at East China Normal University.
Duration of course: four years
 Sport and PE in school and university 107

Table 5.10 Elective courses for physical education students at East China Normal University.
(Students elect four hours per week.) Sports science laboratory facilities are limited;
biomechanics has no laboratory. The department has its own library
Number of weeks Hours per week Total hours
Sport biomechanics 18 2 36
Sport training science 18 2 36
Exercise science 18 2 36
Track and field theory 18 2 36
Sport photography 18 2 36
Comparative PE 18 2 36
Sport management 18 2 36
Child development 18 2 36
Sport nutrition 18 2 36
Sport beauty science 18 2 36
Qigong 18 1 36
Body building 18 1 36
Weightlifting (men) 18 1 36
Soccer (women) 18 1 36
Physical health science 18 2 36
Sport English 18 2 36
Sport economics 18 2 36
Sport sociology 18 4 72
Sport Sc/research methods 18 2 36

On completion of their study at normal universities, students are expected

to teach in schools. Unlike other universities, jobs for graduates in this sector
are still guaranteed by the State; a new teacher could expect to have
accommodation provided by the school as part of the job, even though this
might only be a single room in a teachers’ block, with shared facilities. Career
advancement would also bring with it the opportunity for improved living
accommodation, depending on the school and the limitations of cost and
space afforded in different cities and areas of the country. However, the new
economic climate of China is encouraging many young people, especially the
educated, to seek greater rewards in the free market of trade, commerce and
industry. For some students at teaching universities, this poses a dilemma.
Their course commits them to teaching, but their career orientation may
change during their four years training, and a decision not to teach is a costly
one. Student teachers are bonded for three to five years after leaving university,
and breaking the bond results in cash penalties of 15–30,000 yuan.
Nonetheless, students do break the bond (relatively few in the case of physical
education students) with the aid of family help, or personal savings from
vacation work, for example. A new teacher is paid about 600 yuan per month
(1997).
108 Robin Jones

Specialist institutes of physical education

At tertiary level, sport and physical education in China can be followed
to bachelor degree level in state and provincial institutes of physical
education (degrees in physical education in China were first established in
1981).5 China now has sixteen specialist institutes of physical education
that between them produce the top echelon of teachers and coaches for
sport. Six of these institutes—Beijing, Chengdu, Wuhan, Shanghai,
Shenyang and Xian—were, until its closure, under the direct control of
the State Physical Education and Sports Commission6 (partly because they
were established earlier than the provincial institutes and control from
Beijing was the pattern at that time). Besides the specialist sports
institutes, a further 217 sports departments in universities and colleges
also help to train teachers for primary schools, middle schools, vocational
institutes and colleges at various levels.
Above bachelor degree level the opportunities for higher degrees in physical
education are more limited, the principal centre being the Beijing University
of Physical Education (formerly ‘Institute’ until 1994 when it was upgraded
to Beijing Sports University). Beijing and now Shanghai, offer doctoral
programmes.
The Beijing University of Physical Education has a teaching staff of almost
500 and a student population of about 2,000 (approximately 1,900
undergraduates and 100 postgraduates)7 who follow one of several courses—
teacher education, coach education, sports science, adult education or sports
management. An emerging field of study, sports management has been
introduced in Beijing, first, because the sports system is moving towards market
accountability and, second, because more opportunities now exist, with the
five-day working week, for individuals to plan their own leisure time. Sports
leaders have realized there is a growing leisure industry in China that requires
trained managers, and Beijing University of Physical Education plans to meet
the demand.
Government reforms to universities, known as Project 211, aim to identify
the top 100 universities in China and develop them to the highest possible
standard by the start of the twenty-first century. Project 211 includes Beijing
Sports University, but does not include the remaining sports institutes, leaving
the potential for them to become marginalized. There has been no obvious
move to upgrade other institutes to university status.
Chengdu Institute of Physical Education is the major sports institute in
south-west China. Its 2,200 full-time students are supplemented by 800 part-
time students and serviced by 700 staff including 100 professors and associate
professors, 250 lecturers and 350 management and clerical staff. The institute
now insists that staff obtain a masters degree, although one-third of them
already have masters or doctoral degrees. Chengdu is entitled to award
bachelors degrees to the undergraduates, and masters degrees to the forty
 Sport and PE in school and university 109

full-time masters students. The ratio of men to women is about 4:1 (more
women fail the fitness test).
Funding has undergone radical change. In 1997, Chengdu Institute of
Physical Education received about 5,500 yuan per student per year (a marked
contrast with the 300 yuan per student at East China Normal University). In
the early 1990s, this was sufficient for the full twelve months, but by 1997,
would only cover nine months’ funding. The shortfall is being met by student
fees of 1,000 yuan per year (1997), but within the scheme, students from low
income backgrounds can get reductions in the form of scholarships, loans or
part-time campus jobs.8
The study programme at Chengdu comprises four major courses:

1 Sport education. Students following this course become teachers in middle

schools.
2 Sport coaching. Students following this course become coaches in special
sports schools (at various levels).
3 Wushu. Students in this course become coaches, as above.
4 Chinese medicine. This is not a general medical course, but one related
specifically to osteopathy. Students become sports doctors to sports teams,
work in hospitals and rehabilitation, and research institutes for sport.

Courses 1, 2, and 3 are each of four years’ duration, covering a conventional

pattern of work, but course 4, Chinese medicine, sits rather uncomfortably
within the portfolio of courses. The inclusion of sports medicine/osteopathy
originated because of the skills and interests of one individual at the time the
institute was being established. In this respect, Chengdu is untypical.
In 1997, the intake of students for the four courses was:

Number Minimum entry requirement

Sport education 310 (=52%) 330 in the state examination
Sport and training 90 (=16%) State exam plus practical test
Wushu 90 (=16%) State exam plus practical test
Chinese medicine 90 (=16%) 490 in the state examination.

A number of common courses are taken by all students: foreign language,

philosophy, theory of education, psychology, sports theory, computing, and
statistics. The sport education course comprises 4,000 hours spread over four
years and includes forty compulsory courses and thirty optional courses. (See
also the curriculum of East China Normal University for the type of curriculum
content for teacher training.)
Each week comprises twenty-eight to thirty timetable hours (including
two to four hours free), six teaching hours per day and a five-day week. The
working day is from 8 a.m. to 12 noon, and from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and a
typical teaching load for staff is twelve hours a week. Theory courses take
110 Robin Jones

place in the mornings and practical courses in the afternoon, with occasional
evening lectures; and some students take additional courses at other universities
in the evenings.
Students are assessed by coursework (including an extended essay) and
examination, with practical work counting for up to 60 per cent of the final
mark, depending on the module. The Office of Teaching Affairs is responsible
for choosing the actual examination paper from a selection of up to ten papers
submitted by the lecturing staff. Re-sits are allowed after three days and
again after one year; students who continue to fail would then not receive a
diploma, but may have a chance to be recommended to a school by the
institute. The institute also offers a three-year correspondence course in sport
education or sport coaching, for either a bachelors degree or a certificate of
graduation.

Special sports schools

During the years following the founding of the PRC in 1949, China
developed a sports system that was largely modelled on that of the
former Soviet Union. Although not an active member of the IOC in the
early years, China did have national teams that competed against other
Communist countries, as well as being at the top in international table
tennis. Sports schools were established at national and provincial level,
for those with high sporting potential. In the early decades, the sports
schools were concerned primarily with sports performance; the athlete’s
welfare and future was in the hands of the state, and there was little need
(if any) to be concerned about the long-term implications of full-time
commitment to sport. At the end of their competitive careers, athletes
could be absorbed into state industries, college or university study, or
sports administration. Unsuccessful athletes returned to their former
schools or position, and had to ‘pick up the pieces’ from there. By
comparison with Britain’s approach in the 1960s and 1970s, Chinese
athletes were given far more state support to enable them to reach a high
level and, as with other Communist countries, were often accused by the
West of being professionals under the guise of being state amateurs.
There are several links in the chain leading to the sports school, each link
becoming progressively more specific to the sport. In the early phase, special
sports classes are held in the normal schools for students with sporting
potential. Not all schools have special sports classes, but those that do are
able to develop this potential by having well-qualified teachers in the sport
(the regulations allow the school to appoint extra staff for this purpose) and
the opportunity to practise the sport at the school sports club. Sports profiles
are kept of students’ abilities which, if a student goes on to sports school,
accompany him or her and become more detailed. The profile (in the form of
a booklet), includes the information given in Table 5.11, together with detailed
 Sport and PE in school and university 111

Table 5.11 Fitness test record for students at special sports schools

Name Sex Date of birth

Bone age X Ray number Address

Father’s name Occupation Telephone number

Mother’s name Occupation Telephone number

Date selected Year Date left

Original school Standard Going to

Coach’s remarks

Source: Chengdu 1991

anthropometric and morphological measurements, competition and training

results and a section for student remarks.
Given the size of China’s population, there is an almost inevitable shortage
of trained PE teachers and coaches, but one advantage of the system is that
resources can be targeted. Thus, even though there may not be enough well-
qualified primary PE teachers in the schools, the pupils at the schools may
also attend the spare time sports schools where sound basic coaching is
available and where sporting talent may develop. ‘Taster’ sessions are also
held at the sports school in the evenings and during school holidays; these
sessions are not free, and parents have to pay quite substantial fees for the
coaching. For example, during the summer months of 1995 in Chengdu,
Sichuan, a two-week course of swimming lessons cost 80 yuan (one hour a
day six days per week), or about 6 yuan per lesson9 (cheaper than casual use
of the pool at 8 yuan per hour). Other sports were also available on a similar
basis—tennis, table tennis, skating (artificial ice), and soccer.10
Sports boarding schools, of which China has about 100, provide full-time
sports training in parallel with full-time schooling, for potential members of
the provincial team or higher. The twin ‘full-time’ description is not a misnomer
because the students follow a fully planned programme of sports training
and education that leaves them little time for themselves. It is a rigorous
schedule, where success in competition is the main criterion for remaining at
the sports school and where failure, or lack of progress, results in students
returning to their normal school. There is no doubt that academic progress is
less of a priority than sporting progress and there is thus an inherent risk
attached to attendance at the sports school if, as is inevitable for many, sporting
success does not follow.
One such sports boarding school is located at the Sichuan Sports Skills
College, in Chengdu. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, in the province
of Sichuan, signs of government reform were beginning to show. In 1986,
the Sichuan Sports Working Team, with the approval of the State Education
112 Robin Jones

Commission, became the Sichuan Sports Skills College. Previously, the

Sports Working Team catered solely for sports training and performance,
but the Sports Skills College took on an educative role, and ten years later it
is one of the key sports institutions in south-west China, combining high
level sports training with conventional schooling, vocational courses and
adult education for its athletes. The college now accepts responsibility for
preparing athletes not only for competition, but also for their post-
competitive careers. The guarantee of a job in the state sports sector no
longer holds, and athletes are trained in vocational skills as well as sports
skills. The reasoning for this is clear: the state is asking athletes to train and
compete for the province or country, but increasingly there is competition
for the ‘loyalty’ of athletes in the new climate of an open market. The
insecurity of a sporting career, without the insurance of education or other
training, is reducing the pool of young athletes (and their families) who are
prepared to risk their future in sport. Sichuan Sports Skills College is trying
to ensure that athletes are employable after their competitive years. At the
seventh Chinese National Games in 1993, Sichuan entered a team of over
400 athletes which, for the majority, represented not only the pinnacle of
their sporting careers, but also the end (because the next games were four
years away, and a new crop of young athletes would take over). This
highlights one of the potential problems of the reforms. It is a recognized
problem, and throughout China, ten provinces or municipalities have now
set up a similar system to that in Sichuan (cities in brackets): Sichuan
(Chengdu), Shaanxi (Xian), Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang (Hangzhou),
Guangdong (Guangzhou), Liaoning (Shenyang), Heilongjiang (Harbin),
Hunan (Changsha) and Jiangsu (Nanjing). These ten institutes offer courses
up to higher education level, along with special vocational training, designed
to ensure that athletes are not disadvantaged by devoting a large part of
their young lives to sport. Other provinces operate up to middle school only,
and have yet to develop higher or adult education.
Government Document Number 6, 1996, specifically covers people retiring
from competitive sport:

1 athletes must have job training

2 those athletes reaching the highest levels will receive the most extensive
training
3 the programme will be reviewed annually
4 athletes may arrange their own jobs or accept an offer from the state
5 an advice bureau will be set up
6 athletes will receive interim payment from the state whilst they are seeking
employment.

Under the general heading ‘Service to the State’, these regulations bring sport
into line with the conditions applying to the armed forces.
 Sport and PE in school and university 113

The change, in 1996, to a five-day working week, carried implications for

the sports institutes. It was accepted that the training of athletes may not fit
into a conventional five-day pattern, and an extension to five-and-a-half days
was allowed. School age athletes at the Sports Skills College follow a ‘half
day school, half day training’ pattern, whilst older athletes have two half-
days and one evening for education and the rest for sports training.
Additionally, for all athletes, Saturday morning training takes place.
Comprising six departments—track and field, swimming, weightlifting,
small ball (badminton, table tennis, and tennis), big ball (soccer, basketball,
and volleyball) and gymnastics—the Sports Skills College has about 1,400
athletes-in-training, coaches, teachers and support staff. The departments
are spread over three major campuses in separate parts of the city, each with
its own accommodation for the students and (some) of the staff.
The track and field campus has two indoor, synthetic, 100-metre long
training houses for both sprint events and field events, a synthetic 400-metre
track and a cinder 400-metre track. The main campus includes swimming
and diving (50-metre pool and separate diving pool), gymnastics (men’s hall,
women’s hall, sport acrobatics hall and artistic gymnastics hall), table tennis
(two halls with about thirty tables), badminton (six courts), tennis (twelve
outdoor shale and synthetic courts and indoor hall under construction),
basketball (one hall), volleyball (one hall), and soccer (field and surrounding
track). The third campus houses facilities for those post-competitive athletes
on sports coaching and sports administration courses along with boxing,
weightlifting, judo and wushu.

Sports science and sports science research institutes

Throughout China is a network of provincial sports science research institutes.
Research implies the search for and discovery of new knowledge, but the
priorities of the research programmes in China are more related to the
performance of individual athletes, and the achievement of their potential,
than to the discovery of knowledge yet to be applied to athletic performance.
In other words, the research institute’s function would perhaps be better
understood as sports science support for athletes and coaches, monitoring of
training and competition through basic testing, and providing feedback to
coaches, than pure research.
For those provinces with small research budgets, the sports science research
institutes are limited in their ability to conduct sophisticated research. Without
well-equipped laboratories, sports science research is unlikely to yield results at
the highest level, and this in turn militates against the institutes with smaller
budgets, and there is not much evidence that shortfalls in research budgets are
being met by commercial sponsorship, in the way that competitive sport is
attracting sponsorship (e.g. soccer). Sports science may not be keeping pace with
the reforms; or at least, there is uneven development throughout the country.
114 Robin Jones

CONCLUDING REMARKS
The basic aim of Chinese physical education of providing one hour of physical
activity for all students every day is a noble one and gives a strong message to
successive generations about the importance the government attaches to sport.
At the same time, it is equally clear that the government is powerfully
committed to promoting high level sports performance with its network of
provincial sports schools and, indeed, the normal schools themselves are the
start of this commitment.
By the end of 1995, China’s ‘Nationwide Health Plan’ had been announced,
aiming to broaden the whole base of participation in sporting activity (see
Chapter 13). One of the changes this will bring about is a greater concern for
mass sport,11 which will be far less likely to happen if the Chinese economy
does not continue to grow. As it is, the potential effect on schools could be
considerable, by ensuring that physical education is fully recognized and
developed. By 1998, the State Sports Commission had been closed, and its
replacement will adopt more of an administrative role, with less direct
involvement in sports provision, as the new sports management structure
develops. The consequences of this for physical education in schools and
universities are yet to emerge. Although soccer and tennis have made
considerable progress in the last five years in the sports schools, there are few
normal schools with good facilities in these two sports. The decline in support
for non-Olympic sports is unlikely to affect the school curriculum, which is
already dominated by Olympic and international sports, with the notable
exception of wusku.

NOTES
1 Party Central Committee, Reform of China’s Educational Structure, Foreign Lan-
guages Press, Beijng, 1985, p. 1.
2 State Education Commission and State Physical Culture and Sports Commission,
1990 ‘Regulations Governing School Physical Education’ (signed by Li Tie Yin,
SEC and Wu Shao Zu, PCSC). Translation from the original, Chengdu, 1995. See
Appendix 1 for full text.
3 GTO/PWD, ‘Gotov k trudu i oborone’ (Prepared for work and defence), was the
fitness scheme introduced by the former Soviet Union in the early 1930s and
continued, with modifications, until the collapse of the USSR. See J.Riordan,
Sport Under Communism, London: C.Hurst and Co, 1978, for a full account.
4 Reported in China Daily, 10 January 1998, p. 2.
5 Liu Zhi Min and Yang Wei Dong, ‘The Comparison between Physical Education
Departments of the Comprehensive Universities in China and Britain’, paper
presented at the Asian Conference on Comparative Physical Education, Shanghai,
December 1994.
6 The expectation is that the six national institutes will remain under the new sports
office, which itself is under the State Council.
7 F.H. Fu, ‘A Comparison of the National and Provincial Institutes of Physical
Culture in the People’s Republic of China’, in Wilcox, R.C. (ed.) Sport in the
 Sport and PE in school and university 115

Global Village, Washington: Fitness Information Technology, 1994, pp. 395–

402.
8 Details from an interview with Dai Ke Hai—Dean of Student Management and
Teaching Affairs Office, Chengdu Institute of Physical Education, 1997.
9 Bearing in mind that a monthly salary of up to 600 yuan would cover many of
the service industry jobs from shop assistant to supervisor in a factory unit or
similar, a tuition fee of 80 yuan is substantial. On the other hand, there is also an
increasing number of parents who either jointly or singly earn sufficient to pay
the fee with little hardship.
10 The fee for the other sports varied. The tennis fee was 10 yuan per hour; skating
a little more.
11 Author’s discussions with leaders of Sichuan Sports Commission, August 1995.

APPENDIX

Outline health plan for sport and physical education in the

People’s Republic of China
President’s Order (PRC) Number 55, Jiang Zemin, 29 August 1995. On
August 29 1995, at the 8th National People’s Representative Meeting (and
15th sub-committee meeting), regulations were passed, and have been in use
since 1 October 1995.

Chapter 1 Introduction
1 These regulations are intended to develop sporting standards and
opportunities in accordance with socialist principles.
2 Sport is to be developed to enhance physical fitness, by raising levels of
activity and promoting all kinds of sport.
3 The improved management of sport and the support of businesses, society
and people should be encouraged, for the contribution sport makes to
the nation’s economic, military and social development.
4 The national sports committe will be responsible for managing the nation’s
sport, assisted by other departments in their own particular fields.
Provincial governments are also authorized to carry out this duty.
5 Sport for young people is promoted for their physical and mental health.
6 Minority groups will be supported in the development of sport and sport
leaders.
7 Sports science and sports research will be promoted for the improvement
of sport.
8 Organizations that contribute to sport will be supported.
9 International sport is encouraged, based on principles of independence,
equality, mutual respect and the maintenance of national authority and
dignity.
116 Robin Jones

Chapter 2 Spor t for all

10 Participation in sport for all citizens will be encouraged, respecting
amateur and voluntary values based on cultural, scientific and civilized
principles.
11 The National Fitness Plan will be implemented and a classification system
for sports instructors will be introduced to aid the promotion of sport
for all.
12 Sport for all should be supported by local governments; each city and
county should have a sport for all committee.
13 The government and its departments should promote many kinds of sport
and competition.
14 Different trades and labour organizations should organize their own
specific sports.
15 Traditional sports will be encouraged.
16 The sporting needs of the elderly and disabled should be provided for by
local governments.

Chapter 3 School physical education

17 PE should be included in the school curriculum for the moral, intellectual
and physical development of the students.
18 PE is compulsory in schools. Physical performance should be evaluated
alongside academic performance, and schools should make special
provision for students with illness or disability.
19 Daily PE should be guaranteed, and schools should aim to reach the
national PE training standards.
20 Schools should organize a varied programme of Extra Curricular Sports
Activities and should, additionally, organize an annual sports competition.
21 Schools should employ qualified PE teachers and provide good
professional conditions and pay, according to national guidelines.
22 Schools should follow national guidelines for the provision of sports
facilities, which may be used for other purposes too.
23 Student’s health should be subject to regular checks by the school and
local health departments.

Chapter 4 Competitive spor t

24 Competitive sport is promoted. Athletes are encouraged to improve their
sports skills and to gain honour for the country.
25 The development of amateur sport will be encouraged to foster elite
athletes.
26 Rules, drawn up by the Sports Commission, should direct the selection
of athletes and teams according to principles of equity and achievement.
 Sport and PE in school and university 117

27 Methods of training and management should follow strict scientific rules

and athletes should be educated in nationalism, socialism, morality and
discipline.
28 Athletes should be entitled to jobs and education.
29 Every sports association should register its athletes, and only registered
athletes are eligible to take part in competition, through the Sports
Commission.
30 Athletes’, coaches’ and referees’ professional skills should be classified at
national, provincial, city and township level.
31 Sports competitions should be classified. The National Games should be
managed by the national Sports Commission, or relevant department;
national championships in each sport should be managed by their own
national sports organization; local competitions should be organized by
local organizations.
32 A system for checking and approving national records should be
established, to be recognized by the Sports Commission
33 Conflicts and disagreements in sports competitions will be resolved by a
sports judges department, under the regulations and control of the Sports
Commission.
34 Sports competitions should follow principles of equity and fairness.
Organizers, athletes, coaches and referees should not cheat. Drug doping
and other methods should not be used and drug detecting organizations
should have rigorous procedures. Gambling in sports competitions is not
allowed by organizations or individuals.
35 Symbols such as names, flags and mascots must abide by national rules
at important competitions in China.

Chapter 5 Spor ts organizations

36 Sport for all organizations are encouraged to promote sport development.
37 Sports organizations should be encouraged to co-ordinate the effort of
athletes and officials and help them reach their targets.
38 The Chinese Olympic Committee is responsible for promoting the
Olympic Games in China, and for representing China in Olympic affairs.
39 Sports science organizations and sports scientists should promote sports
technology.
40 National Governing Bodies are responsible for their own sports, and
should represent China in the international organization of their sport.

Chapter 6 Spor t and legislation

41 Local government, above town level, is responsible for the budget for
local sport. Sport facility construction should be in accordance with the
118 Robin Jones

national plan, and increases to the budget should depend on national

economic factors.
42 Business companies and sports organizations should be encouraged to
raise finance and to sponsor sport.
43 National sports should be financially well managed.
44 Sports and competitions organized above town level are subject to national
laws.
45 Local government above town level should follow national laws over the
use of public sports facilities. Public sports facilities should be part of
city planning for construction and ground utilization. City plans for
business areas, schools, streets and residential areas should incorporate
sports facilities. Districts and towns should gradually develop adequate
sports facilities, depending on economic development.
46 Public sports facilities should promote sport for all. Students, the elderly
and disabled, should have full access to public facilities. This may increase
the rate of use of public sports facilities. Neither organizations nor
individuals may occupy or damage public sports facilities. In some specific
situations, sports facilities may be temporarily occupied, if approved by
the sports and construction departments. They must be returned on time.
If the city wishes to change the use of sports facilities, they must provide
alternative sports facilities in advance.
47 Equipment and facilities used in national and international sports
competitions should be approved by the national Sports Commission.
48 Sports institutions should foster professional training, educational courses,
coaching, scientific research and management in sport.

Chapter 7 Legal obligations

49 Any cheating in sports competitions will be punished according to the
law. People in charge of sport and sports organizers in national sport
departments are subject to the law and take responsibility for the actions
of others.
50 Illegal doping in sport will be punished according to the rules. People in
charge will also be held responsible.
51 Sports departments should assist the police in the prevention of gambling.
People found guilty of criminal cheating and gambling may be gaoled.
52 Any person mis-using or damaging public sports facilities should be
ordered by the sports authorities to return and repair the facility in a
prescribed time, according to the law. If the offender disobeys safety
laws, the police should punish accordingly.
53 Anyone creating trouble at sports competitions or disobeying public order
laws should be apprehended and banned. People disobeying safety rules
may be gaoled.
 Sport and PE in school and university 119

54 Anyone abusing national sports finances will be required to return the

money in a prescribed time. Sports organizers will be accountable and
criminal behaviour may lead to gaol.

Chapter 8 A ppendix
55 The army should promote and develop sport. The Central Military
Commission is responsible for army sports law and also for following
these national laws.
56 These laws come into operation on 1 October 1995.

Later in the regulations booklet, Wu Shao Zu, Head of the Sports Commission
(until its closure in March 1998) explains the need to improve:

1 Sports management, sports facilities for public use, scientific training

and research.
2 The need for coaches and athletes to be committed to success for China.
3 The importance of sports science support for this success.

He comments further that sports competition has grown, but cheating and
the problem of drugs are evident and laws are therefore needed. Three strict
rules for doping should be applied:

1 A strict ban on drugs

2 Strict drugs testing to be carried out
3 Strict management and enforcement of drug laws.
Chapter 6

Elite sport
Dennis Whitby

Sport in old (pre-1949) China existed for the wealthy, and the poor health of
the Chinese people in general resulted in the country being described as ‘the
sick man of Asia’. Only one athlete competed in the 1932 Olympic Games
and, although athletes competed in the 1936 and 1948 Games, they did so
with little distinction. Only one swimmer competed in the 1952 Games; the
football and basketball teams arrived too late.
The founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 brought
fundamental changes to sport. The government started to pay attention to
the health of the general population and promoted sports development. The
Party Central Committee issued a directive entitled ‘strengthening work in
physical culture and sport for the people’. Chairman Mao Zedong wrote the
inscription ‘promote physical culture; build up the people’s health’.
A centralized sports administration system, based on the pattern of the
Soviet Union, was established. Regular programmes of physical training were
introduced in army units, communes, factories, offices and schools; institutes
of physical education were established, research was initiated and sports
facilities were constructed or renovated. In 1959, Rong Guotuan became the
first Chinese athlete to win a world championship (in table tennis) and, by
1966, Chinese athletes were excelling in sports such as archery, badminton,
shooting, swimming, table tennis, volleyball and weightlifting.
During the Cultural Revolution of 1966–76, however, the development of
sport in China was brought to a standstill. From 1966 until 1970, there was
a total absence of competition. From 1971, international competition was
resumed, but only involving countries of similar political ideologies, such as
Cambodia, North Korea and Vietnam. Images of China during the Revolution
are of enforced conformity to ideology, intensity, isolation, fanaticism and
the ‘thoughts of Mao’. Athletes were persecuted, sports organizations were
immobilized and facilities were wrecked.
From 1956 until 1976, China boycotted the Olympic Games, refusing to
compete side-by-side with Formosa (Taiwan). Instead, China competed in
the anti-American and communist-inspired Games of the New Emerging
Forces (GANEFO), held in Jakarta, Indonesia in 1964.
 Elite sport 121

Sport was seen mainly as a means of promoting political ideology. Two

daily ten-minute sessions of collective gymnastics were required of everyone;
schoolchildren received one hour of sports and physical education each day.
Massive competitions were organized and a network was established for the
selection and training of top athletes. But isolation brought stagnation and
the gap between Chinese and world standards in sport widened.
The Cultural Revolution ended in 1976 with the fall of the ‘Gang of Four’.
Since then, changes have been rapid. In 1978, China’s leaders announced the
Tour Modernizations’ programme, covering industry, agriculture, defence,
and science and technology. The following year, the country’s ‘open-door’
policy was introduced. Since then, great strides have been made in all aspects
of society, including sport.
China was readmitted to the Olympic movement in 1980. Although the
US-led boycott (supported by China) prevented the athletes who had gained
selection from competing in the Olympic Games in Moscow that year, progress
in a number of sports during the next three years was rapid. Third in the
team event in the World Gymnastics Championships in Moscow in 1981, the
men’s gymnastics team won the title at the next World Championships in
Romania in 1983 and took second place at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic
Games. The women’s team, second in the team event in Moscow in 1981,
took third place behind Romania and the United States in Los Angeles. China’s
gymnasts won a total of nine individual medals in Los Angeles—five of them
gold.
The Chinese women’s volleyball team, after winning the World Cup title
in Japan in 1981, took first place a year later at the World Championships in
Peru. In Los Angeles, they won the gold medal. Chinese women’s basketball
also developed quickly. The national team was placed third at the World
Championships in Brazil in 1983 and won the bronze medal at the 1984
Olympic Games. The Chinese women’s handball team took the bronze in
Los Angeles.
International successes were also achieved in diving and weightlifting. Li
Yihua won the springboard event at the Third World Cup Diving
Championships in 1983 and medals were won by three different divers in
Los Angeles. In the absence of most Eastern-aligned countries, Chinese
weightlifters won gold medals. In three other sports—archery, fencing and
shooting—China also proved that it could compete with the world’s best. In
1984, Zhu Jianhua became the first Chinese track and field athlete to win a
medal in the Olympic Games.
Altogether, China’s team of 225 athletes, competing in sixteen of twenty-
one sports, won fifteen gold, eight silver and nine bronze medals at the 1984
Olympic Games. Gold medals were won in women’s diving, fencing and
volleyball, men’s weightlifting and both men’s and women’s gymnastics and
shooting. The medal haul was obviously enhanced by the boycott of the
Games by the Soviet Union and its allies.
122 Dennis Whitby

By competing in the Games, China emphasized its political independence

from Moscow; by competing with such success, China served notice that it
planned to join the elite of international sport. The political sports slogan of
the day—‘break out of Asia and advance on the world’—was vastly different
to the ‘friendship first, competition second’ concept of Mao.
China’s performances in the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games, outlined
below, reflect the effort that the country has made since 1984 to gain
prominence at international level. China’s failed bid to stage the 2000
Olympics by just two votes, however, was a major disappointment. Many
politicians and human rights activists opposed Beijing’s bid, suggesting that
China did not deserve the honour until the country had improved its human
rights record. China decided not to bid for the 2004 Games.
How have the results been achieved? From the practical point of view,
they can be explained by the implementation of a comprehensive competitive
programme and a parallel progressive programme of elite athlete development.
Working together, the two programmes take the talented young athlete from
the spare-time sports school to the central sports school, the provincial team
and, finally, to the national team, while providing ample opportunities for
competition.

MAJOR COMPETITIONS

Domestic competitions
China is divided, for administrative and other purposes, into twenty-two
provinces, five autonomous regions and four municipalities—Beijing,
Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing. Each province is divided into cities and
counties. Cities are divided into districts. The goal of each city/district/county
team is to excel at the provincial games; these are held every four years. At
the 9th Guangdong Provincial Games in Zhaoqing in November 1994 (which
the author attended), a total of 6,366 athletes represented twenty-one cities
and districts in thirty different sports. The provincial games are used to identify
athletes who will train with the provincial team in preparation for the National
Games, held three years later.
The first four National Games were held in Beijing, in 1959, 1965, 1975
and 1979. The author witnessed the 5th National Games in Shanghai in
1983. In March of that year, more than 9,000 athletes competed in the
preliminaries, representing their provinces, autonomous regions,
municipalities, the People’s Liberation Army and the Locomotive Sports
Association in twenty-five different sports. In September, almost 4,000 athletes
competed in the finals in Shanghai.
The National Games have since been held in Guangzhou (1987) and Beijing
(1993, together with Chengdu and Sichuan). The 1993 National Games
 Elite sport 123

witnessed remarkable performances by Mah Jun Ren’s athletes (from Liaoning

province), especially in the women’s 1500 metres, 3,000 metres and 10,000
metres. The National Winter Games are also held every four years.
Any city or provincial physical culture and sports commission given the
responsibility of organizing a major games uses the opportunity to upgrade
its facilities. A new sports centre, consisting of a 60,000-seat stadium, an
8,000-seat gymnasium and a diving/swimming hall, was built for the 1987
Games in Guangzhou. The total cost of organizing the Games was Y300
million (US$3.4m).
Provincial sports officials judge their progress and standing in the country’s
sporting ranks, and are judged according to the team’s placing at the National
Games and the number of medals that are won. During the author’s frequent
visits to China to meet officials of various provincial organizations, the
conversation has invariably turned to the number of medals won by provincial
team athletes at the most recent National, Asian and Olympic Games. After
the Olympic Games, success at the National Games is the major goal.
Liaoning is currently China’s most successful sporting province. In the
1992 Olympic Games, Liaoning athletes won three gold, four silver and five
bronze medals. At the 7th National Games in 1993, Liaoning won a total of
sixty-four gold medals—including twenty-six in athletics and six in
swimming—to win the team title. Guangdong (thirty-one gold medals),
Shanghai (twenty-nine) and Beijing (twenty-one) filled the next three positions.
As might be expected, the northern provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang
dominate the National Winter Games.
Liaoning’s gold medal haul in track and field in 1993 tells an interesting
story. The World Track and Field Championships were held in Stuttgart in
August 1993, just one month before the National Games. Because a number
of the country’s top athletes were reluctant to compete in Stuttgart, preferring
to compete for their provincial teams in the National Games, an agreement
was reached whereby medals that were won at the World Championships
would count in the final medal tally at the Games. This encouraged a number
of top athletes to compete in Stuttgart. In addition, each world record at the
National Games counted as a gold medal. Mah Jun Ren’s athletes won a
total of three gold medals in Stuttgart and, as noted above, set fourteen new
world records in Beijing—hence the total of twenty-six gold medals won by
Liaoning athletes in track and field!
In 1985, the 1st National Junior Games were organized in Zhengzhou,
the capital of Henan province, for athletes under the age of 20. The objective
was to alternate the Junior Games with the National Games every two years.
The author attended the Games to select some young track and field athletes
to train with the national team in Beijing. Athletes competed for their
provinces, autonomous regions or municipalities in seventeen different sports.
The 2nd National Junior Games were held in Shenyang, Liaoning province,
in 1989.
124 Dennis Whitby

In 1988, the 1st National Urban Games were organized in Jinan, Shandong
province. The 2nd National Urban Games were organized in 1991 in
Tongshan, Hebei province. The Urban Games have now replaced the National
Junior Games. It was felt that the financial burden for the second most
important domestic competition should be shifted from the provinces to the
cities which, particularly on the eastern seaboard, are benefiting financially
from China’s open-door policy.
The Urban Games are now held every four years. Some provinces are
represented in the Games by more than one city. Indeed, the need to develop
athletes away from the major training centre of each province was another
reason for replacing the National Junior Games with the Urban Games. Three
cities in Guangdong province—Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai—competed
in the thirteen-day 3rd National Urban Games held in Nanjing in November
1995.
Typical of such major games, thousands of schoolchildren and army
personnel participated in the Opening Ceremony, held in the Wutaishan
Stadium and featuring music and dances from the Yangtze River Delta. Such
ceremonies require months of preparation and are obviously very expensive.
The cost in Nanjing was Y3 million (US$340,000).
More than 3,300 athletes, representing forty-nine cities and regions,
competed in eleven sports—basketball, diving, fencing, football, gymnastics,
judo, rowing, shooting, swimming, table tennis and track and field. The upper
age limit varied from sport to sport. Track and field was limited to athletes
born in 1975. Each team could also enter two athletes born in 1973 and
1974 respectively. It turned out that these athletes won most of the medals!
The oldest participants were 23—in football and shooting.
Competitions in archery, badminton, volleyball, weightlifting and wrestling
were held in other cities in the province of Jiangsu: Chenjiang, Wuxi,
Changzhou, Yangzhou and Suzhou, respectively. Team honours went to the
host city, with Guangzhou (Guangdong province), Dalian and Shenyang (both
Liaoning province) taking the next three positions.
Every four years, the country’s minorities, representing about 5 per cent
of the population (66 million), compete for their provincial teams in the
National Games of Minority Nationalities’ Traditional Sports; only the
country’s majority Han Chinese (more than 90 per cent of the population)
does not participate. The author attended the 5th Minority Games, held in
Kunming, Yunnan province, in November 1995. A total of 3,300 athletes
competed for their provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. Athletes
from fifty-five national minorities took part; the largest was the Hui nationality
with 534 participants. Another spectacular opening ceremony, entitled ‘Jointly
Create the Glory’ and involving 9,000 participants, was performed in the
Tuo Dong Sports Stadium. The Games are more a demonstration of cultures
and national unity than a sports event. The author observed five of the eleven
contested sports: crossbow shooting, gateball, horse racing, shuttle-cock and
 Elite sport 125

wrestling. In addition to the competition, there were demonstrations in more

than 137 traditional sports.
Besides these major games, each sport organizes its own domestic
programme of competition, including its national championships. Two such
championships are organized in track and field each year—in June and
October, the first a team competition, the second, individual. The difference
is that team scores are kept only in the first competition.

International competitions
For those who move beyond the provincial team to train with, and represent,
the Chinese national team, the competition goals are obviously different.
China competes regularly in the Asian championships of many sports and
the quadrennial East Asian Games. But it is the Asian Games and the Olympic
Games which are of major importance to the national team. Top athletes in
China follow two-year programmes of development in preparation for the
Games.
China first competed in the Asian Games in Tehran in 1974, finishing in
third position with thirty-three gold medals. Eight years later—in the 9th
Games in New Delhi—China finally ended thirty-one years of domination
by Japan and emerged as the chief sporting power of Asia. The Games attracted
teams from thirty-three nations. China won sixty-one gold medals.
The 10th Asian Games were held in Seoul, South Korea, four years later.
The competition was close, with China winning ninety-four gold medals,
just one more than the host country. But China’s athletes dominated the next
Games in Beijing in 1990, winning 183 gold medals, and continued their
domination in the 12th Games, winning 137 gold medals in Hiroshima in
1994—a number that was later modified downwards because of positive
drug tests.
During the author’s period as a coach with the national track and field
team in Beijing in the mid-1980s, there was considerable reluctance on the
part of provincial teams to release top athletes for national teams. Coaches
and provincial organizations were very protective. Through the performance
of an athlete, a coach in China gains status, financial reward and, perhaps,
‘promotion’ to an administrative position. The situation has since changed.
To encourage provincial teams to release their top athletes for the 1996
Olympic Games, medals and points won in the Olympic Games counted
towards the final standings at the 1997 National Games.
If the results of the Chinese team at the 1988 Olympic Games were relatively
disappointing—five gold, eleven silver and twelve bronze medals—the results
in the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992, reflected the continued progress of
sport at elite level. The medal haul was sixteen gold, twenty-two silver and
sixteen bronze. However, China has yet to emulate such feats at the Winter
Olympic Games. Indeed, China only won its first medals in the Winter
126 Dennis Whitby

Olympics—three silver medals—at the 1992 Games, held in Albertville,

France. Two years later, in Lillehammer, Chinese athletes won a silver and a
bronze medal in speed skating and a bronze medal in figure skating to take
nineteenth place in the medal table.
China’s international sporting image has undoubtedly been tarnished since
1994 by drug scandals. Doubts were first raised when Chinese female
swimmers won twelve of sixteen titles in the 1994 World Championships,
setting five world records in the process. The positive tests at the 1994 Asian
Games—when eleven athletes, including seven swimmers, tested positive for
performance-enhancing drugs—threw the sport of swimming into turmoil.
Ironically, an Anti-Doping Congress had been organized in Beijing in April
1994, only six months before the Asian Games.
Numerous charges have been made that the country had adopted the former
East Germany’s systematic programme of doping. China’s sports leaders have
disputed the existence of such a programme, however, and claim that it is
impossible to prevent individual athletes and coaches from taking
performance-enhancing drugs. Whatever the truth, China was excluded from
the Pan-Pacific Games swimming competition in August 1995.
A new ‘get-tough’ campaign on banned substances was launched during
the 3rd National Urban Games in October 1995, with more than 300 random
tests being carried out; until then, tests had previously only been carried out
on race winners. All members of a team were to be banned for a year if two
individual team members tested positive. The ban would be extended to two
years if four athletes from the same team were caught using banned substances.
Subsequently, the bans were extended to include coaches. Swimming and
athletics were the major targets of the new policies.
Also in October 1995, the National People’s Congress in Beijing
unanimously adopted a law introducing additional drug testing during, and
outside, competition and stipulating tougher punishments for failed drugs
tests. The following month, another Anti-Doping Congress was held.
Clearly, China hoped that these measures would help erase the memory
of the positive dope tests of 1994. China’s athletes are now subject to a
strict programme of testing. The International Amateur Athletic
Federation, for example, employed two full-time foreign experts in 1995 to
travel throughout China conducting random tests. The Chinese Olympic
Committee has a similar group working full time. Indeed, just two days
before the Chinese track and field team were due to fly to the Hong Kong
Sports Institute in January 1996 for a three-week training camp, a number
of the athletes were tested in Beijing.

ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT
In parallel with the competitive sports system is a system designed to facilitate
the progress of young athletes through various levels of development until
 Elite sport 127

they reach national level. The journey starts at the spare-time sports school
and, for the best, ends with the national team. Most of China’s top athletes
have, at some time, passed through the sports school system during their
progress to national level.
As a technical consultant with the national track and field team from
1984 until 1986, the author was able to observe the system and a number of
schools and provincial teams in operation. Comments that were recorded
during this period are shown in the extracts.

The spare-time sports school

At the base of the pyramid is the spare-time sports school. There are more
than 3,500 of these schools throughout the country, providing specialist
coaching for more than 150,000 selected youngsters after school hours. In
the mid-1980s, Shanghai alone had twenty-six spare-time sports schools.
The Tiyuguan Lu (Sports Hall Road) spare-time sports school operates in
the National Training Centre where the author worked with the national
track and field team every day. In the mid-1980s, the school offered coaching
for children in seven sports—badminton, basketball, soccer, swimming, table
tennis, tennis, and track and field. Track and field athletes started training at
5 p.m., when national team members had finished for the day.

During discussions with two of the four track and field coaches at the
school, it emerged that students in the 10–14 age-range, the ‘first-class’,
are usually selected by the school’s coaches. Some are recommended by
their physical education teachers. There are no national standards for
selection, even though such standards exist.
In some cases, parents must be persuaded to allow their children to
attend the school and may refuse permission, either because sport is not
regarded by the family as a secure profession or because they would
prefer their child to participate in another, currently more prestigious,
sport such as gymnastics or volleyball. Some of the children receive a
small amount of money each month—about 12 yuan (US$4)—to assist
towards food expenses at home. All necessary clothing and equipment,
however, are provided by the school.
The coaches are employed full time. Those at the Tiyuguan Lu spare-
time sports school hold the rank of ‘top-class’ coach, the middle point in
track and field’s five-level coaching structure, but such qualifications are
not always necessary.
Beijing is divided into thirteen or fourteen districts and each district
holds annual competitions for the spare-time sports schools within its
boundaries. District teams then compete in the city championships and
the city team competes in a regional meet. In 1984, six athletes from the
school had represented Beijing in the North—East meet in Shenyang
128 Dennis Whitby

(Liaoning province), one of four regional meets in the country. From

there, qualifiers had progressed to the national championships in Jinzhou,
also in Liaoning.
Spare-time sports school students also compete in the national middle
school championships which are held every four years. In 1986, the
championships were held in Dalian in Liaoning province.
At the age of 13, athletes with little potential are dropped by the school
while more promising athletes are either recommended by the respective
head coach for admission to a central sports school or continue to train
for another three years in the spare-time sports school’s ‘top class’.

The central sports school

Provincial central sports schools select the best athletes from spare-time sports
schools and, in a few cases, the normal schools of the province or municipality.
Students live and train together on one site and study either on-site or off-site
at different schools. At the age of 16, athletes with little potential transfer to
normal high schools while top athletes normally progress to the provincial
team. Students usually study in the morning and train in the afternoon.
In May 1984, the author visited the Shanghai Sports School at the invitation
of the Shanghai Physical Culture and Sports Commission:

More than 500 youngsters in the 9–18 age-range live, study and train
together from Sunday evening until Saturday morning each week. They
are then free to go home for a few hours. The school has a faculty of fifty
teachers and seventy coaches. Classes are held 8 a.m.-12 noon and 5
p.m.—7 p.m. every day. The period from 2–5 p.m. is devoted to training
every day. The school supports fourteen sports.
Athletes are selected from residential sports schools which exist in
each of the twelve districts of Shanghai. Competition for admission to
the school is fierce. The entrance examination covers both general
education and sport. Students with poor grades are not allowed to
enter the next grade. Each student pays just six yuan (US$2) each
month towards food expenses. All other expenses are met by the
government.
During my visit, I observed practices in softball, volleyball, gymnastics
and track and field. The girls’ softball team had six players in the national
junior team. The boys’ volleyball team—the national junior champions—
was preparing for a trip to Japan. In the gymnastics hall, a group of
twenty-five 9-to-11-year-old boys and girls were working either
individually, in pairs or in larger groups, sometimes under the guidance
of one of the many coaches but, more often, coaching each other. The
standard of performance was high; I spotted a number of stunts that had
 Elite sport 129

been used by members of the senior national team during a gymnastics

competition in Beijing just two weeks before.

In June 1984, the author visited the Nanjing Institute of Physical Education
(NIPE), a provincial level institute, which trains physical education teachers
and coaches and serves as the training site for Jiangsu provincial teams and
the province’s central sports school. Two hundred students, selected from
spare-time sports schools throughout the province, resided at the sports school,
attending classes every morning and training every afternoon.

Twenty-five 11-to-14-year-old children were training in the modern six-

lane 25-metre training pool under the direction of an Australian coach,
currently completing her third three-month coaching contract in China.
During her first two contractual periods, she had been in charge of the
senior provincial team. Now, with increased emphasis upon age-group
swimming in China, she was preparing the sports school swimmers for
the 1st National Junior Games, to be held in October 1985. Her assistant
and interpreter was the swimming coach at the institute. Visiting spare-
time sports school coaches were observing her workouts as part of an
ongoing seminar. In an adjacent gymnasium, I observed seven young
divers performing exercises under the direction of two coaches, either on
trampolines or from springboards on to thick mattresses.
In the badminton hall, I spoke with the provincial badminton coach;
as we talked, the sports school’s badminton players were practising under
the direction of their own coach. There were twenty badminton players
in the school. They had been selected from a large training camp organized
earlier in the year and were preparing for the provincial junior and senior
championships. The provincial team coach himself worked mainly with
his own players and only supervised the sports school players. He had
just returned from Malaysia where the men’s national team had won the
Thomas Cup, but the women’s team had lost the Uber Cup. Four of his
players—two men and two women—had been in the team. He also
worked occasionally with the institute’s physical education students.
Two separate groups were working in the gymnastics hall. At one
end, a group of fifteen 9- and 10-year-old boys were practising. At the
other end, twenty 8-to-16-year-old acrobats were working individually
or in groups under the direction of a number of young coaches and
assistants. Some aspiring acrobats were lifting weights and performing
bodyweight exercises. The girls, in particular, showed good development
in the arms and shoulders.
As I watched, one youngster performed a press to handstand five times
in succession without touching the floor with his feet. Two groups, each
consisting of two girls and one boy, were working on balancing routines.
The athlete at the top was attached to a safety harness. Each balance was
130 Dennis Whitby

held for a count of five seconds. Another stunt was then performed; after
a five-minute rest, the routine was repeated.

Eleven years later, in October 1995, the author visited the NIPE for a second
time. The sports school now had 320 students, aged from 7 to 16. This period
represents the nine-year period of compulsory schooling in China. The goal
of the school is to balance education with training. At the age of 16, students
will either progress to the provincial team, enter the institute as a student—
or find a job. During the visit, the author observed seven or eight divers
undergoing dry-land training in a room adjacent to the pool. Five synchronized
swimmers were working with their coach while seven or eight other girls
were working unsupervised on the diving boards.
In May 1994, the author spent six days in Shenyang as a guest of the
Liaoning Physical Culture and Sports Commission and observed the Liaoning
sports system at work. The Shenyang Physical Culture and Sports School is
one of fourteen city sports schools that feed top athletes to the Liaoning
Sports Training Centre, the provincial team training centre. The school offers
coaching in eight sports. Approximately 20 per cent of the students progress
to the provincial team.
Besides preparing athletes for the provincial team, the school’s major goals
are to develop primary school physical education teachers and to participate
in provincial and national inter-city competition; Shenyang had taken first
place in the previous National Urban Games. The school’s students, recruited
from thirteen districts within the city, range from 6 (in gymnastics) to 21
years of age. One-hundred-and-twenty students attend elementary school.
The majority (470) are middle-school students.
In June 1995, a delegation from the Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI)
visited the Competitive Sports School at the Institute of Physical Education
(a national level institute) in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei. The school was
founded in 1980. In the mid-1980s, the school had drawn its talent from five
southern provinces. Students are now recruited from spare-time sports schools
throughout the country. The institute has an advantage over the Wuhan City
and provincial teams in being able to offer students the opportunity to enrol
as students when they reach the appropriate age.
The 250 students in the sports school live on campus, attending middle- or
high-school classes in the morning and training in the afternoon; younger
table tennis players and gymnasts attend primary school classes. Students
follow a shortened curriculum but sit for regular school examinations. The
school employs approximately thirty coaches, twenty teachers and thirteen
administrators. The coaches work only with sports school athletes; a number
are national or Olympic team coaches. Most athletes progress to municipal
teams or to provincial or national teams. A number have won medals in the
Asian and Olympic Games and World Championships; twenty-one athletes
were currently training for the 1996 Olympic Games.
 Elite sport 131

During our visit, we observed fourteen gymnasts training under the watchful
eye of three coaches; the school has a total of twenty-four gymnasts and
seven gymnastics coaches. The athletes perform early-morning exercises from
5 until 7.30 a.m., attend school in the morning and train from 2.45 until 6
p.m. One of the gymnasts that we watched was just 5 years old; she had
trained at the sports school for one year. A second gymnast had joined the
school when she was 7; she was now 11 years old.

The Beijing Sports Competitive school

At the top end of the pyramid of sports schools in China is the Beijing Sports
Competitive School which operates at the Beijing University of Physical
Education. In the mid-1980s; this was the only sports school that selected its
students from the whole of the country. The author visited the school in
March 1984 when the university was still known as the Beijing Institute of
Physical Education.

Instruction is provided in a number of sports, including basketball,

gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, swimming, track and field, and
volleyball. There are approximately 165 students, of whom approximately
forty-five are training in track and field. The starting age of the students
varies according to the sport. Gymnasts start as young as 5 or 6. Track
and field athletes start at 13.
Students attend classes every morning and evening. The sports school
has its own teachers. The students train every afternoon. At 18, most
progress to their provincial teams for further training. Those who do not
make the grade enter college or university as undergraduates while others
teach at middle schools or sports schools.
Coaches at the school have various responsibilities. Some are involved
solely with sports school students while others work with the institute’s
students or coach institute teams. A spare-time sports school is also
attached to the institute.
In the indoor hall, approximately 200 young athletes were working
under the direction of twenty track and field coaches. These athletes
were either students of the sports school or the institute or members of
the institute’s track and field team. Later in the day, students of the spare-
time sports school began their training.
Two 6-year-old girls were working on the asymmetrical bars in the
gymnastics hall under the direction of a coach. The coach said little; the
girls advised each other. Others were working on the beam and parallel
bars. Again, little was said but there was much activity. In a second
gymnastics hall, a group of 15- and 16-year-old boys and girls were
working hard on various pieces of apparatus.
132 Dennis Whitby

The provincial team

Provincial team coaches select their athletes from normal schools, spare-time
sports schools and central sports schools within the boundaries of their
respective provinces. At the provincial and national levels, Chinese sportsmen
and women are professionals—and openly so. Free room and board, medical
care, education and certain travelling expenses are provided; in addition,
athletes are paid monthly according to their age, experience and performances.
An athlete breaking a national record, winning a national title or winning a
medal in a major competition will receive a monetary bonus from the
provincial team, the national team, or both.
To prepare for their post-competitive careers, most athletes attend classes
at local institutes of physical education or other institutions of higher
education. Certain courses are mandatory. Each of the eighty athletes on the
Liaoning track and field team, for example, must attend all classes. For those
who wish to qualify as teachers or coaches, college classes are also provided.
In Shanghai, the Shanghai Technical Sports Institute, using its own classes
and teachers, prepares top athletes for careers in teaching and coaching. The
course lasts for four years.
Only the best provincial athletes are retained as team coaches once their
active competitive careers come to an end. The rest will either resume their
education or join the general work force; many will finish up working in
factories. At the end of their careers, Liaoning team athletes who cannot
find jobs in sport can turn to the labour department for help in finding
employment.
Provincial team coaches are employed on a part-time or full-time basis. If
part time, they may also work at a local institution of tertiary education or in
sports schools. During the author’s period in China, coaches of the Zhejiang
provincial track and field team were employed and paid by the Physical
Education Department of Hangzhou’s Teachers’ College. To hold such
positions, they had to be graduates of institutes of physical education. Liaoning
provincial coaches are full time. They, too, must hold degrees. Most provincial
coaches are former national-level athletes. In track and field, most have also
qualified as top-class coaches under the coach education programme of the
Track and Field Federation.
The training venues of provincial teams vary according to local conditions.
As noted previously, many Jiangsu teams train at the Nanjing Institute of
Physical Education. The Liaoning team trains in Shenyang during the winter
but moves to Dalian, on the coast, to escape the summer heat. Shandong
provincial teams train in Jinan during the winter but move to the coastal
resort of Qingdao for the summer. The provincial (and national) sailing teams
train in Qingdao all year round.
In October 1986, the author visited the Henan provincial team training
centre in the provincial capital of Zhengzhou. In addition to the track and
 Elite sport 133

field, gymnastics and weightlifting teams, the centre catered for a number of
team sports; target shooting and water sports teams trained elsewhere. The
men’s volleyball, wrestling, judo and track and field teams were amongst the
province’s strongest.

My visit took me first to the volleyball hall where the provincial men’s
team was performing a practice in threes; one man served, another set
and a third spiked. The weightlifting team was training outside in the
open-air.
From the volleyball hall, we walked to the general weight training
hall; this is used by all teams. The equipment was very old and badly
maintained. While we were inside the hall, the men’s judo and wrestling
teams arrived for group barbell work.
In the gymnastics hall, a group of seven 7-to-8-year-old girls were
performing a group warm-up. Once they had finished, the girls divided
into two groups; four girls each mounted a beam and, together, went
through a series of posture exercises under the direction of a young coach;
the other three girls worked on the asymmetrical bars. At the same time,
five 9-to-10-year-old boys performed leg-circles using a buck; two older
boys worked on the pommels.
Between the main hall and the entrance were two large pits full of
foam rubber for practice on the horizontal bar and rings. The manager
of the centre informed me that the gymnasts have classes every morning;
the centre employs its own teachers. There is, as yet, no system by which
older athletes, who also attend classes, can qualify as teachers or coaches,
but a system is being devised.
Our next stop was the women’s volleyball hall where the provincial
team was training. We then walked to see the new indoor track and field
hall being built. It will be an excellent facility when completed in 1987.
The hall is adjacent to two football fields and the outdoor track. Both
were deserted. The hall is also adjacent to the dormitory that is used by
the track and field team; the team was competing in the national
championships in the Henan provincial stadium at the time of my visit.
Our final stop was the basketball hall where the provincial junior
men’s team and women’s senior and junior teams were training. The
men were working on a fast break drill. The coaches stood and watched;
there was little correction of faults. The men themselves, although tall,
appeared to lack strength.
I left the training centre with a strong feeling of commitment on the
part of the athletes. Within a twenty-five-minute period, I had observed
nine provincial teams at practice. If every province in China has the same
system in place, it will not be long before China catches up with the rest
of the world.
134 Dennis Whitby

In October 1992, the author visited the Guangdong Sports Technical Institute
provincial team training centre, at Er Sha Tou in Guangzhou. At that time,
approximately 500 athletes were training at the institute. Athletes are selected
from thirteen sports schools in the province. Most athletes divide their time
equally between training and studying. Approximately forty teachers are
employed by the institute; classrooms are on-site. The institute accepts
responsibility for placing retired athletes in appropriate positions of
employment. Local employers co-operate in creating positions.
The institute employs either specialist sport coaches or sport science
coaches who combine coaching with research. The institute does not
employ specialist strength coaches but, at the time of the author’s visit, was
looking at the possibility of employing such coaches for groups of sports
(e.g. agility sports).
The author visited a number of facilities, including the rehabilitation centre,
with Jacuzzi, flotation units, massage machines and hydrotherapy units; a
50-metre swimming pool and adjacent weight training facility with charts
showing weekly training loads for each swimmer posted on the wall;
weightlifting and table tennis halls; and an athlete recreational centre. New
water polo and diving pools—the latter built as a result of successes at the
Barcelona Olympic Games—were under construction. The institute was also
developing a new rowing training centre and competition course.
A delegation from the HKSI visited the institute again in November 1995.
During our tour of the facilities, it was obvious that most of the buildings
had been renovated since the author’s previous visit. The institute now caters
for more than 700 athletes and employs approximately 500 staff members
and 160 coaches. Foreign coaches are employed in gymnastics, pentathlon,
rowing, shooting and track and field. The province has two other training
centres. The institute’s on-site school provides classes on Tuesday, Thursday
and Saturday mornings at all levels up to university level; a number of athletes
attend local universities. A few athletes have jobs.
Our first stop was the weightlifting hall. Three members of the provincial
women’s team were currently competing in the World Weightlifting
Championships that were being held at the institute; the three athletes won a
total of six gold medals. The provincial team coach informed us that the
athletes normally train twice each day on Monday, Wednesday and Friday
and once each day on Tuesday and Thursday.
From the weightlifting hall, we passed the table tennis training hall and
athletes’ living quarters, the building where chess and ‘Go’ players practise,
two outdoor tracks, a large games hall, another building for rhythmic
gymnastics, fencing and rehabilitation and the diving and swimming pools
that had been under construction at the time of the author’s previous visit.
The water polo team was practising in the swimming pool.
Approximately thirty-six gymnasts were training in eight or nine small
groups in the gymnastics hall. The institute employs ten coaches to train fifty
 Elite sport 135

gymnasts who train every morning and afternoon. We also observed thirteen
young divers performing dry-land training under the supervision of four
coaches and finished the tour at the badminton hall where approximately
twenty players were training. The rowing training centre and competition
course that had been planned in 1992 had still not been constructed.
Provincial team athletes are recruited to the Liaoning Sports Training
Centre from more than fifty sports schools that operate in the province.
The centre has five bases—three in Shenyang and two in Dalian. Provincial
teams in selected sports undergo altitude training in Qinghai and Yunnan
provinces.
In May 1994, the author visited the three training centre locations in
Shenyang. Ten sports are based at the major campus. A number of provincial
teams were training at the time of the visit, including the women’s basketball
and volleyball teams—both National Games champions. The second campus
hosts eight sports including boxing, cycling, fencing and wrestling. Between
them, Liaoning-based athletes in these sports won seven gold medals in the
1993 National Games. An on-site school, employing twenty-three teachers,
provides education from elementary to high school standard. The third campus
of the training centre caters for the shooting events. Athletes at the three
centres train for approximately six hours each day.
Since Liaoning is the most successful provincial team in China, it seems
appropriate to ask why is the Liaoning sports system so successful. First, the
drive to sporting excellence is supported financially by the province and the
central government. Few resources are directed towards public recreation.
Second, key events in which Liaoning athletes can be expected to excel were
identified in the mid-1980s, according to the physique of local athletes.
Shooting, swimming and track and field were also identified as sports in
which many medals could be won. Third, the physical attributes of Liaoning
people give them an advantage. Liaoning athletes had recently been placed
first in twenty-one of twenty-four indexes of physical performance adopted
by the All-China Sports Federation. Fourth, the population of Liaoning is
approximately 38 million. Liaoning emphasizes participation in competitive
sport from an early age and has a systematic method of talent identification—
perhaps the most systematic in China. There is a strong talent base which,
through the network of county and city sports schools, is optimized. Fifth, a
systematic coach education programme was initiated in 1988. Sixth, the system
allows athletes to simultaneously prepare for competition and continue their
education. Seventh, the adoption of scientific principles of training allows an
individual approach to coaching and training. Coaches are encouraged to try
new coaching methods. Finally, recent improvements in Liaoning’s economy
allow the province to send more than 100 coaches and 500 athletes overseas
each year.
The development of sport to such a high level has taken ten years. Such
has been the success of the Liaoning system that other provinces now come
136 Dennis Whitby

to Liaoning to ‘rent an athlete’. Selected athletes sign contracts and either

continue to train in Liaoning or move to their adopted provinces. Athletes
can compete for their new provinces during the contractual period. In this
way, more than 3,000 second- and third-tier Liaoning athletes have competed
for other provinces. It does raise questions, however, concerning the relative
inability of some other provinces to develop their own athletes.
A final word here about the People’s Liberation Army team, or PLA. In
theory, the army can recruit athletes from all provinces. However, this process
often results in conflict with provincial teams which invariably block the
registration of their capable athletes. In 1993, the Chinese Track and Field
Federation and the army reached an agreement for the 1997 National Games:
the army could recruit athletes in any province but any medal won by an
athlete would be credited to both the provincial team and the army team.

National team
In May 1995, a delegation from the HKSI visited the National Training
Bureau of the State Physical Culture and Sports Commission in Beijing.
The bureau was established in 1951. The staff manage the National
Training Centre and provide support for eleven national teams in nine
targeted Olympic sports: badminton, basketball (men and women), diving,
gymnastics, swimming, table tennis, track and field, volleyball (men and
women) and weightlifting.
The objective of the bureau is clear: to produce Olympic champions. In
the 1984 Olympic Games, athletes at the NTC won four of the fifteen gold
medals gained by Chinese athletes. In the 1988 Olympic Games, all five
Chinese gold medalists were based at the centre. In 1992, nine of the sixteen
gold medals won by Chinese athletes were won by athletes training at the
NTC.
Nearly all Chinese national teams in the major sports are sponsored by
foreign sports footwear companies. The soccer team is now sponsored by
Adidas, the swimming team by Mizuno and the track and field team, formerly
with Nike and Mizuno, by Reebok. The gymnastics team is sponsored by Li
Ning, a triple gold-medalist in Los Angeles, who is now a successful sportswear
manufacturer in Beijing. Contracts between such companies and national
federations vary in content but invariably provide for training camps overseas
and visits by foreign coaches, as well as the provision of apparel, shoes and
much-needed foreign currency.
From 1984 to 1986, the author spent two years coaching with the national
track and field team at the NTC in Tiyuguan Lu, Beijing. The experience
provided an opportunity to make a number of observations on elite sport in
general and track and field in particular.
The author’s role during the first six-month contract, from January to
June 1984, was to work with three Chinese sprint coaches and a group of
 Elite sport 137

eleven young sprinters—seven men and four women. The men had been
selected to train for the 1986 Asian Games and 1988 Olympic Games and
were expected to take over from the Guangdong provincial team as the top
sprinters in the country.
The author’s second contract started in February 1985. During this period—
lasting five months—the author worked only with the women’s group. This
time, the objective was more focused. Because the group had shown no
improvement since its formation four years earlier, the objective was to coach
at least one member of the group on to the national team—to be selected at
the national championships just four months later! If we failed, the group
would be dispersed.
The two contractual periods followed similar patterns. The first few weeks
were spent training and competing indoors at the NTC; it is too cold to train
outdoors. Both training and competition moved outdoors at the end of March.
In May, we attended a training camp in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province.
Finally, after returning to Beijing for final preparations, the athletes competed
in the National Championships in early June—in Nanjing in 1984 and
Shanghai in 1985.
In October 1985, the author began his third, and final, contract in Beijing.
This contractual period was to last thirteen months, a period which included
the Asian Games, in September 1986, and concluded with the second annual
national championships, in October 1986. The author was, once again, to
work with the women’s group but, this time, was allowed to invite additional
athletes to join the group. With this in mind, the author attended the 1st
National Junior Games in Zhengzhou in 1985 and then travelled to Nanjing
to observe the second national championships of the year.
Contrary to what is told to foreign reporters, national team athletes in
China do not compete ‘for the motherland’ or ‘for the glory of socialism’.
They compete for the same rewards that attract western athletes—status,
the opportunity to travel overseas and, of course, financial reward.
Overseas trips also mean pocket money in American dollars and,
sometimes, the opportunity to shop in Hong Kong. Given the standard of
living of the average Chinese citizen and the average annual salary—
approximately Y1,000 (US$113) in urban areas—such benefits take on
special meaning.
As noted previously, the best athletes usually become coaches when they
retire, while the remainder return to their studies or to the workforce. The
chance to study and to qualify as teachers or coaches is also provided during
their competitive careers.
National team coaches are generally employed full time. In the past, the
level of appointment of a coach reflected his/her competitive record as an
athlete; the best athletes became coaches of the national team, the next best
with the provincial team, and so on. Appointments were for life. The results
of such policies were predictable. First, the coaches at the NTC were not
138 Dennis Whitby

necessarily the best coaches available; indeed, many had had no prior coaching
experience. Second, successful coaches at lower levels had no chance of
promotion.
Since the mid-1980s, increased accountability and mobility have been
introduced into the system; coaches at the centre are now expected to ‘produce’
results or lose their jobs. A qualification in higher education is also required.
Many of the younger coaches now hold bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
Requirements for promotion from one level of accreditation to the next are
clearly specified. Officials have also reviewed selection procedures to ensure
that appropriate athletes are selected to represent China in international
competition.

SOME OBSERVATIONS: 1986

After working for two years within the sports system in China, the author
recorded the following comments:

Many visitors from overseas have branded Chinese sport as propagandist

and ideological on the basis of either only a few days in the country,
preconceived ideas or simply the belief that sport in Communist countries
is always used to promote political ideology. But China of the Cultural
Revolution and of Mao Zedong is not China of the 1980s and it is my
opinion that sport and politics are not as interdependent as they once
were. China has a political system which its leaders consider appropriate
to the needs of the people but they do not seek to impose that system on
others; China has no intention of exporting its revolution. China, in fact,
is adopting many western ideals—but at her own pace. Those who
interfere with the country’s internal affairs are told, politely but firmly,
to attend to their own business.
There is, of course, great national pride associated with sporting
honours won by both individuals and national teams. When the women’s
volleyball team plays, it seems that the whole nation watches the game
on television; there is pride in any victory. Successes at the 1986 Asian
Games similarly stirred the nation. But these were sporting, not political,
victories. Indeed, there is little difference between these displays of national
pride and those observed in the United States during the 1984 Olympic
Games in Los Angeles.
It is also true that China is bent on sporting success, but so are other
major nations throughout the world. The Chinese sports system is state-
sponsored yet there is an ever-increasing demand for sport to be self-
financing as in the West. China’s athletes are professionals and openly so
when compared with so many athletes in the West who earn lucrative
rewards as so-called amateurs.
 Elite sport 139

In general, China’s sports administraters and leaders are working hard

to close the gap on the rest of the world. Sport is progressing as fast as it
can and on many fronts at the same time. No effort is spared. Facilities
and competition are being upgraded and both athletes and coaches are
being exposed to foreign influences at home and abroad, particularly in
the country’s weaker sports. There is tremendous enthusiasm among those
involved in sport.
The problems that China faces in improving the standard of sport
go far beyond the qualities of her athletes and coaches. Although living
standards are improving rapidly, sport has little relevance to the lives
of those in the rural areas of the country—approximately 90 per cent
of the population; they have other priorities. As a result, most of the
athletes within the system are based in cities, particularly those in the
east.
Diet is another problem and the medical care of athletes, seemingly
treading a line between traditional Chinese and western techniques, seems
to be hopelessly inadequate at times, yet extremely effective at others.
There is also little sign of any real contribution from the country’s legion
of sports scientists; the gap between theory and practice mirrors that
found in the West.
Perhaps the greatest problem that China faces in attempting to close
the gap in elite performance is the pressure from the country’s leaders to
do so as quickly as possible. As a result, changes may be occurring too
quickly without time for consolidation at the various stages of
development. Cutting corners will not ensure progress. The aim of China’s
administrators and coaches is to turn the country into a world sporting
power by the end of the century. But the road from champion of Asia to
world power is a long and difficult one. Only time will tell if the goal is
realistic.

SOME OBSERVATIONS: 1996

Ten years on, much has changed. The objective of turning the country into a
world sporting power by the end of the century has clearly been achieved in
some sports. Talk to the top sports administrators and coaches in any province
and the listener is left, above all, with an impression of teamwork, of a steady
and relentless push towards excellence that involves everyone. The passion is
obvious—but not over-excessive.
But, as some sports have risen to the top, others have languished in
mediocrity. While China’s gymnasts, female swimmers and table tennis players
have achieved great successes in the Olympic Games and World
Championships, the record in other sports, including the major team sports
and track and field, is less impressive.
140 Dennis Whitby

Indeed, it is tempting to suggest that, given the fact that twelve years have
now passed since the 1984 Olympic Games, and given the vast resources that
have been committed to the development of elite athletes by the central
government and the massive population of more than 1 billion people, China’s
dominance of sport in the international arena is not what it should be. Perhaps
the tendency for the less-successful provinces to ‘rent’ second-tier athletes
from the more successful provinces is proof that the job is not getting done.
The success of cities such as Shanghai (population 13.5 million) and Beijing
(10.8 million) in the 7th National Games in 1993 suggests that having a
large population is not enough.
It is doubtful, of course, if any country will ever replicate the efficiency of
the sports system of the former German Democratic Republic. But why not?
Nine provinces in China—Anhui, Guangdong, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan,
Jiangsu, Shandong, Sichuan—have populations in excess of 50 million. They
also have the political desire and the resources. An in-depth study attempting
to identify the reasons why the Chinese sports system has not come close to
emulating the results of a country with a population of only 16 million would
make interesting reading.
One reason is undoubtedly the increasing affluence of the southern and
coastal provinces of China. This provides potential provincial- and
national-level athletes with alternative pathways to financial security; in
these provinces, it is becoming increasingly difficult to retain top athletes.
No longer does sport represent the only way out; there are easier ways of
making money. Indeed, in time, the southern provinces may experience the
same problem that Hong Kong now experiences in trying to retain top
athletes in a society that values financial security above everything. This is
particularly true of the male athlete who is usually perceived as the major
bread-winner in the family. This will probably result in China’s female
athletes continuing to outdistance their male counterparts in terms of
international success.
Another interesting trend is that the central government is now placing
more responsibility on lower levels of the hierarchy for funding. This
demand has passed all the way down to the districts and cities. As a result,
sports marketing and sponsorship are beginning to play an important role
and there is the realization that the influx of funds from the commercial
world can have negative, as well as positive, consequences for the
development of sport.
Indeed, there is now an increasing emphasis on cost-effectiveness
throughout the whole system. This has resulted in a new interest in sports
and facility management. Facilities are being upgraded and their use
optimized. Facilities that were previously used only by elite athletes at
various levels of the development hierarchy are now being viewed as
potential money-makers.
 Elite sport 141

It is clear that the challenges of the sports system in China of 1986 are not
the challenges now. The momentum that was obvious in the mid-1980s
appears to have been lost. After early gains, China now faces the same grind
that other nations face in trying to reach the summit. The country’s sports
leaders must look at quality rather than numbers. Following the doping
problems of 1994 and 1995, they also have to work to regain the trust of the
international sporting community.
Chapter 7

Professional training
Dennis Whitby, Zhu Peilan and Zhang Baoluo

COACH EDUCATION
Following the 11th Chinese Communist Party Congress in 1987, the
government stated that the country’s future development depended on progress
in science and elevation of the overall standard of education in the country.
The government also stressed that a scientific approach to training was a
prerequisite to raising the standard of competitive sport in China. Technology
and human resources must be developed and deployed.
Coaches in China are recognized as a valuable human resource and the
training of coaches is recognized as a prerequisite to raising sports standards.
Considerable emphasis has been placed on the education of quality coaches
ever since the Cultural Revolution (1966–76).
Until 1982, coach education in China was implemented through part-
time, short-term courses organized by individual national sports associations
(NSA), institutes of physical education, provincial sports technical colleges
and universities. In 1982, a Coach Education Division (CED), previously
known as the ‘Education and Training Department for Elite Sports Teams’,
was established under the Department of Sports Science and Physical
Education of the All-China Sports Federation. The major role of the division
is to manage and co-ordinate the education of athletes and coaches throughout
the country. The CED draws up broad principles and policies. With the
exception of advanced-level refresher training courses, it is the responsibility
of provincial organizations, working with provincial sports associations, to
administer and implement programmes locally. Coach education is
implemented through certification, refresher training courses, short-term
training courses and the CED’s information service. Coaches within the sports
system are classified as national, advanced and level 1, 2 and 3 coaches.
Unlike coaching classifications in the West, level 3 coaches are positioned at
the bottom of the hierarchy. All coaches must satisfy basic requirements in
academic certification, refresher training and coaching experience. The major
emphasis within the Coach Education Programme is certificate education at
the post-secondary or tertiary-education level. The purpose of certificate
 Professional training 143

education is to improve the theoretical basis, common knowledge and basic

techniques of coaches in the sports general theory component.
Most universities in China have separate sports and physical education
departments; their role is to train coaches and PE teachers. Unfortunately,
the number of graduates from sports departments who pursue careers in
coaching is very few. However, coaches who do not satisfy requirements for
admission to three-year full-time degree programmes may pursue a diploma
course in sports training, either on a full-time (two-year) or part-time basis,
or through distance learning.
The full-time diploma course is organized by the country’s fifteen institutes
of physical education and by sports technical institutes that have been
established in ten cities and provinces—Beijing, Guangdong, Heilongjiang,
Hunan, Liaoning, Shandong, Shanghai, Shanxi, Sichuan and Zhejiang. With
the exception of the sports technical institutes in Beijing and Zhejiang, which
have their own campuses, each institute also serves as the training venue for
its respective provincial team and is managed by the provincial sports
commission. The sports department at the Nanjing Institute of Physical
Education also delivers the full-time diploma course.
Institutes of physical education and universities that administer certificate
education follow a common syllabus set by the CED. The syllabus for
correspondence and part-time diploma courses is identical to that for the
full-time course for major (compulsory) topics, but differs for optional subjects.
Since 1986, a national examination, set by the National Education Department
and the Examination Management Centre, has been organized every
November by the CED.
A survey conducted by the CED in 1982 revealed that only 17 per cent of
all coaches held post-secondary education qualifications at diploma level or
above. Most national coaches now hold such qualifications. In 1990, another
survey showed that 56 per cent of the coaches held such qualifications. Few,
however, hold university degrees.

Refresher courses
Coaches are expected to supplement certificate education with refresher
courses, appropriate to their classification and particular sport. In contrast
to certificate education, which provides a solid base of all-round education
and theoretical understanding, refresher courses provide sport-specific training
for coaches. Emphasis is placed on developing coaching and management
skills, and coaching ethics.
Refresher courses were first initiated in 1987 in track and field for a trial
period of eighteenth months. In 1989, a nation-wide pilot scheme was
implemented for all sports when the Physical Culture and Sports Commission
established a Leading Group for Coach Refresher Courses to establish relevant
policies and guidelines. The CED implements these policies and administers
144 Dennis Whitby, Zhu Peilan and Zhang Baoluo

the programme. The same year, each NSA was required to establish a
Consultation Group for Coach Refresher Training to co-ordinate development
of curricula and course content.

Course organization
Courses are organized at three levels: advanced (for national and advanced
coaches), intermediate (for level 1 coaches) and elementary (for level 2 and
3 coaches). Elementary- and intermediate-level courses are organized by
cities and provinces. The majority of courses are organized in sports
departments of institutes of physical education and universities, and in
provincial sports technical institutes. Organization of advanced-level
courses is delegated by the CED to an institute of physical education which
specializes in the sport. The institute then joins forces with the respective
NSA to organize the course.
The Leading Group established a set of fifteen procedures to ensure the
quality of courses organized by NSAs; these apply to areas such as course
organization and management, selection of course tutors, teaching materials,
course evaluation and the issuing of certificates. The procedures are distributed
to all provincial organizations, NSAs and institutes of physical education.
Course reports must be filed with the Leading Group.
There follows a list of institutes and their areas of speciality:

Beijing Rhythmic gymnastics, soccer, swimming, track and field

(field events), weightlifting and wrestling
Chengdu Fencing and handball
Guangxi Diving
Shanghai Archery, badminton, cycling, table tennis, track and field
(middle and long-distance running) and wushu
Shenyang Winter sports
Tianjin Softball, tennis and volleyball
Wuhan Army sports and water sports
Xi’an Judo

Advanced-level courses are also organized at the Beijing Shooting Centre

and, in basketball, at the Beijing Teachers’ College of Physical Education.
The CED has established broad principles and guidelines that must be
followed by NSAs when developing course outlines for refresher courses.
These emphasize integration of ‘systematization’ with sport-specialization,
theory with practice and foundation with application. Course outlines must
be approved by the CED before implementation. As soon as approval is given,
NSAs may organize courses. Many professionals are involved in developing
the outlines, including coaches, sports administrators, sports scientists and
university teachers. The Division permits a high degree of flexibility in the
 Professional training 145

course content of elementary and intermediate courses, but closely supervises

advanced-level courses.
Local SAs and institutes of physical education are permitted to select their
own course tutors for elementary and intermediate courses. However, the
CED provides guidelines for NSAs to follow when selecting tutors for
advanced-level courses and appointments must be approved. Teaching
materials are expected to be systematically prepared, utilized, reviewed and
refined.

Par t- and full-time courses

Because of initial uncertainty concerning the suitability of material for full-
time, part-time and correspondence courses, and because of a limited supply
of course tutors and teaching materials, the emphasis was placed initially on
organizing only full-time refresher training courses. To minimize disruption
of training, most sports now organize full-time courses after a major
competition at the end of the season. For this reason, most courses are
organized between October and December. Although the normal course
duration is two months, the CED allows individual NSAs to use a format
which best suits the nature and competition schedule of the sport. Soccer, for
example, organizes two one-month training courses during the first and second
half of the year.
Pilot part-time courses started in 1995, however and, in the future, part-
time courses are expected to replace full-time courses, providing the availability
of a sufficient number of course tutors and appropriate teaching materials.

Funding
Government provides partial subsidies to provinces and cities to organize
elementary and intermediate courses; provinces and cities normally have to
provide some funding. Coaches’ employers are responsible for paying some
of the expenses. Government and NSAs provide all funding for advanced
courses.
A new policy requiring participating coaches to contribute towards the
production of course materials at all levels is currently under consideration.

Par ticipants
Individual city and provincial sports commissions decide on the number of
coaches who attend elementary and intermediate courses; coaches are released
from their coaching duties. Coaches who successfully complete a course are
awarded a Coaches’ Refresher Course Diploma. This diploma is different
from that received through the certificate education process.
Refresher courses will shortly become mandatory for coaches to retain
146 Dennis Whitby, Zhu Peilan and Zhang Baoluo

their positions. Coaches will be expected to complete a minimum number of

hours of training every four years. The first deadline will be 2000. Coaches
who do not fulfil the specified requirements by that year may be released.
Coaches who are hoping for promotion will be expected to satisfy more
stringent requirements. Promotion of coaches in a provincial training centre
is determined jointly by the personnel department and the provincial sports
commission. For this reason, provincial sports commissions are expected to
maintain a record of all coaches and their training experience. Promotion in
the National Training Centre in Beijing is determined jointly by the personnel
department and the National Training Bureau of the State Physical Culture
and Sports Commission.

National coaches
National team coaches are not all classified as national coaches; indeed, the
majority of the country’s national team coaches, and a number of provincial
team coaches, are advanced coaches. Similarly, not all classified national
coaches are national team coaches.
A systematic approach to refresher training for national coaches has yet
to be established during the current transitional period; the development of
such coaches is mainly achieved through self-study.
Seminars for national coaches are jointly organized by the CED, the NSAs
and the National Training Bureau. These are based on the specific needs of a
sport and problems encountered during training. By the end of 1995, two
seminars had been organized—in gymnastics (on sports injuries) and track
and field (strength training and recovery). National coaches are required to
present a thesis following each seminar. The CED encourages NSAs to work
with each other to jointly organize such seminars.
Currently, such development opportunities for national coaches are initiated
and co-ordinated by the CED. In the near future, it is hoped that NSAs will
recognize the importance and effectiveness of such courses and take over the
work.
A meeting is organized annually to evaluate the refresher training
programme. Participants include members of the Leading Group for Coach
Refresher Courses, senior staff of the CED, institutes of physical education
and NSA Consultation Groups for Coach Refresher Courses. The programme
continues to develop. By January 1996, twenty-three of thirty-two NSAs had
established consultation groups and, by the end of 1996, ten NSAs had
finalised their course outlines. A survey has shown that coaches are generally
content with the effects of the programme.
As expected, however, there have been some teething problems:

• By January 1996, only the Badminton Sports Association had completed

all teaching materials. Another three or four NSAs, including winter sports
 Professional training 147

and wushu, were due to have their teaching materials completed by the
end of 1996. Teaching materials for all twenty-three sports are expected
to be finalized by 2000.
• Course tutors are still refining their teaching methods and attempting to
learn more about in-service training.
• By January 1996, only 2,500 coaches of more than 25,000 in China had
participated in refresher courses. The number of qualified elementary
and intermediate coaches is very few.
• Development of the programme lacks balance across different sports,
levels and geographical areas.

Short-term courses are usually organized by individual NSAs after major

competitions or during training camps. Courses last for only one or two
days. Topics are very specific. The CED organizes similar short-term courses
on sports-general topics.

Information service
The Information Service operates through publications such as China Sports
Coach. The periodical contains updated information on coach education,
training methodology and coaching.

General
The CED has encountered two major problems in implementing the Coach
Education Programme. First, the majority of coaches do not understand the
objectives and importance of the programme. Second, there is a discrepancy
between academic qualifications and coaching standards. A number of coaches
who are operating at the highest level lack requisite academic qualifications;
conversely, many well-qualified coaches lack the ability to coach at a high
level.
The CED used information from Canada, Germany, Japan and the United
Kingdom as an early reference when establishing the coach education
programme. Since then, however, the programme has developed on the basis
of the characteristics and specific needs of the country’s sports system. For
this reason, a number of major differences exist between the programme and
its counterparts around the world:

• In most countries, the central coach education agency is responsible only

for the administration and implementation of the sport-general theory
component. In China, the CED administers both sport-general theory
and sport-specific components.
• China’s Coach Education Programme services only those coaches who
operate in the elite athlete development programme. Other coach
education programmes do not normally have such a narrow focus.
148 Dennis Whitby, Zhu Peilan and Zhang Baoluo

• The programme integrates tertiary education with adult education,

certificate education with refresher courses, and full- and part-time
education with distance learning.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION
For historical reasons, education in China is less well-developed than in a
number of other countries. In 1993, however, the government launched the
Reformation of Education. In 1995 the Reformation of Education and
Science Technology was launched. For the ninth 5-year plan (from 1996 to
2000), adult and in-service education are being especially emphasized. The
Education Department is responsible for determining physical education
syllabuses for primary and secondary schools. Since 1986, universities have
developed their own syllabus with advice provided by the Education
Department.
The minimum numbers of hours of physical education required by students
each week varies according to the level of education:

Level of education: Hours weekly:

Primary 3 hours
Lower secondary 2 hours
Upper secondary 3 hours
University, 1st and 2nd year 2 hours
University, 3rd and final year Optional

The Department of Science and Education of the All-China Sports Federation

is responsible for training physical education teachers. Primary and secondary
school teachers are trained in the country’s sixteen institutes of physical
education and 186 physical education faculties in teachers’ colleges and
universities. Subject areas and content are the same for all institutes for major
subjects; optional subjects may vary.
The Chinese government has established a set of basic academic
requirements for teachers at each level. Primary school PE teachers are
expected to be graduates of sports technical colleges. There are, altogether,
300,000 primary school PE teachers; a number do not satisfy the basic
requirement. Teachers in lower secondary schools are expected to hold
diplomas. PE teachers in upper secondary schools are expected to hold
bachelor’s degrees. A master’s degree is required of every university PE
teacher.
In 1993, it was proposed that all PE teachers should satisfy these minimum
requirements and thereby gain accreditation within ten years, either through
normal education or continuing education. Provincial organizations organize
courses for primary and secondary school teachers. The Department of Science
and Education of the All-China Sports Federation organizes short-term courses
 Professional training 149

in sports institutes every year for university PE teachers. Attendance, however,

is not mandatory.
The Institute of Physical Education Section (IPES) of the Department of
Sports Science and Physical Education of the All-China Sports Federation is
responsible for all matters relating to the country’s six major institutes of
physical education, in Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai, Shenyang, Wuhan and
Xian, with the exception of personnel and finance matters which are
administered directly by the personnel and finance departments of the Chinese
government. The section is also responsible for the country’s ten sports
technical colleges which train respective provincial teams and, together with
the institutes of physical education, play an important role in implementing
the country’s coach education programme. Matters relating to personnel and
finance of these colleges are handled by the provincial governments.
The IPES has responsibility for administering the following specific areas:
enrolment, course outlines, inter-institute competitions, library, teaching
materials, information technology and research and teaching methodology.
The curriculum of the six institutes and ten sports technical colleges includes
ten major subjects: Chinese medicine and orthopaedics, community sports,
physical education, physical fitness and recovery, sports biology, sports
journalism, sports management, sports psychology, sports training and wushu.
The curriculum varies for different institutes and colleges; no single institute
or college provides all ten subjects. The syllabus and content of major subjects
are the same for each institute, but optional subjects vary according to the
particular needs of each institute. The Beijing University of Physical Education
provides most, but not all, of the topics.
If there is a need to add new subjects to the curriculum, the Section Chief
of the IPES drafts a proposal for the Curriculum Committee; the Section
Chief serves as general secretary of the Committee. Approval from the State
Education Commission is required before any new subject is added.
For master’s degree courses, the syllabus is the same for major (compulsory)
subjects but, again, varies according to the institute for optional subjects.
The IPES is also responsible for master’s degree courses offered by the
institutes.
The amount of funding allocated to institutes varies according to variations
in the scale and profile of the institutes. The Beijing University of Physical
Education, as the premier institute of physical education in China, receives
more funding than its sister institutes.
In 1984 and 1985, while serving as technical consultant with the national
track and field team in Beijing, the author (Whitby) had an opportunity to
visit four institutes of physical education—in Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai and
Wuhan—and the Physical Education Department of the Beijing Normal
University. Comments that were recorded following these visits are extracted
below.
Since 1991, the author (Whitby) has revisited the institutes of physical
150 Dennis Whitby, Zhu Peilan and Zhang Baoluo

education in Beijing, Nanjing and Wuhan. Additional visits have been made
to the Guangzhou and Shenyang Institutes of Physical Education.

Beijing University of Physical Education

The Beijing University of Physical Education (BUPE), situated close to Beijing
University and Qinghua University in the north-west corner of the city, is the
country’s major institution of physical education. Of the six institutes of
physical education which operate under the jurisdiction of the Department
of Sports Science and Physical Education of the All-China Sports Federation,
only the BUPE recruits nationwide; the other five institutes recruit athletes
and students on a regional basis.
The author (Whitby) visited the BUPE, then the Beijing Institute of Physical
Education (BIPE), in March 1984 and, again, in 1993 and 1995. An informal
meeting was also held with the new President of the BUPE, Professor Jin Ji
Chuan, in Beijing in January 1996.

The BIPE was founded in 1953 and currently has a total of 2,000 students
and 1,000 staff-members, including 400 faculty-members. The institute’s
main role is to train teachers, coaches and scientists.
There are five major departments in the institute: physical education,
sports training, theory, graduate and wushu. The institute also has its
own residential sports school and spare-time sports school.
The physical education department trains teachers of physical
education for middle schools and universities. The sports training
department trains coaches. The theory department is responsible for the
development of scientists. The institute also provides two-year courses,
various short courses and a correspondence course.
Students are admitted to the institute on the basis of examination
marks and their scores on a battery of physical tests. Tuition, room and
board and medical care are provided free of charge. A number of overseas
students attend the institute but live in separate accommodation; they
attend language classes every day.
Undergraduates undertake a four-year course of study, taking courses
in anatomy, biomechanics, exercise physiology, foreign languages, the
history of the Chinese Communist Party, Marxist political economy,
pedagogy (teaching method), philosophy, sports medicine and sports
theory.
Upon completing his/her course of study, each student is assigned a
job within the government’s centralized placement system. Since 1953,
more than 10,000 graduates of the institute have accepted positions
around the country.
The institute has awarded graduate degrees in physical education since
1954. Courses of study extend for three years. Research by graduate
 Professional training 151

students and faculty members is published in the Journal of the Beijing

Institute of Physical Education.
Facilities at the institute are extensive, covering 65 hectares and
including eleven training halls and fifty outdoor sports grounds and courts.
Buildings are more than thirty years old; the exteriors look dilapidated
but the interiors are well-maintained. A new building programme is
underway.
Our first stop was the indoor Olympic-size swimming pool where a
small group of students was practising synchronized swimming. Our
second stop was the indoor track and field hall where more than 200
students, track and field team members and sports school athletes were
working under the supervision of more than twenty full-time specialist
teachers and coaches.
The teachers apologized for the poor condition of the four-lane cinder
track. The track is used by college students for competition during the
winter. The institute also has two outdoor cinder tracks. Weight training
equipment (and the techniques that were being used) were very poor.
In the games hall, classes in women’s basketball and men’s basketball
and volleyball were in progress. In one building, a much-respected martial
arts teacher was putting a group of six students through their paces for
the benefit of a camera crew. There were also classes in rhythmic
gymnastics, fencing, wrestling and weight training. These classes were
held in smaller sports halls surrounding a courtyard; two wushu classes—
one for men and one for women—were in progress in the courtyard. At
the end of the class, the students lined up in front of the teacher to receive
final instructions, bowed to the teacher and were dismissed.
I was particularly impressed by the amount of activity going on in
each class. There was, on average, one foreign student in each class—
three or four from African nations, two from Kuwait in the martial arts
class and one European, looking totally exhausted, in the wrestling class!
Two or three teachers were working with each of the larger classes;
specialist groups such as gymnastics and rhythmic gymnastics also had
the services of pianists.

Guangzhou Institute of Physical Education

Founded in 1958, the Guangzhou Institute of Physical Education (GIPE) is
located adjacent to the Tian He Sports Centre that was built for the 1987
National Games in the Tian He District of Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong
Province. The institute is responsible for developing physical education
teachers, coaches, sports managers and sports scientists. The institute currently
has approximately 1,000 students and employs a total of 480 staff members;
of these, approximately 50 per cent are teaching staff.
Two degree programmes are offered by the institute. The physical education
152 Dennis Whitby, Zhu Peilan and Zhang Baoluo

personnel department offers a degree in physical education for prospective

teachers. Graduates are appointed to teaching positions or coaching positions
in schools or as physical education personnel in sports associations. The sport
training department offers a degree in sport studies for prospective coaches.
Graduates are employed as company, factory or school coaches or with
Guangzhou City or Guangdong provincial teams. Master’s degree programmes
have been offered in sports administration, teaching or training since 1986.
The institute also has research, adult education, ball games, multi-sport and
track and field departments.
Indoor facilities include a teaching building, laboratory, library, indoor
swimming pool and basketball, volleyball, wushu, table-tennis and badminton
halls; outdoor facilities include a stadium for track and field, and a number
of football and baseball pitches.
Currently, approximately sixty students from Hong Kong travel to
Shenzhen every weekend to attend the institute’s two-year part-time diploma
in physical education; course graduates can teach at the middle and high
school level in Guangdong. Another sixty students travel to Shenzhen every
month to attend the institute’s three-year part-time degree course in physical
education. Approximately thirty Hong Kong students have completed these
degree programmes.

Nanjing Institute of Physical Education

Founded in 1958, the NIPE is one of twenty institutions of higher education
in the city. The institute was closed during the Cultural Revolution but
reopened in 1980. Many new facilities have since been built.

The NIPE has approximately 500 students studying in either the physical
education department or the sports training department to become
teachers of physical education or coaches. Students receive bachelor’s
degrees.
The institute also has a residential sports school and serves as the
training site for members of the Jiangsu provincial team, the only institute
of physical education which has this role. There are no graduate students
at the institute.
The institute has two tracks. A group of physical education students
was practising on one track in the old stadium that was used for the
1938 Asian Games. The 400m cinder track in the stadium encircles a
second, 300m track. On the inner track, a class of fifty students had been
divided into groups; one group was practising the straddle. The institute
also has a 200m indoor track that was built in the 1950s; this, also, was
badly in need of repair.
The swimming pool was occupied by athletes from the sports school
during my visit and a group of physical education students were using
 Professional training 153

the diving pool. In an adjacent hall, provincial team members were refining
their diving techniques using springboards, crash mats and trampolines.

In October 1995, the author (Whitby) again had the opportunity to visit the
NIPE and was given a brief tour of some of the facilities by President Hua
Xiong Xing. The institute now has 1,300 physical education students pursing
two-year diploma, or four-year degree, courses. The institute has also acquired
a number of new facilities, including a new swimming hall and a new track.
The grandstand from the old track that was used for the 1938 Asian Games,
however, is still standing.

Shanghai Institute of Physical Education

In 1984, the Shanghai Institute of Physical Education (SIPE) was ranked
with the institutes in Wuhan and Shenyang as joint number two in the country,
behind the BIPE. The author visited the institute in May 1984. The following
notes were recorded at that time:

The SIPE was established in 1952 by merging the physical education

departments of Nanjing University, the East China Normal University
and Jinling College. During the Cultural Revolution, the institute was
integrated with other higher education institutes to become the Shanghai
Normal University. The institute was re-opened in 1974. The institute
currently employs forty professors and fifty-two assistant professors and
has a total of 863 undergraduate and forty-three graduate students
working on a full-time basis towards qualifications in teaching or
coaching. Another 680 students are studying correspondence courses.
Students normally attend classes in the morning and train in the
afternoon. A number of the students train with the provincial team at
the Sports Technical Institute but the institute has first claim upon their
services.
Master’s degrees are offered in anatomy, biomechanics, exercise
physiology, theory of teaching and wushu; doctoral programmes in
anatomy and wushu may be introduced in the near future. Students who
complete the three-year master’s degree programme normally enter the
coaching profession or accept research positions. The better students join
the institute’s faculty.
I visited the volleyball hall (with its packed-earth floor) and a
comparatively new sports hall, consisting of two connected double-storey
buildings. In one building, the ground floor is used for table tennis; I
counted twenty-five tables. The top floor is used for wushu and taichi.
The ground floor of the second building is divided into two parts, one
for basketball and one for gymnastics and judo. The top floor of the
building is divided into two basketball halls.
154 Dennis Whitby, Zhu Peilan and Zhang Baoluo

Shenyang Institute of Physical Education

The author visited the Shenyang Institute of Physical Education in May
1994. The institute was established in 1954 and is one of the six institutes
that operate under the jurisdiction of the All-China Sports Federation. The
institute recruits athletes and students from Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning
and Mongolia.
The Shenyang Institute of Physical Education has a staff of 300, including
twenty-two professors, sixty-eight associate professors and 100 lecturers, and
1,500 students. Students are admitted to study for a diploma in sports training
(two years), a bachelor’s degrees in physical education, sports training or
wushu (four years), or a master’s degree in health and fitness or training
foundations and methods. The institute also provides distance learning courses
for more than 600 students, leading to a three-year diploma or a bachelor’s
degree in sports training; students who are studying through distance learning
must visit the institute twice each year.
Diploma-holders generally find jobs in the local community. Students who
complete their degrees in sports training become coaches. Those with other
degrees find employment in higher middle schools or universities. Graduate
students normally find jobs at other institutes of physical education.
The author visited the biomechanics laboratory (housing a Cybex 6000),
a cinder track (built in 1929), a ski jump and a brand new two-storey games
hall for basketball and volleyball. This stands adjacent to the institute’s indoor
track and field hall, built in 1956.

Wuhan Institute of Physical Education

The author spent ten days at the Wuhan Institute of Physical Education (WIPE)
in May 1984 and another twelve days in April 1985. On each occasion, the
purpose of the visit was to attend a training camp organized jointly by the
institute, the Hubei Provincial Physical Culture and Sports Commission and
the Chinese Track and Field Association. The following comments were
recorded following the second visit:

Situated by the East Lake in Wuhan, the WIPE was founded in 1953 and
serves the provinces of Hebei, Henan, Hunan, Guangdong and Guanxi.
The institute has a total of 1,500 students.
The institute’s main priority is the preparation of teachers and coaches.
Prospective teachers study in the physical education department;
prospective coaches study in the sports training department. All students
pursue a four-year course of study leading to the award of a bachelor’s
degree.
The institute has its own residential sports school, graduate school
and an adult education department for practising teachers; in-service
 Professional training 155

courses last for three months. Graduate students study for three years
but receive no degree at the conclusion of their course.
The major areas of concentration of the sports training department
are track and field, volleyball and wushu. Of the 150 students in the
department, twenty-four are studying track and field. Students specialize
in their chosen sport as soon as they enter the institute but do much of
their work in the physical education department.
The institute is known nationally for its wushu programme. Students
enter the programme two years before their fellow students and follow a
six-year programme. Once qualified, wushu specialists are appointed as
provincial team coaches or as coaches in institutes of physical education
and universities.
Facilities at the institute include two cinder tracks, an indoor track, a
gymnastics hall, basketball hall, volleyball hall and a number of general
sports halls.
During my first visit in 1984, I observed two track and field classes
for male physical education students in progress—for first and second-
year students, respectively. While the second-year group practised putting
the shot, the first-year group—one of fifteen in the year—practised
hurdling. This group would participate in two two-hour sessions of track
and field each week for three years. The instructor was the head of the
track and field section.
At the beginning of the session, the class lined up in military fashion
under the direction of one student. Standing to attention, the group was
then handed over to the instructor. Instructions were issued and the warm-
up began. This consisted of running round the track in two lines and
performing group exercises. The instructional part of the session consisted
of progressive hurdles drills followed by block starts and three-stride
hurdling over five or six hurdles.
My host apologized for the level of skill displayed by the students but
the level was higher than I had previously experienced in either England
or the United States. What was lacking was conditioning. I was informed
that the students would have two months of teaching practice during
their last year at the institute. When they graduated, they would be
appointed top teaching positions in their home provinces.

In June 1995, a delegation from the Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI) visited
the WIPE. The visit took place exactly ten years after the author’s previous
visit to the institute. As noted previously, the WIPE is now one of the country’s
six major institutes of physical education which operates under the jurisdiction
of the All-China Sports Federation.
In 1995, the WIPE had approximately 2,000 full-time students, 800
correspondence-course students and 800 members of staff. The institute
continues to service a number of students from other provinces. The major
156 Dennis Whitby, Zhu Peilan and Zhang Baoluo

role of the institute continues to be the preparation of teachers of physical

education and coaches. Emphasis is also being placed on the development of
sports administrators and sports psychologists. The institute is organized into
five departments: physical education, sports training, sports management,
sports psychology and wushu. The graduate school, adult education school
and residential sports school continue to operate.
The institute established the country’s third department of wushu in 1984.
The department has approximately 300 students and thirty-six staff-members
and is well known for its expertise in free-fighting. Admission is very
competitive. Students work for four years towards a bachelor’s degree,
attending classes in the morning and practising every afternoon. Following
their studies, students progress to the provincial team, become teachers in
institutes of physical education or universities, or join the police or public
security. The department also offers a three-year master’s degree programme.
Besides wushu, the institute excels in sports such as boxing, gymnastics
and water sports and takes a leading role in coach education. Facilities at the
institute include ten dedicated facilities, including halls for artistic gymnastics,
basketball, boxing, rhythmic gymnastics, table tennis, track and field,
volleyball and wushu. In the wushu hall, the delegation observed different
groups of first-, second- and third-year students performing free-fighting and
routine exercises in preparation for a competition in the afternoon. Professor
Jiang Bai-long, Dean of the Department, was planning to start a self-funded
residential high school in September 1995. He hoped to have approximately
100 fee-paying students enter the school each year.
Our delegation also observed WIPE students training in three sports—
canoeing, rowing and wrestling:

• The institute employs six coaches to work with a total of eighty canoeists.
The delegation saw thirty canoeists training on the East Lake; all are
students at the institute. Four students were training elsewhere with the
national team.
• Rowing is one of the institute’s strongest sports and attracts athletes from
other provinces. The institute has approximately 100 rowers. The delegation
saw sixteen members of the women’s team performing weight training; all
were students of the institute or of the residential sports school. Four rowers
were currently training with the national team in Guizhou.
• The institute employs six coaches to work with seventy wrestlers. The
delegation observed demonstration competition-bouts in three styles of
wrestling—freestyle, traditional Chinese and Greco-Roman.

Beijing Normal University

As noted previously, primary and secondary school teachers are also trained
in physical education faculties in various teachers’ colleges and universities.
 Professional training 157

The author visited the physical education department of the Beijing Normal
University (BNU) in April 1985.

The university, founded in 1902, has more than 5,000 students. The
majority study for four years towards bachelor’s degrees in education
and subsequently enter the teaching profession; language students study
for five years. All students study English or Japanese for two-and-a-half
years.
The BNU offers doctoral degree programmes in more than twenty
disciplines.
Each student is required to perform early morning exercises at 6.30
a.m. and, during the first two years’ study, to participate in a physical
education class each week, lasting for 1 hour 40 minutes. During my
visit, I observed seven or eight of these classes in progress in basketball,
volleyball and wushu in a large outdoor area consisting of twelve
basketball courts. Courses in gymnastics, skating, soccer, swimming and
track and field are also offered. These classes are similar to the in-service
classes that are required in many American universities and are considered
to be part of the student’s personal education. Discipline was good and
the students worked hard.
The physical education department has approximately 300
undergraduate students. There are eight groups of students in each year,
four for men, four for women. Each group stays together for the full
four-year period. Entry into the department depends upon academic
performance—slightly lower than in other departments—and students’
performance on field tests such as a 100m sprint, chins (push-ups for
women), sit-ups, etc. The department employs 115 staff members who
also teach the non-specialist classes.
The university and the Beijing Institute of Physical Education are the
only institutions which are allowed to send their physical education
graduates anywhere in the country; the graduates of other institutions,
including the Beijing Normal College, must work locally. Twenty per
cent of the BNU’s graduates are assigned positions; the remaining 80 per
cent obtain positions through direct contact with prospective employers.
From 1986, all students will be free to obtain jobs by applying directly.
Although the Department’s students are qualified to teach in lower-
or upper-middle schools or high schools, 80 per cent had obtained
employment in universities, factories or research institutes in 1984, thanks
to the rapid increase in the number of research institutes in China. The
best students are sometimes retained by the university.
From 1986, the department plans to offer graduate courses leading to
the award of a master’s degree. Possible areas of study include
biomechanics, exercise physiology, history, theory of physical education
and track and field.
158 Dennis Whitby, Zhu Peilan and Zhang Baoluo

I was accompanied during my visit to the BNU by Mr Tian Jizong,

Head of the Physical Education Department. Mr Tian had studied in
Moscow for four years in the 1950s and at the University of Massachusetts
in the United States for eighteen months.
My visit took me to a track and to the sports and gymnastics halls. I
also observed an outdoor class in wusbu. The track that we visited is
used exclusively by physical education students; another track is used by
students from other departments. Three groups, each consisting of
approximately twenty male students, were practising various events. The
department has nine staff members who specialize in track and field.
The sports hall has four courts—two for basketball and two for
volleyball. While a first-year class of male students practised their
volleyball skills, a class of second-year male students was receiving
instruction in the basics of zone defence; a wusbu group worked outside.
The gymnastics hall was small and old but the gymnastics equipment,
permanently in place, was quite adequate. Second-year students were
undergoing a practical assessment in the vault under competition rules.
The technical level appeared to be quite good.

SUMMARY
A unified classification system for sports officials has been established at six
levels—international, national and advanced levels, and levels 1, 2 and 3.
Institutes of physical education are responsible for training and accrediting
level 1, 2 and 3 officials. Students can sit the level 1 examination at the end of
their final year of study. National sports associations are responsible for
training and accrediting advanced- and national-level officials.
In general, the current group of top sports administrators in China gained
their management experience in education, the army and youth societies.
Few have undergone formal training; formal training started in 1985. Short-
term in-service training courses are now organized by the Department of
Sports Science and Physical Education of the All-China Sports Federation.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank Alison Wong, Assistant Manager, Coach
Education Department, Hong Kong Sports Institute, and Yin Fei-fei,
Coach Education Division, Department of Sports Science and Physical
Education, All-China Sports Federation, for their assistance in developing
this chapter.
Chapter 8

Chinese women and sport

James Riordan and Dong Jinxia

INTRODUCTION
The performance of top Chinese women athletes in the 1990s has been
unprecedented in the history of sport. Not only have they made remarkable
progress from virtual obscurity to world champions and record breakers,
they have far surpassed the performance of their male compatriots in
international sport. This unique phenomenon extends from middle- and long-
distance running to swimming and diving, from weightlifting and chess to
volleyball and basketball, from shooting and archery to wrestling and rowing,
from badminton and gymnastics to softball and soccer—and table tennis
dating back to the early 1970s.
In running alone, within the space of one year, 1993, Chinese women won
three world titles, set three junior records and three world records, ran the
four fastest marathons of the year and filled the first four places in the World
Cup Marathon. At the World Championships in Stuttgart, Chinese women
won four gold medals (Chinese men won none), putting China second in the
medal table behind the USA, but ahead of Russia, Germany and Britain.
They made a clean sweep of the 1500m, 3,000m and 10,000m. Until then,
Chinese women and men had won just seven medals in world track and field
championships, including two golds, in the three previous meetings put
together. Chinese women had taken no more than two of those medals. Further,
at the 7th National Games held jointly in Beijing and Chengdu, Sichuan in
September 1993, Chinese women athletes broke six world records—the
10,000m by as much as 42 seconds.
An even more remarkable success occurred at the 7th World Swimming
Championships held in Rome in September 1994; Chinese women won twelve
of the sixteen swimming and diving world titles (and five silver medals),
setting five world records. Chinese men won no swimming medals at all.
While the men had also won no medals at the inaugural World Short-Course
Swimming Championships in December 1993, Chinese women won ten world
titles, setting ten new world records; they also won five world diving titles at
the 8th World Cup Diving Championships the same year.
160 James Riordan and Dong Jinxia

In terms of swimming progress, suffice it to say that Chinese women had

won no gold medals at the 1988 Olympics, took four gold medals at both the
1991 World Championships and the 1992 Olympics; in 1994, they had trebled
that total. An idea of the rapid progress may be gained from Chinese women’s
place in world rankings:

Chinese women ranked in the world top twenty swimmers in all swimming
events
1991 10
1992 28
1993 96
By contrast, only three Chinese men made the top thirty in all swimming
events in 1993.
Source: Craig Lord, ‘China’s women shake the world’, Sunday Times,
11 September 1994, Sport Section, p. 10; The Times, 13 September 1994,
p. 42.

These noteworthy achievements established China in 1993 and 1994 for the
first time as a major world power in sport. The attainment was gained thanks
almost entirely to Chinese women’s success, what is referred to in China as
the blossoming of the Yin (female) and the withering of the Yang (male).

THE DRUG ISSUE

A number of commentators on Chinese sport, citing drug scandals, have cast
doubt on the sporting achievements and called into question the very validity
of the record and China’s status as a world sports nation. While the drug
issue is dealt with in more detail later, it needs to be raised here inasmuch as
it casts a long shadow over all that follows.
The basic facts are that since 1988 as many as forty-seven Chinese athletes
have tested positive for anabolic steroids; they include thirty-eight in 1994
alone, including eleven swimmers. During the Asian Games of October 1994,
eleven Chinese athletes, including seven swimmers, tested positive; and two
female weightlifters tested positive a month later at the World Championships
in Istanbul. All but one of those positives were for a potent anabolic steroid
called dihydrotestosterone (DHT); a significant number of other Chinese
athletes had elevated levels of DHT in their urine at the Asian Games, but
not enough to be declared positive. The eleven swimmers who tested positive
have to be set beside the ten from other nations who tested positive in the
twenty-two years since testing began. What is in the minds of many critics of
China’s sport and drugs record is the revelations following the demise of
Communist countries in Eastern Europe. It is now known that there was
 Chinese women and sport 161

long term state production, testing, monitoring and administering of

performance-enhancing drugs in regard to athletes as young as 7–8. It was
this mendacity of the old regime—loudly condemning drug abuse in the West
as a typical excess of capitalism, while concealing its own involvement in a
far more extensive programme of state manufacture and distribution of drugs,
from growth stimulants to growth retardants, anabolic steroids to blood
doping and hypnosis—that so tarnished the image of sport among many
people. In late 1991, the year that the Soviet Union disintegrated, four one-
time leading East German swimming coaches issued a statement confessing
to widespread use of anabolic steroids among their swimmers in the 1970s
and 1980s. And a long stream of evidence has been emerging, particularly
from the ex-USSR and GDR, of state-controlled administration of drugs
(Berendonk 1991; Mader 1983; Kuhnst 1982; Heinrich-Vogel 1981; Riordan
1993, 1994). We now know that, following the unification of Germany, a
number of East German sports doctors and coaches went to work in China.
While it is true that drugs were used in Eastern Europe and are now being
used in China, the same is also true of the West. Whatever the political ideology,
the stakes in international competition are high. Victory brings increased
status for the individual and his/her family, it results in financial and career
rewards and boosts the image of the nation. Defeat can result in personal
humiliation, loss of career and it does nothing for the image of the athlete’s
nation.
Today, in international sport, there are relentless pressures on athletes from
coaches, sponsors, the public and even governments. Certain countries with
few social, economic or scientific achievements, or countries who wish to
demonstrate the superiority of their socio-political system, use sport to enhance
their prestige. The promotion of sport has become a major political concern
and, if success is believed to be possible through the use of drugs, then drugs
are used. It is possible that in some countries, athletes, coaches or doctors,
although not believing in the ethics or benefits of doping procedures, may be
forced to use them.
For a genuine understanding of drug-taking in Chinese sport, it is important
not to make sweeping generalizations, nor to take a holier than thou view of
China, performance enhancing drugs or the old Communist system in Eastern
Europe. What follows is an attempt to provide a broad understanding of
Chinese women and sport putting the drug issue into perspective.

CHINESE WOMEN’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE

OLYMPICS AND WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
An examination of Chinese women’s contribution to China’s Olympic record
between 1988 and 1992 reinforces the Chinese women’s achievements; it is a
phenomenon unique in Olympic history (see Table 8.1). While men won eight
gold to women’s seven gold medals in 1984, they won fewer gold medals
162 James Riordan and Dong Jinxia

Table 8.1 Chinese women’s and men’s contribution to China’s results in the summer
Olympics, 1984–92

Sources: Stan Greenberg, The Guiness Olympics Fact Book (The Guiness Publishing Company, 1991);
Whitoker’s Almanack, 125th edition (London, 1993), pp. 1222–3; Howard G. Knuttgen, Ma Qiwei, Wu
Zhongyuan (eds), Sport in China (Human Kinetics Books, Champaign, 1990).
Note
In 1984, men won gold in weightlifting (four medals), shooting (two) and gymnastics (three), archery,
fencing, shooting and volleyball. In 1988, men won gold in gymnastics and table tennis; women won gold
in diving (two) and table tennis. In 1992, men won gold in shooting (two), table tennis, gymnastics and
diving; women won gold in swimming (four), diving (two), table tennis (two), judo, gymnastics and track
(10km walk).

than Chinese women in 1988 and 1992 (two to three, and five to eleven
respectively) . What is more, while the men’s gold medals were confined to
five sports (weightlifting, shooting, gymnastics, table tennis and diving),
women’s gold medals were spread over twice as many sports (gymnastics,
archery, fencing, shooting, volleyball, diving, table tennis, swimming, judo
and track and field).
In the winter Olympics, China has competed since 1980, though initially
merely as a symbolic gesture: in the three Games up to 1988 the best result
was sixteenth place in the women’s 5,000m speed skating at Calgary in 1988.
It was, nonetheless, women who provided the breakthrough. While men won
no medals, women took three silver at Albertville in 1992 and a silver and
two bronze at Lillehammer in 1994 (see Table 8.2).
An idea of the emphasis placed by the Chinese authorities on women as
the vanguard of the Chinese international sporting thrust may be gained from
the male-female composition of China’s and other teams in the 1988 summer
Olympic Games (see Table 8.3). Although they had more men in their squad
than women, the Chinese easily had the highest percentage of women.

Table 8.2 China’s performance at the winter Olympics, 1984–92

Source: China Sports, June 1994, p. 13.

 Chinese women and sport 163

Table 8.3 Numbers of male and female competitors in Olympic teams, 1988: countries with
established sports traditions

Males Females % females in team

China 158 135 46
GDR 173 115 40
Belgium 39 26 40
Bulgaria 122 74 38
USA 388 224 37
GB 238 132 36
USSR 351 173 33
Denmark 62 26 30
Canada 265 117 31
FRG 288 119 29
Australia 216 79 27
France 225 82 27
Finland 76 27 26
Japan 213 75 26
Brazil 138 35 20
Italy 243 53 18
Spain 231 42 15
Note
It is important to bear in mind that at the 1988 Olympics there were twenty-six sports and 165 events for
men compared with twenty-two sports and eighty-three events for women; overall, women constituted
25.84 per cent of all competitors.

An illustration of Chinese women’s comparative contribution to China’s

overall performance at the 1988 and 1992 summer Olympics is given in Table
8.4.
Apart from confirming the Chinese improvement from five to sixteen gold
medals on aggregate, including three to twelve to women, Table 8.4 shows
that Chinese women had caught up with the world’s top women by 1992
and made a substantial contribution to China’s rise to become a leading
sports nation.
But China’s success is by no means confined to a handful of sports. As the
following list indicates, the spectrum of Chinese women’s success extends to
twenty-one sports.

Table 8.4 Chinese women’s comparative contribution, 1988 and 1992 summer Olympics
164 James Riordan and Dong Jinxia

Sports in which Chinese women have achieved world success in the 1990s:

Archery Wang Xiaozhu OGM and WRH 1993/94

Badminton Ye Zhaoying WC (singles) 1994
Basketball Team 2nd in W Cup 1994
Chess Xie Jun WC 1991/95
Disabled* Zheng Peifeng POC 1992
Diving All 3 golds WCC 1994
Fencing Foil OGM 1992
Gymnastics OGM/WC (2 medals) 1992/94
Judo OGM 1992
Rowing 2nd in ‘fours’ in WC 1994
Shooting** Li Duihong OGM (air pistol) 1992
Shot putt Huang Zhihong WC 1994
Soccer Five times Asian Games champs and World
University Games champs
Softball 2nd in WC 1994
Speed skating Ye Qiaobo WC (500m) 1993
Swimming 12 WC, 5 WRH 1994
Table tennis*** Women’s team champs 1992
Track athletics Won 1500m, 3000m and 10,000m at WT&FC 1993
Volleyball**** Team OGM 1992
Weightlifting 19 WRH and 10 WC 1993
Wrestling 3 WC 1993

Notes
* Unlike other state socialist countries, China set up national sports
associations for the disabled from the early 1980s, held three national
paraplegic games and hosted the 6th Far East and South Pacific Games
for the Disabled in September 1994, at which it completely dominated
the other forty-one states, with a total of 298 medals (Australia in second
place won fifty).
** Chinese women won the air pistol title at the 1987 WC.
*** The first Chinese player to win the WC (singles) was Qiu Zhanghui
as far back as 1961.
**** The Chinese women’s team first won the WC in 1981, retaining it
five consecutive times, creating what many Chinese describe as the
‘breakthrough’ for China into world sport and provoking the outrush of
mass feeling that may well have caused the Chinese leadership to try to
link patriotic feelings with world sports success.
Legend
OGM=Olympic Gold Medal; WRH=World Record Holder; WC= World
Champion; W Cup=World Cup; POC=Paraplegic Olympic Champion;
 Chinese women and sport 165

WCC=World Cup Champion; WT&FC=World Track and Field

Championships.

As evidence of the sexual imbalance in Chinese world performance, it is

noteworthy that Chinese women in 1992 and 1993 contributed seventy-one
and seventy-seven world titles won by China out of eighty-nine and 103
respectively. Outside competitive sport, Chinese women are demonstrating
considerable endurance and skill by, for example, climbing Mount Everest
and crossing one of the world’s most extensive (and dangerous) deserts—
Xinjiang’s Taklamakan—a first for women explorers. This swift emergence
of Chinese women as a dominant force in such a wide range of sports, cerebral
as well as muscular, raises a number of questions. What are the reasons for
these achievements? How have Chinese women evidently evaded many of
the obstacles confronting western women in sport (such as societal prejudice
against ‘muscular’ women)? What is the government motivation in apparently
prioritizing women’s sport? How has the success been attained and at what
cost?

ROLE OF SPORT IN CHINESE SOCIETY

As we know, for newly-independent nations trying to establish themselves in
the world as world powers to be respected, even recognized, sport may
uniquely offer an opportunity to ‘win’ against the best in the full glare of
world publicity, for example at the Olympic Games. This is particularly
apposite to those nations faced by boycott and/or subversion from big powers.
Where other channels have been closed, success in sport would seem to have
aided such countries as Cuba, the USSR and East Germany—as well as other
modernizing states—to attain a measure of recognition and prestige
internationally. Sport here is unique in that for such nations it may be the
only medium in which they are able to take on and beat the economically-
advanced nations. For some politicians, sports success can mean more than
medals. As Jiang Yun has put it:

Victory in the Olympics or World Cup can bring instant acclaim,

international respectability and status. Sport, therefore, is no longer used
merely to judge the competitive level of a country’s athletes, but it is also
an instrument to demonstrate the physical, economic, military and cultural
superiority of a political system.
(Jiang 1994:34)

This puts particular responsibility on athletes from developing countries

insofar as they are viewed by politicians as imbuing a sense of pride in their
team, nationality or country, even political system.
166 James Riordan and Dong Jinxia

For China, as with other state socialist countries, sport has traditionally
been controlled by the state. Material and human resources may therefore be
concentrated on prioritized goals, like ‘sporting diplomacy’ or Olympic
performance far more easily than in a market economy. Sport in China,
furthermore, has since 1949 reflected foreign policy and, on occasion, been
blatantly utilized to effect foreign policy changes—as with the so-called ping-
pong diplomacy in the 1970s. ‘This was a shortcut that China took to restore
diplomatic relations with the USA’ (Jiang 1992:7). As Dong Jinxia writes:

sport is used to serve international diplomatic ends and to demonstrate

superiority over capitalist systems. Sport is directed by state policies,
decrees and plans. The policy of developing competitive sport was
established in 1956 when the first Chinese athlete broke the world record
in weightlifting. But until 1979 competitive sport was restricted to the
domestic arena or international friendship tournaments because China
was isolated from international sport for two decades. Moreover, during
the ten years of Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, the competitive
spirit was discouraged, even criticized; Chinese competitive sport was
seriously hindered. However, with economic reform in the 1980s a great
change took place in every aspect of society… National sports policy
was revised from ‘Friendship First, Competition Second’, advocated by
Mao Tse-tung, to an all-out quest for global recognition and status.
(Dong 1995:11)

The primary target in China’s sports policy since the early 1980s, therefore,
has been to produce a winning formula in Olympic and world arenas—as
other state socialist nations (notably the Soviet Union, Cuba and East
Germany) had done from the 1960s. Chinese sports officials made no bones
about the fact that ‘The highest goal of Chinese sport is success in the Olympic
Games’ (Wu 1990), or that ‘the all-important Olympic Games [is] the real
yardstick for a nation’s actual strength in sport’ (Xu 1990).
But China was a ‘late starter’, making its Olympic appearance only in
1984, in Los Angeles (when most other Communist states boycotted the
Games) after an absence of thirty-two years (since the 1952 Helsinki Olympics)
during which time it had been prevented from taking part largely because of
US opposition. Upon resuming its seat on the International Olympic
Committee in 1979, its politicians sounded a clarion call of ‘March out of
Asia and into the world!’ (Xu 1990). Although China made little impact at
the 1984 and 1988 Games, by 1992 it was beginning to show signs that ‘the
tried and tested model of early selection and training, special sports schools
and sports science was having an impact on results’ (Jones 1993).
Sport then began to play a salient part in restoring pride and dignity to the
world’s largest nation. An American scholar has written that ‘China’s political
and sports officials openly acknowledge that they view sport as one instrument
 Chinese women and sport 167

for promoting national pride and identity, which is a primary motivation

behind the expenditure of over 300 million yuan annually for [Olympic]
sports’ (Sage 1990). In other words, international sports success helps to
bind the nation together as it goes through turbulent political and economic
change. Such sentiments are explicit in statements by the Chinese themselves.
Jiang Yun concedes that:

In modern times, China has suffered from domestic unrest and foreign
aggression, and has been in the position of a backward underdog. China
has been described as ‘the sick man of East Asia’, ‘a tragic race!’… Since
it is unable to boast about its economic achievements, it is like the Soviet
Union and war-devastated Japan in seeking a means to raise political
prestige and show that it is a large and powerful country. It dreams,
therefore, of becoming a strong sports nation.
(Jiang 1992:34; emphasis mine)

Li Hongbing, writing in the official sports monthly China Sports, talks of

sports success helping to assuage the Chinese ‘inferiority complex’:

Today the Chinese are not so impotent as they used to be in world sport.
They can take pride in more than table tennis and women’s volleyball;
they have astonished the world by their meteoric rise in women’s track
and field where previously they had always hung their heads in
humiliation. They have rid themselves of their inferiority complex.
(Li 1994:7)

As the most famous of all Chinese coaches, Mah Junren, has said of the spirit
that motivates his team and himself:

To win honour for our country—that is what motivates our team… The
Chinese are not ‘a nation of rice-eaters’ or the ‘sick man of Asia’—labels
that westerners have stuck on our people. We can do what others can,
perhaps even more. The worst thing is not that you are not able to to do
something, it’s that you dare not do it.
(Song 1994:11)

Having set a target of becoming ‘a top world sports power by the end of the
century’ (Xu 1990:466), Chinese officials set about prioritizing elite, especially
Olympic, sport and working to fulfil this plan. It entailed massive financial
investment: in the decade 1978–88, gross national income rose from 301
billion yuan to 1,177 billion, a 290 per cent increase. Government sports
funding rose from 254m to 1 billion yuan, an over 200 per cent increase. Of
that amount, two-thirds went into elite sport (Jiang 1992). To gain Olympic
medals, moreover, the investment was relatively huge: it is estimated that
168 James Riordan and Dong Jinxia

China spent US$52m on each gold medal won at the 1988 Seoul Olympics
by contrast with the host country’s US$9m. Altogether China invested
US$260m in success at the Seoul Olympics (Jones 1993). Winning bonuses
took a big part of that: rising from 8,000 yuan for gold medal winners in Los
Angeles (1984) to 18,000 in 1988 and 80,000 in 1992 (with silver medallists
receiving 50,000 and bronze medallists 30,000). The 13-year-old diving
champion Fu Mingxia gained an additional 463,000 yuan from various
sponsors (Jones 1993:76). This may be a paltry sum when compared to the
earnings of top US athletes, but it is a staggering fortune in a country where
a school teacher, for example, earns some 150 yuan a month. In other words,
the 13-year-old diver gained in winnings the astonishing amount of 3,620
times more than a teacher’s monthly salary in 1990.
China had inherited the Soviet sports structure, with its professional
coaches, sports medicine and science, major sports clubs sponsored and
financed by the armed and security (Dinamo in Eastern Europe) forces, sports
ranking system, residential boarding schools, etc. But China took the system
further. Whereas the Soviet Union had forty-six sports boarding schools in
1990, and East Germany twenty, China had 150 (Riordan 1994:74; Dong
1995:62), whereas the USSR had 15,000 professional coaches, China had
18,173 in 1991 (Dong 1995:63). It is revealed that full-time athletes in China
spend an average seven to eight hours a day on sports training and they are
distributed as follows: 15,602 in provincial team sports centres; 28,192 in
sports boarding schools; and 47,315 in elite ‘spare-time schools’ (Dong
1995:66). All training, board and lodging are free.
In order to improve the system and bring it into line with major reforms in
the mid-1980s, the government moved to a multi-level, multi-channel system
which, while still based on state overall control and planning, was made
more flexible and polymorphous. Corporate sponsorship was introduced and
the financial rewards were substantially increased. This, then, is the basic
infrastructure of China’s sports system and the springboard from which an
assault was made on the world sporting citadels. In this context, the emphasis
on elite women’s sport may be seen, partly, as an attempt to win titles and
recognition swiftly in events vulnerable to a concerted and well-planned
assault—such as middle- and long-distance running, swimming, diving,
weightlifting, soccer, wrestling, volleyball and table tennis—events that may
be won more easily than others or those of men. As Thomas Lewis of
Transworld Sport (which gave the long-distance runner Wang Junxia the
1993 Sportswoman of the Year award) has put it, ‘women’s long-distance
running events are more than usually prone to a world record blitz’ (Lewis
1994:19). Lou Dapeng, Vice President of the Chinese Track and Field
Federation, is reported as saying that ‘it has been our policy to concentrate
on women’s sport’ (Macleod 1993:43). The swimming coach Chen Yongpeng
has said that ‘The outstanding achievements made by female athletes …have
encouraged Chinese sports authorities to channel more funds and manpower
 Chinese women and sport 169

to women’s events than to men’s, resulting in wider participation and higher

technical standards among women’ (Xie Yanmin 1994:23).
Here, then, is one official reason for support for women’s sport. But
what of the women themselves? What has motivated them to undergo such
rigorous training necessary to become world champions? After all, the path
of world success and acceptance has been long and tortuous for western
female athletes.

CHINESE WOMEN AND SPORT

In general, the greater the economic and social resources of a country,
particularly in terms of education, health care and nutrition, the more likely
it is that women will be part of a national sports scheme. But developing
states (whose women make up two-thirds of women in the world) are relatively
poor, with limited resources. In addition, other factors, such as tradition and
religion, tend to militate against the promotion of women’s sport. As a result,
most developing countries have only a small number of female Olympic
competitors, or none at all. Thus, between 1952 and 1972, the number of
countries in the Olympics rose from sixty-nine to 121—a 75 per cent increase.
However, the number of countries that entered women (Asian states like
Pakistan and Bangladesh had no women athletes at all in the 1988 Olympics)
rose from forty-one to sixty-one—an increase of only 49 per cent (Hargreaves
1994).
China is highly eccentric in this general pattern. As we saw in Table 8.3,
China headed all nations in 1988 in having 46 per cent of female athletes in
its Olympics squad; the nearest Asian state was Japan in fourteenth place,
with 26 per cent, while no other developing nation had over 10 per cent.
The answer to what factors, other than state encouragement, have
facilitated women’s progress in sport would seem to lie in a nexus of sources,
several of which not only run counter to western experience, they actually
challenge many dominant western theories of sporting activity.

I ‘Chinese first, women second’

In connection with the official policy of giving priority to women’s elite sport,
the justification is frequently made by Chinese sources that their sportswomen
are Chinese first and women second. In other words, in the overriding state
priorities and among the public, in the patriotic zeal and social integration,
produced by victories of Chinese women swimmers, runners, volleyball
players, etc., their Chinese identity is seen as more important than their gender
identity. Any polarization of males versus females is therefore overwhelmed
by feelings of ‘China vs the world’.
This is a phenomenon starkly at variance with the historical ‘male vs
female’ dichotomy common in western sporting nations, but it is closer to
170 James Riordan and Dong Jinxia

the situation that existed in much of East European and Cuban sport. For
example, at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games, sportswomen from the
Soviet Union made up over a third (35 per cent) of the Soviet team (all
women comprising 20.58 per cent of competitors) and contributed thirty-
six of the 125 Soviet medals (almost 30 per cent). The women of East
Germany made up 40 per cent of the GDR team and won more than half
the team’s gold and silver medals. By contrast, US women comprised just
over a quarter (26 per cent) or 112 out of 425, British and West German
women slightly over a fifth (20.6 and 21 per cent respectively), and French
women less than a fifth (18.3 per cent) of their teams. The teams from
Latin America had virtually no women at all, with the notable exception of
Cuba with fifty-five women out of its team of 200. Further, in the winter
Olympics of 1976, Soviet and East German women contributed more than
half their teams’ medals—more than twice the number won by US, West
German, French and British women put together (Riordan 1985). China
therefore is following the path pioneered by other state socialist nations in
seeking international sports success based on its women.

2 Traditional attitudes to women’s sport

By contrast with western historical experience which, from at least Ancient
Greece until recent times, has regarded most sports as male preserves, in
China, martial arts (the principal form of indigenous sport to survive until
today) have never been perceived as an area of life exclusive to virile young
men. The figure of the female warrior (wudan) has existed down the centuries
and is a stock character in martial arts novels (wuxia xiaoshuo) and other
literary texts, and operas (wuxi) (Brownell 1995:87).
There is evidence that in the Song dynasty (AD 960–1279) a form of football
‘became more popular than ever for women, even with bound feet, spreading
from court attendants to the general populace’ (Brownell 1995:88). Wrestling
by both men and women was a popular court entertainment, and the top
women’s wrestlers became quite famous. In her seminal book on Chinese
sport, Training the Body for China, Susan Brownell writes:

For men, polo, kick-ball and wrestling were regarded as important

methods of military training. Though there were certainly gender
differences in the ways these sports were played and the meanings assigned
to them…the fact that these were the same sports that women played
seems to demonstrate that throughout Chinese history these sports were
not regarded as an exclusive ‘male preserve’.
(Brownell 1995:93)

This traditional involvement of women in combat sports helped to maintain

women’s active role in the face of the introduction of western sports with
 Chinese women and sport 171

their male bias at the turn of the century—during the colonization of China
and the Republican period (1912–49).

Because Western sports were introduced into China through Western-

run schools, and especially by the YMCA, the Western bias against
women in sports was reflected in the limited participation of Chinese
women from the turn of the century until the 1930s. Women were not
included in the National Sports Games organised by Westerners in
1910 and 1914.
(Brownell 1995:96)

However, as the Chinese increasingly took over the organization of the Games,
the situation changed. Thus the Third National Games, held in 1924 (i.e. in
the Republican period), contained three exhibition sports for women, and
the Fourth National Games in 1930 added four sports for women (track and
field, volleyball, basketball and tennis). As Brownell (1995:82) comments,
‘Chinese women did not particularly lag behind men in sports that are strongly
identified with masculine identity in the West’. Female athletes also
participated in the Second Martial Arts Festival of 1932 and, in the Seventh
National Games in 1948, women’s wrestling was an exhibition event.
It is clear that not only have women had a long accepted involvement in
sport in China, they have been able to practise ‘muscular’ combat sports like
wrestling, boxing and wushu (various forms of hand-to-hand combat and
weapon skills contests) with apparent official and male approbation and even
encouragement. The same applies to Chinese women’s involvement in
bodybuilding: the first Chinese Bodybuilding Championships for men and
women took place in December 1994.

3 Sports as lower-class activities

From the Song dynasty onwards—i.e. after AD 960—education for the elite
in China increasingly emphasized the mind at the expense of the body.
Henceforth sports tended to be marginalized in the education of the ruling
class and its male offspring. By the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), scholars spent
much of their lives memorising a vast amount of knowledge in order to pass
the Imperial Examinations and therefore move up the social rankings scale.
By the mid-nineteenth century, the Chinese situation differed singularly from
that in western Europe, especially Britain, where ‘character-building sports’
were an integral part of the education of upper and middle-class boys. The
influence of this historical denigration of engagement in sporting activity in
China persists today in the popular consciousness:

The influence of China’s long history is evident in the fact that, despite
the efforts of the state, sports still do not play an important role in the
172 James Riordan and Dong Jinxia

educational system. Chinese parents do not like their children to devote

too much time to sports because they perceive education as the way to a
better life.
(Brownell 1995:172)

A Chinese writer confirms that ‘The Chinese put much store by intellectual
education and display a negative attitude towards sport; some parents do not
like their children to engage in sport’ (Dong 1995:83). As a result of this
intellectual bias against sport, sport is still widely viewed as an activity engaged
in only by ‘lower-class, uneducated people’ and, hence, an acceptable pursuit
for women, thereby reinforcing the historical precedents described above. As
we shall see below, a significant proportion of elite women athletes is from a
rural, less educated background. By contrast with the United States and
western Europe, and even Japan, therefore, ‘Chinese athletes have a relatively
lower standard of education’ (Dong 1995:84). For Chinese women athletes
sport is an open channel to material and social advancement. Inasmuch as
the state has substantially subsidized sport, this has enabled ‘talented working-
class and rural-based women’ to enter sport and realize their potential (Dong
1995:84).
It has to be remembered that China is a developing country. Only 1.8 per
cent of the population had received a higher education in 1987, and only 33
per cent of those were women—the same figure as in 1976 and not even
double the number of the 1950s (Dong 1995:87; Rai 1992:37). What is more,
of the 230 million of the population that are illiterate, some 70 per cent are
women. Women’s education, therefore, is ‘relatively restricted by comparison
with advanced countries’ (Rai 1992:88). On the other hand, some dramatic
changes have occurred in health: women’s life expectancy rose from 35 in
1950 to 71 in 1991 (and to 76 in Beijing); the current women’s life expectancy
is therefore close to that in the world’s richest countries (Liu 1995:29).
Given the popular attitudes to sport and women’s lower educational
position, men (including those running a ‘paternalistic’ state) are unlikely to
stand in the way of women who wish to engage in an activity that is relatively
unimportant to men in the first place. This ‘lower-class stigma’ has implications
for the way in which gender is linked with social class/status in contemporary
sport.

4 Sport, the countryside and confucian philosophy

Of China’s 1.2 billion people, 80 per cent live in the countryside. More than
half of the rural population—some 550 million—is female. There are certain
characteristics of rural women in China that predispose them towards sport.
First, as noted above, sport traditionally has been regarded as a lower-class
pursuit and therefore open to women as ‘lower-class citizens’, especially
peasants, in the historically hierarchical, male-dominated society. Second,
 Chinese women and sport 173

the very nature of peasant labour, requiring a strong physique and mental
toughness, has some affinity with qualities required in sports training. Further,
in a Communist country whose ideology has glorified manual labour and
labourers, the notion of a strong, tough, muscular woman has been an
officially-approved and propagated ideal stereotype that has reinforced and
authenticated the traditional stereotype described above.
It is therefore no surprise that the majority of Chinese women athletes
come from an urban working-class or rural background, where the largest
reservoir of sporting talent lies. Brownell attests,

that a growing proportion of China’s most outstanding athletes have

come from the countryside. The low status of female peasants makes
them superior for sports training because they are accustomed to physical
hardship and are highly motivated to take advantage of sports
opportunities in the face of limited options!
(Brownell 1995:74)

Xie Yanmin supports this view:

Many girls in remote and poverty-stricken villages have become world-

famous athletes… Although freed from the fetters of feudal custom
…Chinese women, particularly in rural areas, have inherited the virtue
of obedience to their elders, and to their coach in sports training. They
can bear all hardships involved in training and obey their coaches.
(Xie 1994:23)

Brownell quotes a male sports official as an illustration of this point:

Truly, women are more able ‘to eat bitterness’, endure hardship and labour.
For thousands of years they did all the housework, they rose very early
and toiled all day long, then went to bed and got up again. That ability,
that tradition, persists. Women are therefore more disciplined and obedient
than men. If you are working with three women and three male athletes,
you have to watch the men a lot closer; they’re inclined to sneak off and
cheat on workouts.
(Brownell 1995:76)

The official here unconsciously rejects the longstanding western notion of a

polarization between biologically weak women and strong men.
It is perhaps significant that when the coach Ma Junren, under pressure to
achieve with men what he had done with women, took on male athletes (in
1994), the experiment lasted no more than a couple of months before the
men walked out, ostensibly ‘because of a dispute over money’ (Powell 1995a:
36). Ma Junren, incidentally, had deliberately taken on girls from villages:
174 James Riordan and Dong Jinxia

‘Most of them hail from the countryside and are therefore honest, obedient
and hard-working’ (Deng 1994:12). His most outstanding protegee, Wang
Junxia, the holder of world records from 1500m to 10,000m and recipient of
the prestigious Jesse Owens Trophy in 1994, the world’s highest athletic
honour, grew up in a village, the daughter of poor peasants, and is said to
have had to run 16km to and from school every day. During training with
Ma, she and other female athletes had to run ‘220km a week or almost a
marathon a day; sometimes she has to run as much as 170km in four days’
(Yang 1994:12).
Even some Chinese critics accused Ma of ‘cruelty and inhumanity’ in regard
to his charges, intolerant of the slightest deviation from a strict regime which
involved no boyfriends or make-up, and close-cropped hair (China Sports
1994:24). On one occasion, he is said to have kept Wang’s brother’s death in a
car crash and the subsequent funeral from her for several weeks until after the
two championships in which she was competing; he did the same after the
death of another runner’s father. According to Ma, ‘women are more susceptible
to discipline and hard work than men’ (Deng 1994:12). Other Chinese experts,
explaining Wang’s remarkable achievements, have claimed that ‘one reason
she has been able to run so fast has to do with her rural background…the hard
life in rural China is just what is needed to produce the kind of determination
and endurance that Wang obviously has’ (Yang 1994:12).
A similar strict regime exists for female swimmers; they were reported in
Le Monde as training and competing 364 days a year, with a daily two-hour
gymnastics warm-up followed by six hours in the pool. No TV, no leisure
time, no boyfriends, no right to visit their families during the training year,
even on holidays. The 16-year-old world 400m freestyle champion, Yang
Aihua, admits to swimming 120km a week in training (Georges 1994:32).
Some female divers are subjected to such training regimes even before their
tenth birthday (Fu Mingxia and Sun Shuwei won world championships when
they were 11 and 13 respectively).
This spirit of obedience and socially-conditioned aptitude for hard work
and endurance have been reinforced by the philosophical traditions of
Confucianism. In accordance with the ‘three obediences’ of Confucianism,
women were expected to obey men (father, husband, sons) and to be humble,
compliant, respectful. Despite attempts by the Communist authorities to root
out such attitudes, as a Chinese scholar writes:

Confucianism continues to have a substantial impact on Chinese female

athletes to endure incredible training loads…that reinforces discipline in
training and makes it easier to manage women than men… Women are
socialised to be obedient, particularly to men from childhood; and since
most head coaches are men, female athletes rarely violate regulations
and schedules laid down by male coaches.
(Dong 1995:63)
 Chinese women and sport 175

To sum up, both a rural background and vestiges of Confucian philosophy

stressing women’s subordination to men have implications for women’s greater
involvement in and success at sport.

5 Sport and gender

In the West, sport with its heavy masculine image has complemented other
socializing agencies—school, family, media, children’s organizations and
literature, religion and the state—in presenting stereotyped norms for girls
and boys to develop their sexual identity. This growing-up process is based
on a number of assumptions about behaviour being natural (or unnatural),
universal and ageless, and being directly related to biological make-up. Boys
and girls are ‘born that way’. This rigid western conceptualization of gender
has implications for those people who are perceived to cross the boundaries
between ‘female’ and ‘male’ behaviour, nowhere more so than in the erstwhile
‘male bastion’ of sport where accusations of ‘butch’ and ‘lesbian’ have often
been levelled at ‘muscular’ women. The Chinese attitudes have been quite
different, as Brownell writes: ‘in China, a woman who plays soccer might be
considered “vulgar” (cu), but she is never considered “butch”; in other words,
the primary axis for moral evaluations is based on class rather than
“sexuality”.’ She sums up by maintaining that

Although sports have played a role in changing perceptions of the body,

they have not been used to separate females from males or to support
claims to female biological inferiority as in the West…the successes of
Chinese women athletes have now precluded this possibility.
(Brownell 1995:57–8)

All the same, times are changing, as anyone who has read Wild Swans will
testify: it vividly shows how Chinese women have traversed three
generations from feudalism to capitalism/Communism in a historical
journey that took other nations six or seven centuries (Chang 1991).
Today, the opening up of the country to the market, of television and other
media to western ‘culture’, to women’s fashions and other items of
conspicuous consumption, are clearly contributing to a reformulation of
gender and of women’s role in society. Especially in urban centres,
romantic love would appear to be rivalling social status in marital choice;
men and women are becoming increasingly aware of their bodies (at an
early age) as forms of sexual attraction, consumerism and hedonism are
challenging for dominance in people’s value systems, and increasing
numbers of women are becoming economically independent of men. All
this has led to a mounting debate on women’s roles in society.
All these processes are bound to be reflected in sport. It is perhaps a sign
of the times that in late 1994, sixteen of the nineteen female athletes walked
176 James Riordan and Dong Jinxia

out on coach Ma Junren. As Wang Junxia put it, ‘We simply could not take it
any longer. Ma made excessive demands, was over-critical and cruel… We
had absolutely no freedom. The pressure was too great’ (Powell 1995b:46)
Another bone of contention was money. Apparently, Ma had kept most of
the athletes’ winnings: of the 10 million yuan prize-money accumulated since
1993, he had given Wang 170,000 and his other star athlete, Qu Yunxia,
65,000 yuan, while spending 7 million on his own training centre (Powell
1995b:46).
It appears that rapid social change is reinforcing the trend towards women’s
economic and social independence, and that is bound to have even greater
repercussions for women’s sport in the future.

6 Women, sport and socialism

The changes that have taken place in women’s consciousness and economic
position generally and in sport in particular are to a large extent the result of
social transformations wrought by new attitudes to and of women and their
roles in society, to which the Communist ideology has undoubtedly played a
not inconsiderable part. As Shirin Rai has written:

The Chinese communists regarded themselves as engaged not just in class

war but also in social liberation: ‘Women hold up half the heaven’ was a
favourite epigram of Mao. The post-revolutionary Chinese state was both
socialist and developmentalist in nature. It was thus highly interventionist.
This allowed it to affect the course of family life, the position of the
woman within the family and within the public domain through policy-
making and implementation. Under this paternalistic political system
Chinese women did make significant gains in social status and economic
position.
(Rai 1992:43)

Nevertheless, it has to be borne in mind that China, like almost all the erstwhile
Communist states, emerged from a largely traditionalist, patriarchal, semi-
feudal way of life only recently. Emancipation of women has been complex
and uneven; there have been areas in which some western societies have
progressed further in advancing women’s rights. What is more, the point has
to be made that the reasons for official encouragement of women to engage
in sport have to be sought, too, in the state’s political, military and material
needs as well as its ideology.
In sport there is little doubt that the social policies pursued by the
Communist government led to what a number of sources claim to have been
‘fairly equal opportunities for men and women since the establishment of the
sports schools in 1955’ (Brownell 1995:112). Brownell makes the telling point
that
 Chinese women and sport 177

If one takes the passage of Title IX as the point when American

sportswomen began to achieve legal parity with men, then 1972 was the
year when the American situation approached the Chinese. That means
American women lagged 17 years behind the Chinese. If one considers
the actual situation rather than the legal ideal, then American women
have nowhere near the parity that Chinese women have.
(Brownell 1995:143)

Such more-than-equal opportunities, however, by no means extend beyond

sport. Even within sport, most of the major administrative and coaching
positions are held by men, as Table 8.5 shows. Outside sport, the absence of
women from political positions (discounting Mao’s wife Jiang Qing) is
glaringly apparent. In a continent not noted for women’s leading roles in
society, five other Asian states can boast women prime ministers past and
present (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Turkey), while in 1990,
as Shirin Rai reports, only 21 per cent of deputies to national and provincial
people’s congresses were women, and 29 per cent of political officials at all
levels (Rai 1992:74; Liu 1995:23). The American authors Emily Honig and
Gail Hershatter found in Shanghai (China’s largest city) that only a quarter
of the city’s Communist Party members were women (Honig and Hershatter
1988:17). We have already noted above the far-from-equal position of Chinese
women in education.
At least the realities should warn against unreal assumption that if the
social order is changed, women will be liberated almost overnight. As the
two above-mentioned American authors write of China:

Perhaps the most serious flaw in Chinese discussions of gender was the
assumption that since China had had a socialist revolution, time alone
would solve all remaining problems. Yet until gender was put at the
centre of an analytical model, it seemed likely not only that these problems
would persist, but that their causes would remain opaque to those who
raise criticism from within Chinese society about the situation of women.
(Honig and Hershatter 1988:17–18)

Table 8.5 Respective numbers of male and female professional coaches, 1990

Source: DongJinxia (1994) Society, Women and Sport in Modern China, unpublished PhD dissertation,
Beijing University of Physical Culture, p. 39
178 James Riordan and Dong Jinxia

Evidently, a socialist society may remove the class relationships between

men and men, and women and women, but it does not necessarily promote
emancipation of women at the same pace. Prejudice and traditional attitudes
amongst both men and women, and a set of factors associated with economic
backwardness and international tension, act as brakes on progress.

7 Other factors: physique, medicine and science

A consideration sometimes mentioned by Chinese sources in explaining the
difference in international attainments of their men and women is that of
height and weight. Thus, ‘the sex difference in athletic achievements has
something to do with the fact that Chinese women are by no means inferior
(in physique) to their foreign counterparts in many sports, while Chinese
men are often inferior in this regard (i.e. shorter and lighter)’ (Xie Yanmin
1994:23). While this may be true in some sports (in the 1992 Olympic
swimming events, for example, the average body height difference between
Chinese women and other finalists was insignificant, while there was a
difference of 7–8cm in terms of the men) (Xie Yanmin 1994:23), size has not
prevented either Japanese or Korean (or, indeed, Chinese) men from
performing well in a wide range of sports. It is also the case that in a nation
of 1.2 billion people, it is surely possible to find the ideal anthropomorphic
types for given sports. For example, the average height of the Chinese men’s
basketball team is 1.987m (the women’s is 1.845m), with one member, Shan
Tao, as tall as 2.15m. This, a Chinese source admits, ‘is in no way inferior to
European nations’ (Xie Kainan 1994). Similarly, the Chinese men’s volleyball
team averages 1.95m in height (with four players over 2m) and the women’s
1.85m (Huang 1994). It is hard to believe that such factors provide an
insurmountable hurdle to Chinese men given the centralized sports system
and the vast population.
A more complex and certainly controversial area is that of medical,
including chemical, assistance to performance. Some claim that this assistance
has a greater effect on women than it does on men. The Chinese swimming
coach Chen Yongpeng has said somewhat nebulously that ‘traditional Chinese
regimens and medical theories have been widely applied to sports training
for rapid recovery from fatigue. Perhaps some of these have produced more
effects on women’ (Xie Yanmin 1994:23). What is unclear is whether
traditional medicine and the state sports medical service give Chinese women
the edge over opponents, whether fewer sportswomen in the world are on
stimulants than men are, or whether they work better/ faster on women (it
certainly is true that women generally have lower testosterone and
haemoglobin levels than men).
We know from evidence in other state socialist countries (e.g. the Soviet
Union) that some women athletes have been encouraged to conceive and
later abort, utilizing the body change benefits for sports training and
 Chinese women and sport 179

competition. Such evidence of cases of manipulation of female bodies has

not emerged from China. What is abundantly clear, however, is that a
significant number of top Chinese athletes (and very few men) have been
identified in international drug tests as having taken performance-enhancing
drugs (see earlier section on the drug issue).
The State Sports Commission started carrying out drug testing in some
domestic competitions in 1988; the next year, it announced a three-pronged
anti-drugs policy of ‘strict prohibition, strict examination and strict
punishment’. Three years later, in 1992, the Chinese Olympic Committee
formed a special Anti-Doping Commission; at the end of 1993, this
commission published the results of tests on 2,205 urine samples taken in
random domestic tests during the year. It uncovered twenty-four cases of
drug taking (mainly anabolic steroids) and meted out (undeclared) punishment
to the guilty athletes (China Sports 1994:58) The tests were conducted at the
newly-established IOC-accredited Anti-Doping Centre in Beijing. It is an
indication of the confusion prevailing over drugs that a month earlier, the
same source had quoted 1,608 samples tested (1,032 in domestic events, 261
in international competitions held in China, and 315 in outside competitions)
(China Sports 1994:59). Both sources agree on the twenty-four positive tests.
However, it was the results of tests on Chinese athletes undertaken by
non-Chinese bodies outside China that started in 1993 to record a high rate
of positive drug tests. The first top woman athlete to fail a drug test was
swimmer Zhou Xin in March 1993 (tested in January); she was banned for
two years by FINA. Then came Zhong Weiyue, world record holder in the
50m and 100m back-stroke; she was suspended in February 1994 for two
years by the Chinese Swimming Federation. These two swimmers were
followed by Ren Xin and Bai Xiuyu in August 1994; they were also banned
for two years. At the Rome World Swimming Championships in September
1994, Yang Aihua, 400m freestyle gold medallist, was caught and received a
two-year ban.
The biggest haul of drug users came in early October, during the Asian
Championships, when a further seventeen Chinese swimmers were tested, of
whom as many as seven tested positive—an almost 50 per cent ‘strike rate’.
They included top swimmer Lu Bin who had won four gold and two silver
medals in Rome. The same testing netted two canoeists, a cyclist and the
women’s 400m hurdles gold medalist Han Qing. Previously, in September,
China’s top discus thrower, Qiu Qiaoping, had been caught taking anabolic
steroids.
Some idea of the scale of the positive tests in swimming may be gained
from the fact that the number of apprehended Chinese swimmers exceeded
the total number of failed tests recorded by all other swimmers in the
previous twenty-two years (Hong Kong Standard 1994:2). That is not to
say that other nations’ swimmers—or other athletes—take no
performance-enhancing drugs or are less guilty than Chinese swimmers. It
180 James Riordan and Dong Jinxia

may be recalled that no East German woman swimmer tested positive, yet
twenty East German swimming coaches admitted, after the fall of the
Berlin Wall in 1989, that there had been systematic drug taking in East
German swimming. As a punishment to Chinese swimmers and a warning
for the future, the International Swimming Federation (FINA) is to conduct
random tests in China and an on-site investigation there, while the four
charter nations of the Pan-Pacific Swimming Association (Australia, USA,
Japan and Canada) banned China from its championships in Atlanta in the
summer of 1995.
What is not yet apparent is the extent to which the Chinese authorities
(political as well as sports) are involved in the manufacture, testing,
monitoring and administering of performance-enhancing drugs—as we
now know the East German, Soviet, Romanian and Bulgarian authorities
were. It is known that East German coaches and sports medical specialists
have been working in Chinese sport since the mid-1980s; and one such
swimming coach, Klaus Rudolph, has added his voice to those that believe
that Chinese athletes are caught up in a state-run drugs programme:
‘China, and particularly sport in China, is centrally controlled…a doctor is
on constant call for national team members and permanent monitoring is
provided by the Medical Research Institute in Beijing’ (Sunday Times
1995:17). As the Sunday Times commented, ‘Rudolph casts doubt on the
idea that those swimmers who have tested positive for steroids had acted
unilaterally’ (Sunday Times 1995:17). Another source—a Chinese
technician from the IOC-accredited Anti-Doping Centre in Beijing—
claimed that China maintained a floating anti-drug laboratory off the
shores of South Korea during the 1988 summer Olympics (the USSR did
the same), and that the Chinese authorities had been involved in other
cover-ups in Beijing (Almond 1995:28). As Wei Jiehong, Secretary of the
Chinese Olympic Committee and head of the Anti-Doping Commission,
admits, ‘We recognize that doping ruins the image of Chinese sport’; he has
threatened a lifetime ban for transgressors (Loh 1994:41). The drug
revelations have certainly caused considerable damage to China’s chances
of staging the Olympic Games in the near future and have caused
embarrassment to IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch (and others)
who had declared several times, most recently during the 1994 Asian
Games, that he was convinced that Chinese sport was ‘drug-free’ (Tait
1994:41).
All that can be said for sure is that it is unlikely that a relatively poor
country like China can match the huge amounts of money that prosperous
countries like the USA can spend on drugs in sport, albeit on a private
enterprise, not state-directed, basis. On the other hand, it may be tempting
for a developing country that ardently desires international recognition and
prestige through sports success to take short cuts. There are certainly fewer
controls over the sale of drugs in China than in most western countries.
 Chinese women and sport 181

However, the Chinese authorities are taking measures to combat drug taking
in sport, including the threat of imprisonment, and are severely punishing
drug cheats and those behind them (officials, coaches, medics). This is vital
because, unless serious steps are taken to reassure the world public, much of
the admiration for Chinese sports achievements generated by outstanding
Chinese women athletes will turn to anger and contempt, and make China a
pariah among sports nations.

CONCLUSIONS
Never in history has a nation’s international sporting success owed so much
to its women. Nor have women athletes made such rapid progress in a wide
range of events in such a short time—some two or three years—or improved
world records by such remarkable margins. The reasons for such progress
have been located in the following factors.

1 There has been the absence in China of a number of deep-seated prejudices

in regard to sexuality that have been common in western historical
development—prejudices centred on the notion that sport was a ‘male
preserve’. Chinese women are thereby challenging traditional cultural
assumptions about behaviour being directly related to biological make-
up, and demonstrating that many of the male and female characteristics
for long taken for granted by the dominant ideology of western society
are determined by social custom rather than by genetics.
2 That does not mean that the Chinese believe that the ability of male
runners to run faster than female runners has no genetic component.
Rather, there is a firm conviction that women’s biological disadvantage
in physical performance may be compensated for by socially-conditioned
superior abilities of hard work, discipline and stamina.
3 The official prioritizing of elite women’s sport as the principal thrust of
China’s international sports challenge has less to do with women’s
liberation than with national pride gained in the only clearly visible area
where China can take on and beat the world’s most economically
advanced countries. That women’s liberation is a secondary consideration
is evident in the lack of effective government action to alter the relative
subordinate position of women in sports administration and coaching,
not to mention in politics, education and science.
4 The major factors that have facilitated Chinese women’s progress in sport
have to be sought in various elements intrinsic to Chinese society and
shaped by historically-conditioned attitudes to sport and women which
differ markedly from those that have formed the dominant values of
sport in western society, at least since the time of Ancient Greece. Such
factors include the long-standing involvement of women in martial arts,
the general regard for sport as a low-class activity, the rural background
182 James Riordan and Dong Jinxia

of many sportswomen, the influence of Confucian ideology in inculcating

such traits in women as obedience, sacrifice, discipline, humility and
respect in regard to men. They also include the socialist ideology of equal
opportunities for women in the period dominated by Mao.
5 The rapid economic and social transformation that has opened up China
since the early 1980s to the all-pervasive influence of market values and
western consumerism is undermining traditional attitudes, philosophies
(Confucianism, Taoism, Bhuddism) and institutions. This trend is likely
to grow stronger and, in sport, draw China’s leading athletes into the
mainstream of the transnational elite sports community dominated by
western market values. This may provide more economic independence
for Chinese women and erode patriotism and loyalty to Chinese society;
it is also likely to make them less willing to undergo the sort of training
regime associated with Ma Junren, though more susceptible to chemical
manipulation of their bodies.

The next few years will give us a much better understanding of the progress,
and reasons behind it, of Chinese women athletes and the implications that
their progress will have for women and Chinese society generally. Certainly,
the list of achievements by Chinese female athletes is long and imposing,
particularly when set alongside those of women in the economically advanced
nations of the West. Insofar as world-wide women’s sporting attainments are
reflecting, reinforcing and sometimes even precipitating processes of social
change in the role and status of women, the Chinese women’s example offers
exciting prospects for the future of women in all societies, particularly the
modernizing communities of Asia and Africa.

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 Chinese women and sport 183

Hargreaves, Jennifer (1994) Sporting Females London: Routledge.

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184 James Riordan and Dong Jinxia

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Chapter 9

The emergence of professional

sport1
The case of soccer
Robin Jones

Within the space of just a few years, China has turned its sports system round
from a centrally-planned structure to a more diverse, market-orientated
system. This is in keeping with the government’s general policy of reform. In
sporting terms, the government has been determined to distance itself from
its previous role of being ‘sole provider’ and today increasingly expects sport
to adopt a ‘pay as you play’ approach. At the highest level, this has resulted
in the development of professional sport on western lines—with Chinese
characteristics. Of course, there has long been professional sport in China, as
in other, former Communist countries, where ‘state amateur’ was a euphemism
for ‘professional’, in that the athlete received money, housing, food, medicine,
and sports clothing from the state, in return for a full-time commitment to
sports training and performance. In China, provincial sports teams are the
outcome of the special sports schools and are a regular form of paid
employment for those who rise through the ranks of competitive sport. Beyond
the provincial team is the national squad that, for the few, leads to Olympic
and international glory. There is little doubt that such a system produces
gold medals and it is a system that, under different guises, has been adopted
in many countries, both East and West. But as the reforms in China, promoted
by Deng Xiao Ping, have continued, a new focus has emerged in the last few
years that is introducing professional sport. Commercial sponsorship and
ticket sales now provide the financial underpinning to the system that was
formerly provided by the government.
It was a government decision at the beginning of the 1990s to move certain
sports in the direction of professionalism. The reform process—of which
professionalism was part—introduced the idea and practice of accountability,
at the same time separating the government to some extent from direct control
of sport. Why did the government decide to promote professionalism in sport
at all? There was the choice, after all, to simply pull out of sport, or just to
reduce the funding. In choosing to retain some control, it has been able to
retain the ‘Chinese characteristics’ of the system. For example, some of the key
administrators of professional sports are from government offices such as the
186 Robin Jones

Sports Commission; and certain areas of professional sport receive provincial

government support, such as accommodation for players. In addition, there is
quasi-governmental involvement through the soccer team August First, which
is linked to the People’s Liberation Army and plays in the professional soccer
league. It might therefore be reasonable to describe the present phase of
development of Chinese soccer as transitional. Compared to South Korea, which
developed its professional soccer league in 1983 (the first in Asia), China is still
only in its third season and further change may be expected.
Soccer was ‘chosen’ by government sports leaders as the major sport to
become professional because it has huge popular appeal worldwide, an
established and prestigious World Cup, significant attractions for potential
sponsors and a successful club system in Europe and elsewhere to copy. In
China’s case, however, their soccer system had not kept pace with
developments in the structure of the game elsewhere, even though the Chinese
Football Association was founded in 1924 and affiliated to the world
governing body, FIFA, in 1931. The relative lack of international experience,
though, showed in other Asian countries too, because whilst China has never
reached the final stages of the World Cup, even the Asian Football
Confederation (founded in 1954), has only ever provided eight countries for
the final stages.2
Participation in the World Cup by Asian countries was extremely low
until 1974. In the nine World Cups prior to 1974, only seventeen entries
from ten national football associations had been received, and of these, seven
were withdrawn, including the one from China in 1954. After its unsuccessful
entry in the 1958 qualifying rounds, China then did not re-enter the
competition for another twenty-four years, in 1982. It has since taken part in
all the subsequent competitions. Figure 9.1 and Table 9.1 show the growth of
Asia’s involvement in the World Cup from 1930 to 1994.
The period 1958–82 spanned the austere years of China when the country
withdrew from the IOC over the issue of the recognition of Taiwan, the years
of the Cultural Revolution (1966–76) and the early years under Deng Xiao
Ping, 1976–82, when he was establishing the approach that led to the ‘open
door’ policies that have become a feature of Chinese government strategy.
From a modest starting point, international success was a distant objective
in the early days and, in a sport as unpredictable as soccer, the route to this
objective was far from clear. Again, as Cao Shi Yun3 comments, simply copying
from everyone without regard to China’s own strengths meant that China
‘actually learned very little from each of them and couldn’t combine the skills
together’. After many years of trying and failing to reach the World Cup
finals, China has now set up a more coherent programme. By establishing a
professional league system and building a supporting youth team programme,
China hopes to bring about a change of fortune that could lead it forward
internationally. Even if the World Cup finals remain elusive in the short term,
however, China will have established a sustainable homebased market for
 Professional sport–the case of soccer 187

Figure 9.1 Graph comparing the number of Asian countries with all countries taking part in
the preliminary and qualifying rounds of each World Cup, 1930–94

soccer, with its own features, that may ensure the long-term development of
the game in China. The FIFA-Coca Cola World Ranking lists 1993–6 show
that China has fluctuated by twenty-six places, but remains in the top third
of the total number of 1996 listed teams (180). In the same period, Asia’s
rankings are shown in Table 9.2.
During the transitional phase of Chinese soccer, a fully independent,
autonomous club system is not possible, principally because the clubs have
to rely on their respective city or provincial government for the use of stadium
and training facilities. In many cases, too, staff and players are housed in
accommodation provided by the provincial sports commission. The stadiums
are generally modern, large (40–60,000), with all-seating design, floodlighting
and peripheral athletics track, together with electronic scoreboards and would
certainly compare favourably with many British and continental clubs. The
spectators are therefore used to good facilities at the grounds, for which they
will pay between 10 and 20 yuan for a Group A match. Table 9.3 shows the
structure of the league system.
Average attendance at Group A matches across all the twelve clubs in
the league was 19,000 in the 1993–4 season, although the Sichuan Quan
Xing club often gets a full house of around 40,000 for its home games. The
training facilities and accommodation for the Sichuan club are provided by
the Sichuan Sports Commission at their sports skills college campus in
Table 9.1 World Cup preliminary and qualifying rounds 1930 to 1 994—Asian countries taking part

Key First number under each column=number of Asian countries taking part in preliminary/qualifying rounds. Second number under each column=total number of
countries taking part in preliminary/qualifying rounds. Third number under each column=Asian countries as a percentage of total number. (W)=withdrawn afterone or
more matches.
 Professional sport–the case of soccer 189

Table 9.2 FIFA-Coca Cola world soccer rankings

Source: FIFA News4

Table 9.3 Structure of the Chinese professional soccer league, 1996 National level
190 Robin Jones

Chengdu, comprising a training pitch and access to other sports facilities.

The team accommodation is conveniently located about 400 metres away
from the training pitch. It is not uncommon in China for housing to be
provided at the place of work, especially in state or state-related jobs. Since
1949, the government has gradually increased and improved the housing
stock in the cities, but there is still a housing shortage (in the cities
especially) and the pressure to find suitable accommodation is high. A
consequence of the practice of tying housing to employment is that job
mobility can be problematic. The stock of houses on the open market is
both small and extremely expensive, further reducing the mobility of the
labour force. Thus, behind the seemingly unusual decision to house all the
soccer club players together lies an established practice of the Chinese
Communist system. It is also the belief of the club officials that the players
are less likely to stray from the straight and narrow path of clean living,
regular habits, controlled diet and good training.
Overseas players in the Sichuan side also live in the same housing block
but in better appointed flats. One Group A club did try allowing their players
the freedom to live where they liked, but falling success rates were attributed
to this and they reverted to the communal system. There is little evidence
that the social psychology of small group cohesion is anything to do with the
manner in which the team players are housed—which would seem to have
the potential to create as many problems as it solves. Nonetheless, it would
seem equally unlikely that the club will change this established pattern and it
will remain part of the transitional phase of Chinese soccer for some time to
come.
When the Chinese government, through the Chinese Football
Association (CFA), took the decision to re-structure the game in the early
1990s, other Asian countries were in the process of setting up professional
soccer leagues or had already done so (Japan and Korea, for example) and,
of course, there was the much older European system. The Chinese
Football Association then was not breaking new ground internationally,
nor was it taking a unique course of action within the country. China was
also re-structuring its industry on the free market model, with government
quotas for production, differential pricing mechanisms, state subsidies and
Communist Party intervention in company policy being phased out as the
socialist market economy was phased in. A stock market was formed and
private investment was allowed; overeas capital in joint venture schemes
was actively sought and company decisions were taken on the basis of
profit and loss. Much of this ‘market driven’ approach was adopted by the
CFA; football had become an industry.
In the first instance, to be eligible for Group A or B, football clubs had to
provide financial guarantees which, in the case of Group A, was, initially set
at 1 million yuan per year. The source of funding for the clubs was, at the
outset, to come from the commercial/industrial sector, and although there
 Professional sport–the case of soccer 191

was some early reluctance for companies to commit funds, as clubs attracted
sponsors, so others came forward as sponsors.
Sichuan Football Club now has an eight-year contract running from 1993
to 2000, with Quan Xing, a Sichuan-based but nationally known alcoholic
drink company.5 The 1 million yuan per year contract is no longer seen as a
risky investment and clubs now raise far more than the minimum 1 million
yuan. Some clubs have changed sponsors in the last two years in favour of
better deals, even using a Beijing advertising agency, achieving an income of
about 10 million yuan. It was further reported in China News Digest6 that
sports clubs have begun selling shares and that Liaoning (relegated from the
Premier Division in 1995) had raised $3 million by this means. Not only
have Chinese companies invested in soccer, three clubs have sponsors from
outside China—Hyundai and Samsung from South Korea (Group A) and
Panasonic from Japan (Group B). Thus, commercial investment in Chinese
soccer is strong and lively. The money is used for the general administration
of the clubs and the payment of players’ salaries. In addition to its regular
sponsorship, the Quan Xing company pays a match bonus to the club of
90,000 yuan for a win and 30,000 yuan for a draw, thus adding a potential 2
million yuan to their investment. The Sichuan club in the season 1994–5
spent a further 2 million yuan (US$200,000) on a four-month contract for
three players from Brazil. This money was also provided by the Quan Xing
company, bringing the season’s total sponsorship to between 3 and 5 million
yuan (US$350,000–600,000).
An unusual feature of the Chinese Soccer League is that ticket sales are
not handled by the clubs themselves, but by the Chinese Football Association.
With average attendances of 19,000 for a Group A match, and ticket prices
of between 10 and 20 yuan, the income from ticket sales for the CFA is
between 25 and 50 million yuan (£2–4 million; US$3.5–6 million) for the
twenty-two match season. A small percentage of this is re-distributed to the
clubs at the end of the season according to their final league position. Sichuan,
in the season 1993–4, received 700,000 yuan for sixth place in the premier
league. The CFA uses the surplus for the international programme—World
Cup matches, FIFA fees, friendly internationals and the hosting of visits by
foreign clubs—and is forging links with professional clubs in Europe, South
America and Asia. In the twelve-month period 1994–5 there has been a
succession of overseas clubs and countries playing against Chinese clubs or
the national team, as shown in Table 9.4.
The Sichuan Quan Xing club retains a squad of about twenty senior players
and a youth squad of the same number. The club also has links with a local
middle school where it provides help with soccer coaching. Players in the
senior squad receive a monthly salary of 2,500 yuan which, in ‘new era’
China, would put them in the wealthy, but not super-wealthy, class (a 40cc
motorbike costs about 3,000 yuan, for example, and a small car around
100,000 yuan). Given that the players have their food and accommodation
192 Robin Jones

Table 9.4 Soccer clubs and national teams playing in or

against China in recent years

Visiting club From

Gremio; Palmeira Brazil
Nacional; Penarol Uraguay
Lazio, AC Milan, Sampdoria, Napoli Italy
Anderlecht Netherlands
Benefica Spain
Waldhof Mannheim Germany
KV Mechelen Belgium
Sofia Locomotive Bulgaria
Farmers Bank Thailand
Arsenal England
Visiting country Country visited
England; New Zealand Netherlands
Source: China News Digest7
Note
The table is not a complete list of all clubs and countries.

provided by the club, their salary is substantial, especially considering that

they have a share in the 90,000 yuan win bonus, which almost triples their
salary for that week. Certainly, for many Chinese people a salary of 7,000
yuan a month is a distant dream. A family of three (i.e. one child) could
expect to cover their basic needs (in 1995) with an income of 800 yuan a
month. Many couples have joint incomes that take them up to this figure and
beyond. Extrapolating from these figures, the Sichuan club faces a basic
monthly salary bill of 50,000 yuan for players in the senior squad, or 600,000
yuan per year (about £50,000 per year; US$75,000 per year).
As yet, the promotion of soccer is under the control of the CFA and the
clubs. Television, although paying 1 million yuan to the CFA in 1995 for the
right to televise live matches, exerts less overt influence over such things as
timing of matches. A proportion of the TV fee is, like the ticket sales, paid to
the clubs, but the signs are there that the influence will grow. Advertising
boards along touchlines, shirt logos and the like give important TV prominence
to company products and the symbiotic relationship between soccer and the
media is firmly in place.
There has been an influx of soccer icons, symbols and images. Soccer
has adopted many of the trappings of the world game—the sports hero, the
partisan fan support, the soccer transfer market, elements of crowd
behaviour such as throwing of paper streamers onto the pitch (which,
interestingly, are sold to the fans around the ground), chanting and singing
in the street outside the ground. These elements have not escalated to—or
are not seen as likely to lead to—violence and problems of crowd control,
but there is still the presence of police around the perimeter of the pitch
during the match.
 Professional sport–the case of soccer 193

The buying and selling of players on the transfer market is now well
established. Sichuan Quan Xing at the end of the 1994 season sold a player
to Guangdong Hong Yuan for 420,000 yuan (US$49,000). The total value
of transfers for the Chinese Premier League in the period prior to the opening
of the 1995 season was 3,700,000 yuan8 (US$447,000) for fifteen transactions,
with the highest single transfer fee being 660,000 yuan (US$78,000). The
home transfer market operates in renminbi (Chinese currency) but transactions
for overseas players are usually in US dollars.
During the seasons 1994 and 1995, at least five of the Group A clubs in
China contracted overseas players from a total of six countries, Russia, Georgia,
South Korea, North Korea, Brazil and France. The principal motive behind
such deals was the perceived weakness(es) in the teams that could not easily be
met by local players and the expectation that bringing in foreign players with
experience in professional soccer would ‘rub off’ on local players and strengthen
the club. By mid-season 1996, there were still relatively few overseas players
on contract to Chinese clubs. It is not easy to be precise about the figure because
some players only come for a short contract of less than a season whilst others
spend a longer period than this. Shanghai Shen Hua, for example, in April
1996, brought in three experienced French players from Nîmes, Gueugnon
and Lille.9 Liaoning, relegated to Division 1 in 1996, have four players from
North Korea.10 At any one time, the figure is about ten overseas players in the
Premier League. Few Chinese players have any experience playing for clubs
outside China (the exception being one or two players in Japan and Germany),
yet this is likely to change as Chinese soccer progresses.
Some of the experiments with overseas players have been unsuccessful
and shrouded in controversy over contract details, with the result that the
number of overseas players in China has remained fairly static, even falling
at one point in 1996. It is too early to say whether this decline will continue,
but clubs are now exercising more caution in drawing up contracts because
of earlier problems, when some players were demanding better terms after
arrival than were originally agreed. In a few cases, contracts were cancelled
and players sent home.
Depending on the country of origin, the cost of bringing in overseas players
may be relatively high. Because the Chinese currency (renminbi) is not at
present a convertible currency on the international money market, making
high salary payments in foreign currency to overseas players can be
problematic and certainly is a consideration in selecting a particular country
as a source of players or coaches. From the former Soviet Union, where a
consequence of the collapse of the political system in the late 1980s was
large-scale unemployment or redeployment amongst sports personnel, a
number of players and coaches (of various sports) found employment in China.
A Russian canoeing coach explained that he received US$350 per month
coaching in China compared to US$10–20 (equivalent) he would expect to
receive in Russia.11
194 Robin Jones

For the second half of the 1995 season, which runs in two halves with a
break of one month in the middle, Sichuan Quan Xing contracted three
Brazilian players aged 22 and 23 years. The players, a central defender and
two forwards, came from the second rank of clubs in Brazil and were expected
to play in the remaining eleven matches to help the Sichuan club ensure that
they stayed in Group A. The assistant coach at the club described the situation
in the following way:

Japan and South Korea have both improved their soccer by employing
overseas players and the Sichuan club decided that seeing what others do
and learning from them would be beneficial. We thought that the Brazilian
style of football and the sort of players they had matched the style of
Quan Xing, which is based on fast, attacking, skilful players showing
awareness and determination. Matches are played according to pre-match
plans that take account of the opposition’s style. Players train six days a
week for three to four hours a day.
I don’t think the Brazilian players are so much different from our
own. We are the first club in China to employ players from Brazil. Our
sponsors were fully supportive of our decision to seek overseas help and
willingly agreed to provide the money for the deal.

The club’s general administrator explained further:

The contracts were drawn up very carefully, involving the embassies of

both countries. We sent four club officials to Brazil, who visited eleven
clubs before choosing these players. A Chinese staff member at our
Embassy had a personal contact at the club.12

The contracts covered accommodation, special food in case they did not
like the local Chinese dishes, and the transfer fee. The whole deal,
including the costs of the delegation to Brazil, amounted to 2 million yuan
(about US$200,000). US$20,000 went to the Brazilian club with the rest
going to the three players at the end of their four-month contract. They did
not receive a transfer fee, but they shared a match win bonus of US$300–
500, separate from the renminbi bonus paid to their Chinese teammates.
Although the players live in the same housing complex, the Brazilians have
better rooms, which might be expected to cause some discontent with the
Chinese players, but it seems generally the case in China that foreign
‘specialists’ should be given good treatment and the situation is accepted.
At the end of the 1995 season, Sichuan Quan Xing just managed to avoid
relegation to Group 2 (i.e. Division 1), coming third from the bottom of
the Premier League.
China’s progress in international soccer is a demonstration of:
 Professional sport–the case of soccer 195

1 The commitment to the government’s ‘open door’ policy. Membership

of FIFA carries an obligation to accept the international consequences of
being in World Cup competitions. The issue of separatism, typical of the
earlier years of the People’s Republic, when China was absent, by choice,
from most (but not all) international competitions and of the still present
issue of Taiwan, 13 over which China has maintained a clear and
unequivocal stance, have been superseded, as far as sport is concerned,
by the new policy.
2 The growing potential of sport for the public. As a mass sport, soccer
has no equal, and the modelling of the game on western lines is likely
to lead to increased pressure for more and better facilities in schools,
colleges, universities and new clubs. The Chinese Football Association
and the newly created Football Management Office will have an
important role in this, following the closure of the Sports Commission
in 1998, although continued government support would be needed in
planning new facilities, if not financial assistance as well. The rapid
growth of soccer can be explained by two factors. First, there is the
inherent popularity of soccer as a global game. It is covered extensively
by the media in China, with weekly soccer newspapers, monthly
magazines, and local and national network television coverage. And
second, there is the Chinese government decision to make soccer stand
on its own feet in the reform of the sport system, without the
guarantees that the government hitherto provided via the financial
support of the national Sports Commission. The Chinese Football
Association had to take the plunge—and it went for the big splash!
However, the growth of soccer seems to be somewhat limited to the
development of a regional and national league system involving
around fifty or sixty teams. Two newspaper surveys, in the Guangzhou
Daily 14 and Beijing Xin Min Evening News, 15 asked readers to
nominate their top ten sports persons. The Guangzhou survey
(250,000 responses) ranked a soccer player in fifth position, after table
tennis (two players chosen), gymnastics, badminton and go (a Chinese
board game), whilst in the Beijing survey (560,000 responses), no
soccer player was ranked in the top ten (gymnastics, table tennis, track
and field were the top three)—a reminder that soccer may not yet have
reached the levels of popularity to match the passion of Britain,
Germany or Italy.
At junior level fewer opportunities exist for playing because of the
lack of facilities and the fact that in schools, soccer does not have the
prominence in the physical education curriculum that it has in
England, for example. Soccer has yet to become a major game of
Chinese schools—it is still not part of their school culture. School
playing fields are limited in their provision of soccer pitches, and
public parks are even more limited. However, soccer is a growing
196 Robin Jones

attraction for school age youngsters in China and they may be able to
attend junior soccer clubs operating after school or in the evenings (for
which a charge may be made), or even aspire to the youth teams run
by the professional clubs. Part of the CFA development plan has been
to send a squad of juniors to live, train and play in Brazil for a period
of up to five years, depending on their progress and sponsorship.
3 The possible demotion of Chinese indigenous sport. There is no reason
to suppose that soccer will not sweep across China and in so doing will
challenge the position of indigenous sports. The Chinese National Games
(held every four years) have already suffered in this way from Olympic
sports.
4 The arrival of commercialism in Chinese sport. With the encouragement
of the government, Chinese sport is seeking sponsorship, with soccer
leading the way and with basketball also developing its share. Although
the government has been in the past the major provider of finance for
sport, and even though it will provide substantial monetary rewards for
Olympic medals (80,000, 50,000 and 30,000 yuan for gold, silver and
bronze respectively),16 the advent of commercial backing for sport from
both Chinesse and non-Chinese companies represents a major departure
from former policies.
5 The growing divide between rich(er) and poor. Average salaries in
Shanghai are now 9,000 yuan per year compared to the neighbouring
provinces’ average of 3,000 yuan, whilst the average yearly income for
the poor in China is still only 300 yuan.17 Thus, attendance at soccer
matches, including travelling to away matches, is part of the growing
affluence that some are experiencing and of disposable incomes hitherto
unheard of.
6 Inter-provincial/inter-city rivalry. All the Group 1 teams (except August
First) are from major cities—some cities also have more than one team—
and this has added to the attractiveness of the big cities, underlining their
‘glitz’ and success and, potentially at least, increasing rural—urban drift
that in China overburdens city services and facilities.
7 Reform of the sports system. ‘Socialism with Chinese characteristics’ has
been the government description of the reform process and there is no
doubt that the Chinese Football Association mirrors this in several ways.
On the other hand, it must be cause for some speculation as to how this
reform process will develop in sport. Will there, for example, come a time
when a Chinese Professional Football Players’ Association is formed; or
will players begin to negotiate their contracts through agents; will ultra
high salaries enter the game; will clubs be bought and sold as commodities;
will the hiring and firing of managers become a regular issue; will television
contracts become the dominant influence in scheduling fixtures?
As a model for other parts of the Chinese sports system to follow, it
is important that soccer is successful in its transition to
 Professional sport–the case of soccer 197

professionalism. Basketball and volleyball have also moved in the same

direction and, as the reforms continue, the planned introduction of
sports management offices will take over the running of sport. The
impact of the new policy on sports may see a division of sports into
those that ‘need’ government support and those that don’t. Those
sports that would be less likely to attract commercial backing will still
have to rely on government support.

Women’s soccer—perhaps somewhat paradoxically—achieved international

success in the Olympic Games at Atlanta, where the Chinese national women’s
team gained a silver medal, losing 2–1 to America in the final. Although the
pattern of national strength in women’s world soccer is not as clear as for the
men’s game, China’s success in reaching the women’s final at Atlanta
underlines their determination to raise the profile of the game at home. Given
the relative newness of women’s international soccer, China has, arguably,
been able to make greater international progress than in the men’s game.
Comparisons between the Chinese, British and other soccer systems are
instructive:

1 Clubs. Profits from matches are channelled back to the clubs by the CFA
on the basis of their league position. This applies both to television fees
and to ticket sales. Salaries have not reached European proportions, but
they nevertheless represent considerable wealth in China. Clubs do not
own their own grounds so matches tend to take place in multi-purpose
stadiums.
2 League. There are fewer teams in the leagues and thus fewer games per
season. The league has a mid-season break of about one month, during
which the cup competition is held.
3 Players. No players’ professional football association exists in China nor
any football agent acting for individual players. Players have to meet a
minimum level of fitness, as laid down by the CFA, which at the start of
the 1995 season meant running 3,100 metres in 12 minutes and a 5×25
metre shuttle run in 34 seconds.18 All players in the league have to attend
the central testing camp and failure to reach the standard results in
cancellation of the player’s registration (in 1995, 86 per cent passed the
test first time and three or four players failed the second test). Such control
over player fitness is not exercised by the Football Association in England,
and much more loosely by the trainer/manager at club level.
4 China has few overseas players and, conversely, few Chinese players play
outside China. The Japanese J-League, which started at almost the same
time as the Chinese league in 1993, comprises sixteen clubs with fifty-
nine players from overseas, with every club employing from three to five
overseas players.19 The source of the overseas players in Japan is
predominantly South America (see Table 9.5).
198 Robin Jones

Table 9.5 Country of origin of overseas players in Japanese J-League, August 1996

Continent and number Country of origin and number

South America 41 Brazil 32, Argentina 8, Paraguay I
Europe 15 Netherlands 3, Italy, Germany, France Croatia, Yugoslavia,
each 2, Ukraine, Czech Republic, each I
Asia 3 Korea, Africa, New Zealand, each I
None listed from China
Total 59
Source: Off icial J-League Information (Homepage, internet)19

Europe, perhaps, is able to keep its players home based because of the
high salaries available and because of the standard of competition. China,
by comparison, in its Premier League has far fewer overseas players
(average about one per club, but not all twelve clubs in the Premier League
employ overseas players).
5 Level of financing. The transfer in August 1996 of Alan Shearer from
Blackburn Rovers to Newcastle United in the English Premier League
for £15 million (US$22 million) gives some idea of the scale of
financing that is now engulfing the English Premier League. In the
season 1995–6, total revenue for the seventy-two English league clubs
was £468 million (US$700 million),20 of which the Premier League
took £323 million (US$480 million). This gave profits of about £49
million (US$75 million) to the twenty-two clubs in the Premier
League—but somewhat masked a loss of about £28 million (US$44
million) for the remainder, showing that there are financial ‘flaws’ in
the professional game for the lower clubs, but that Premier League
membership carries substantial rewards. Shearer is expected to earn
£35,000 per game (US$52,000).
In the season 1995–96, the English Premier League clubs spent £97.67
million (US$150 million) on player transfers (an increase of about 10 per
cent on the previous season), at the same time receiving £43.425 million
(US$65 million) from player sales. Between the end of that season and
the start of the 1996–97 season alone, English Premier League clubs spent
£45.4 million (US$67 million) on the import of new overseas players.
Helping the funding of such deals has been the advance payment of £50
million (US$75 million) from the new Sky Sports television deal, due to
start in 1997.21
This puts into perspective the earlier figures quoted for the Chinese
Premier League and Sichuan Quan Xing club. Whilst it would be foolish
to suggest that the financing of soccer in one country is necessarily going
to be repeated in another country, escalation has already occurred in the
financing of Chinese clubs. That suggests that the effects of
professionalisation may not be dissimilar, in kind at least, from country
 Professional sport–the case of soccer 199

to country. Comparing the total level of transfers in the premier leagues

of China and England, the English Premier League is operating at 330
times the level of China, whilst at club level, the annual salary bill for all
the senior players in the Sichuan Quan Xing club would barely cover
two weeks wages for Alan Shearer at Newcastle. Such stark comparisons
though, should also be a warning that it is soccer in the social setting of
China or England that must be considered, if we are to fully understand
their meaning and significance.

CONCLUSIONS
• The transitional nature of sport in China. Amongst the teams in the top
soccer and basketball leagues are six from the armed forces, demonstrating
that professionalisation of sport has not exactly followed the western
pattern.
• The rapid pace of change. Sport is part of the surge in the Chinese
economy, which in turn, is part of the economic situation of the ‘Pacific
rim’ countries.
• The arrival of commercialization. Companies from within China and
beyond are contributing in a major way to the financing of
professional sport in the People’s Republic, although the government is
still a key part of the process. The presence of overseas sponsors in the
soccer league is clearly related not only to the huge potential for
generating profits directly from sports but to the broader commercial
market of China.
• The adoption of western soccer symbols. Once wary of influence from
outside the country, China now embraces influence from outside its
borders (not simply western) but is aware that ‘cultural imperialism’ can
be a double-edged sword. Hence the government’s policy phrase,
‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’. As professional sport in China
grows, its own cultural identity will reflect this, even though western
symbols can be seen.
• Where does Chinese soccer go from here? This chapter has suggested
that sport in China is in a transitional phase. The obvious and immediate
objective of the professional soccer league is consolidation—continued
investment from sponsors coupled with continued public interest, i.e.
media and live support. The future success of the league system may be
indicated by the degree to which it attracts outside attention. During
spring 1996, Transworld Sport on Channel 4 television in Britain featured
Chinese Premier League matches, which is a sign of growing recognition.
A further indicator is the inflow of high quality players from other
countries, and here, although the numbers are still small, the transfer has
begun. The three French players brought into Shanghai Shen Hua in
200 Robin Jones

August 1996 have a strong pedigree in the French premier league over
the last five seasons and one of the players, Christian Perez, has at least
twenty-two appearances in the French national team, and it would seem
only a matter of time before there is an equivalent movement of high
quality Chinese players to clubs in the stronger soccer nations around
the world.

The Chinese Football Association is aiming for international success, and

here, several developments show the way to qualifying for the World Cup
finals:

Asian and regional championships

Asian Games
Olympic Games
Invitation international tournaments in China and abroad, at club and
national level

The CFA have, in the past, employed coaches from overseas for the national
team, but currently the coach is Chinese, as indeed are the coaches in the
Premier League. If this continues, there is the possibility of a distinctive Chinese
style of soccer emerging, although the globalization of soccer and the exchange
of players and coaches internationally may be an inhibiting factor in this
respect.
Finally, the future lies with youth. In the long term, the success of
Chinese soccer is likely to depend on the development of the junior and
youth game, which points to schools, children’s and young people’s clubs.
Here, China is in a strong position to develop the game because of the way
in which their sports system is organized, allowing for curriculum
development in schools to be planned centrally and for talented youngsters
to feed into the existing system of spare time and full-time sports schools.
It is notoriously difficult to ‘programme success’ in soccer, but as one
Chinese writer said, ‘Surely, out of twelve hundred million people, we can
find eleven who can play soccer.’

NOTES
1 The background data for this chapter have been gathered over several field visits
to China, spanning nine years. The assistance of Mr Ye Guo Zhi, formerly of the
Sichuan Sports Science Institute, in arranging interviews and discussions with key
soccer personnel in August 1995, and his contribution to my understanding,
have been invaluable in preparing this chapter.
2 Cao Shiyun, ‘Looking Back and Pondering on the Rise of Asian Football.
Proceedings of the Asian Conference on Comparative Physical Education and
Sport’, Journal of Tianjin Institute of Physical Education, 1995, pp. 178–80.
3 Cao Shiyun, ibid.
 Professional sport–the case of soccer 201

4 G.Tognoni and A.Herren (eds), World Rankings in FIFA News. Monthly

publication by FIFA, Hitzigweg 11, 8030 Zurich, Switzerland, December 1994,
pp. 5–6 and K.Cooper and A.Herren (eds), News, FIFA News, June-July 1996.
5 The general name of the Chinese white spirit made from several grasses is ‘bai jiu’
but there are many brand names, the most famous being Mao Tai. Quan Xing is
the company/brand name of the Sichuan soccer sponsor.
6 Reported in China News Digest, 10 March 1996, p. 3.
7 Table compiled from reports in China News Digest, over the period 1995–6.
8 Reported in China News Digest, 27–8 March 1995, p. 4.
9 Reported in China News Digest, 29 April 1996, p. 3.
10 Reported in China News Digest, 29 May 1996, p. 2.
11 Author’s conversation with Russian canoeing coach, Sichuan, August 1995.
12 Author’s discussions with Sichuan Soccer Club officials, August 1995.
13 Under the present situation, China maintains that Taiwan is still a sovereign part
of China. In Olympic and World Cup soccer competitions, Taiwan appears as
Chinese Taipei, whilst the mainland appears as the People’s Republic of China.
14 Reported in China News Digest, 13 March 1996, p. 3.
15 Reported in China News Digest, 29 March 1995, p. 4.
16 Reported in China News Digest, 21 July 1996, p. 1. The money provided by the
Chinese government for Olympic success goes directly to the athlete. Other money
from sponsors, for example, goes to the particular sports association for
distribution to the coach(es) and other key personnel. The China News Digest
report lists sixteen countries that offer cash rewards to successful Olympic sports
people, showing that China offers the third lowest amount. Singapore was top of
the list at US$700,000, although it was not clear if this was government money.
17 Reported in China News Digest, 1 May 1996, p. 3.
18 Reported in China News Digest, 24–5 March 1995, p. 4.
19 Players from outside Japan (1996), Official J-League home page http://www.
dentsu.co.jp:80/J-LEAGUE/index.html
20 Deloitte and Touche, Annual Review of Football Finance, Deloitte and Touche,
Accountants, London, August 1996.
21 Reported in the Daily Telegraph, 16 August 1996, p. 34 and p. 40.
Chapter 10

China and the Olympic

movement
Hai Ren

INTRODUCTION
There is, perhaps, no other term related to sport with greater popularity in
China than ‘Olympic’; no other cultural term is better known. The
Olympic Games are watched by a vast television audience; Olympic
champions are treated as national heroes, entertained with luxurious
banquets, hosted by the State Council and attended by state leaders. IOC
members, especially its president, are welcomed like royalty and the
Olympic Games are extensively covered on television, in newspapers and
magazines. Olympic Day (23 June) is celebrated by a large group of
runners wearing T-shirts with the Olympic rings on them, and a mass
bicycle rally, organized under the name of the IOC president, attracts a
million cyclists annually. The Olympic Games are a frequent topic of
conversation, and it is no exaggeration to say that the word ‘Olympic’ has
penetrated every corner of society. It seems strange that an oriental country
with a long Confucian heritage should demonstrate such an enthusiastic
affection for a sport phenomenon originating in the West which has much
closer historical links with the Olympic movement.

Historical background of Olympic dif fusion in China

China’s attitude towards the Olympics is rooted in events from the middle of
the nineteenth century.

Social dimension
Prior to the Opium War (1840–2), the social pattern in China was mainly
feudal. Ruled by the Qin royal court, the last feudal dynasty followed
precedents whose origins date back to the third century BC. Feudal society
was highly centralized politically, with all power concentrated in one person,
the emperor. In contrast, the country’s economy tended to be decentralized,
 China and the Olympic movement 203

with thousands of small farmsteads locked in a cycle of ‘husband tilling and

wife weaving’.
The Opium War interrupted the static social position of the feudal dynasty
and was followed by a series of unprecedented events that resulted in such
‘unequal’ treaties as the Sino-British Treaty of Nanjing (1842), the Sino-
American Treaty of Wangxia (1844), the Sino-French Treaty of Huangpu
and Sino-French War (1884–5), the Sino-Japanese War (1894–5) and Treaty
of Shimonoseki. Relying on powerful gunboats and privileges enshrined in
the treaties, the western powers gradually established their dominance over
China and turned the once independent country into a country with
semicolonial status.
So the most urgent task for China since that time has been national
salvation, that is, to free the country from the danger of partition by foreign
powers and to save it from any exploitative government. A strong national
patriotism was invoked by events of the nineteenth century. There was
disappointment with the conservative and corrupt Qing court and fear of
collapse of the once mighty nation, so patriotism became the underlying theme
of the dynamic process of the next 150 years.

Spor t dimension
Before the Opium War, the dominant forms of sporting activities in rural
agrarian China were traditional, mainly wushu (martial arts), Qigong (a
popular form of breathing exercises) and a variety of other folk activities.
These traditional physical activities focused more on enjoyment than
competition, more on moral cultivation than physical development, more on
the consumption of scarce leisure time rather than material gain. The absence
of competition in traditional Chinese activities resulted in few standardized
rules and great diversity of form and pattern.
After the war, China recognized its military weakness and updated physical
training in order to strengthen the military forces. Thus, under the guidance
of foreign instructors, military gymnastics was introduced to the army and
navy in the period 1869–90, which marked the first stage in the modernization
of China’s sport. This ‘westernization’ movement also launched education
reforms, setting up schools with a western curriculum, employing foreigners
as instructors for military and normal gymnastics, vaulting, exercises on
parallel and horizontal bars, fencing, boxing, weightlifting, football, hurdling,
race walking carrying a weighted load, long jump and high jump, stick
climbing, swimming, and skating. In the period after 1872, students were
also sent abroad to study in England, France, Germany, the United States
and Japan, and their experiences of physical education and sport enabled
them to play a considerable role in spreading western sports in China when
they returned home.
Almost at the same time, schools established by missionaries, especially
204 Hai Ren

those from the YMCA, were introducing sport activities as part of their
educational programmes. A competition, mainly for athletics, was held in
1890 at St John School, sponsored by the Christian Church. This was the
first competitive sports event. Athletics accompanied the spread of church
schools during the early twentieth century. In 1910, the first National
Games, with athletics as the core of the programme, were held. However,
until 1919, sport was principally confined to schools, and sports
competitions were mainly organized between schools and monopolized by
male students.

Review of the development of the Olympic movement in

China

Inititial involvement (1920s-49)

China’s involvement in the Olympic movement can be traced back as early
as 1922, when Mr Wang Zhenting, a high ranking diplomat and sports
leader, was selected as the first Chinese member of the IOC. But the
Olympic Games attracted little serious attention from China, mainly
because the nation was engaged in other, more urgent tasks to survive the
threat from foreign powers. However, although the formal organizational
link between China and the IOC was established, recognition of the key
Chinese sport organization, the Chinese Society for Sport Promotion, as
the national Olympic body, came much later, in 1931. In 1928, when the
Ninth Summer Olympic Games were held at Amsterdam, China sent only
an observer to the Games, Sun Ruhai.
In 1932, China initially did not intend sending competitors to the Games
in Los Angeles, instead planning to send an observer, Sheng Sitong, as before.
However, as rumour spread that the puppet state installed by Japan after
their occuption of north-east China (renamed Manchuguo) was trying to
send a sport delegation to the Olympics, which would have been a great
embarrassment to China, a small Chinese sport delegation was hurriedly
made up, comprising five members. The group had only one athlete, the
sprinter Liu Changchun, and he was disqualified in the preliminary heats. All
the same, this was the debut of Chinese athletes in the Olympic arena.
Four years later, in 1936, the Eleventh Olympic Games were staged in
Berlin under the Nazi regime. China sent a sports delegation numbering sixty-
nine athletes in the following events: football, basketball, boxing, weightlifting,
athletics, swimming, cycling and wushu (the traditional martial arts), and an
additional observer group comprising thirty-four members. The poor
performances of the Chinese athletes at the Games revealed that a big gap
existed, not only between China and western nations, but also between China
and Japan. However, the wushu demonstration drew extensive attention and
was warmly welcomed.
 China and the Olympic movement 205

In London, when the Olympic Games of 1948 were restored after the
Second World War, thirty-three Chinese athletes—in basketball, football, track
and field, swimming and cycling—participated in the Games, but they did no
better than the team twelve years previously and won no medals. What made
things worse was that when the Games ended, the delegation found themselves
unable to pay for their return journey, so they had to send a telegram back to
the government for assistance, only to be told that they would have to solve
the problem themselves. The delegation was thus obliged to raise the money
to return home.

Controversy (1949–79)
With the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, a new era
began in Chinese history and with it started a controversial period in the
relationship between the IOC and China over the issue of China’s seat on the
International Olympic Commitee. The IOC, led by its president at the time,
Avery Brundage, decided to recognize the National Olympic Committees of
both China and Taiwan, thus violating the Olympic Charter, which allowed
for only one NOC per country. Thus, the serious issue of ‘two Chinas’ was
created. In protest, the Chinese Olympic Committee suspended its membership
of the IOC in 1958, which was unfortunate both for sport in China and the
Olympic movement.
After twenty years of controversy and negotiation, the IOC, under Lord
Killanin’s leadership, finally recognized the legitimate seat of the Chinese
Olympic Committee at the IOC session in Nagoya, Japan, in November 1979,
with sixty votes for, seventeen against and two abstentions. The resulting
resolution stipulated that the name of the Olympic Committee of the People’s
Republic of China would be the ‘Chinese Olympic Committee’ and that the
national flag and anthem of the People’s Republic of China would be used in
all ceremonies. Further, the name of the Olympic Committee in Taiwan would
be the ‘Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee’ and the flag, anthem and emblem
formerly used by them would not be used in the future. Referred to as the
‘Olympic Model’ in China, the resolution provided athletes in Taiwan and
mainland China with opportunities for competition in the same Olympic
arena, symbolically, as brothers and sisters of one motherland. It was also, in
a sense, an early sign of the ‘One country, two systems’ policy, proposed by
Deng Xiaoping, and quickly opened the doors of other international sports
for Chinese athletes. Now, with a broad programme of international sport,
China is faced with the challenge of rapidly improving performances to catch
up with other world sport powers. International competitive sports are cultural
symbols closely related to the image of a nation. Although the IOC insists
that the Olympic Games are competitions among individual athletes rather
than countries, all the rituals of the Games, especially the medal awarding
ceremonies, obviously intensify national awareness and highlight national
206 Hai Ren

image. Major international sport events, in a sense, may thus logically be

viewed as competitions among nations. Taking into account the humiliating
experiences at the hands of foreign powers in its modern history, China has
been eager for success in international sport, and in particular its Olympic
effort has had a significant impact on its sport policies and management.
Before 1979, hardly any serious study related to the Olympics had been
carried out in China, and during this period of nearly thirty years, only
thirty-three articles were published on the Olympics, with two-thirds of
them being translations. The fact that the Olympics were so little studied
may be attributed to the abnormal relations between China and the IOC,
and later the Cultural Revolution, which was a social disaster that isolated
China from the outside world and impeded international exchanges
involving Chinese sport.

New era (1979–88)

A significant turning point was reached with China’s return to the international
Olympic family in 1979. During the 1980s, a developmental strategy for
sport was proposed by the National Sport Commission; it attempted to balance
the requirements of high level sport with sport for all. Notwithstanding,
competitive sports in China have been orientated towards Olympic glory,
and steps were taken to revamp the sports programme of the National Games
in line with Olympic events, with the exception of wusbu, one of the traditional
sports. The National Games are the most important domestic sports meet,
organized in a four-year cycle, and bring together athletes from all provinces,
autonomous regions and trade unions. In this way the National Games actually
serve as preparation for the Olympics. This policy did produce positive results
in terms of China’s performances at the Olympic Games, as Table 10.1 shows,
but it also brought a degree of negative influence on those non-Olympic
events and team sports, such as football, basketball and volleyball, which
may be deemed to be less medal-intensive.
Because of a lack of knowledge of the Olympic movement amongst both
the general public and sport specialists, most newspapers and articles focused
on a historical description of the Olympics, with the exception of a few studies
concerning professionalization and women’s participation in the Olympics
Games.
The success achieved by the Chinese team in the 23rd Summer Olympics
in Los Angeles in 1984 stimulated a great deal of Olympic enthusiasm in
China.

Fur ther development (1989 onwards)

After the 24th Olympic Games, the development of the Olympic movement
in China entered a new stage, mainly for the following reasons. First, the
Table 10.1 Summary of China’s participation in the 23rd, 24th, 25th and 26th Olympic Games
208 Hai Ren

disappointing performance of the Chinese team at the Seoul Olympics,

compared to the excellent results they had achieved four years earlier in Los
Angeles, stimulated much debate on the value of Olympic gold metals. Second,
the hosting of the 11th Asian Games in 1990 was the first time China had
organized such a large international competition, and no efforts were spared
to ensure its success. The Asian Games sparked great public interest in
international sporting issues, including the Olympics. Nevertheless, no matter
how important was the influence of these two events on Olympic studies in
China, they could not match the impact generated by Beijing’s bid for the
2000 Olympic Games.

Bidding for the 2000 Olympic Games

At midnight on 23 September 1993, millions of Chinese were waiting in
front of their televisions for the result of the voting by the IOC 101st session
on the host city for the 2000 Olympic Games. When IOC president Samaranch
announced that it was Sydney instead of Beijing, many Chinese were upset. It
was understandable, since they had enthusiastically hoped for positive news.
A survey carried out by the Beijing Statistical Bureau of 10,000 city residents
showed 98.7 per cent support for the city’s bid. The Beijing 2000 Olympic
Games Bid Committee, set up on 1 April 1991, comprised staff mainly from
the National Sport Commission and the Beijing municipal government, and
for two years they had held a series of campaigns, including popularization
of Olympic history. Although the bid itself was unsuccessful, it did educate
the public in the Olympic movement, Olympism and, of course, the Olympic
Games.
Beijing’s bid was the largest campaign to spread Olympic information in
China’s history. As a result, academic study of the Olympic movement
attracted increasing attention as an emerging field of sport science. Olympic
studies are now offered as a subject in some physical educational institutions;
a university-based Olympic studies centre has been formed; various reading
materials have been written, such as Olympic Encyclopedia and Olympic
Mass Readings for the general public, Olympic Stones for elementary school
students, Olympic Knowledge for secondary students, and Olympic
Movement as a textbook for university students. It is no exaggeration to say
that Olympic study has become one of the focal points of sport in China.
Figure 10.1 shows the ratio between research papers and the introductory
articles relating to Olympic topics in three periods, indicating that research
papers have increased rapidly.
With more attention now being given to Olympic study, the scope of the
academic area has also expanded, and certain issues, such as Olympic
philosophies, organizational structures, operational mechanisms and Olympic
problems, have been researched. Table 10.2 compares the content of Olympic
studies in China in three time periods.
 China and the Olympic movement 209

Figure 10.1 Comparison of research papers and introductory articles

Table 10.2 Content change of Olympic studies in China in different periods

Time Content
1984 Professionalization, Women and sport
1989 Olympic ideals, Olympic studies, the Olympic Movement and economics,
Olympics and education, Women and sport, Professionalization
1992 Olympic philosophy, Olympics and society, Olympics and culture, Olympic
issues (commercialization, professionalization and political interference, etc.)

Future trends

Structural reorganization of spor t

China’s participation in the Olympics has been based on a strong, multi-level
sport training system directly supported and organized by the government,
mainly through the Sport Commission at local, provincial and national levels.
The system has concentrated the country’s relatively scarce sports resources
on international competition. However, the shift from a planned economy to
a market economy has seen corresponding changes to sports organizations.
All formal administrative agencies for sports events have now been separated
from the Sports Commission (which itself has been restructured as a Sport
Bureau) and twenty sport event administrative centres have been formed to
run affairs relating to their particular sports, including toplevel training,
competitions and mass sport participation. At this stage, strong government
support is still available, but the centres are being encouraged to develop
their own programmes and financial resources, assuming the roles of decision
maker and co-ordinator, as the government reduces its direct involvement.
This change of organizational structure will in the long run strengthen the
basis of China’s Olympic participation.
210 Hai Ren

Linking high performance spor t to mass spor t

Although China has tried to harmonize its high performance sport and mass
sport participation, in reality in the quest for Olympic glory, more emphasis
has been put on Olympic effort, whilst mass sport has lagged behind. Since
the mid-1990s, a new attempt has been made to bridge the gap, the most
striking measure being the National Fitness Promotion Programme, launched
on 20 June 1995 by the State Council. It has now been adopted by all provinces
in China and is expected to redress the previous over-emphasis on competitive
sport.

Integrating Chinese culture and the Olympic movement

The Olympic movement is not merely a set of highly standardized sport

competitions, it is also a synthesis of complex cultural patterns and forms—
in education, philosophy, morality and behaviour, which may or may not
differ from Chinese culture. By trying to combine Olympic ideals with
traditional ethics in moral education in universities, some Chinese scholars
have attempted to find connecting points between the Olympic movement
and Chinese sport culture.

China’s potential contribution to the Olympic movement

The over-emphasis on winning, drug abuse, lack of democracy in sport
management, commercialization, professionalization, Olympic gigantism,
political interference and so on, are all problems that might suggest that the
Olympics are seeking extrinsic ends instead of the intrinsic value of harmonious
human development, as Olympism declares. This has concerned many scholars
around the world, and it is clear that the Olympic movement is entering a
crucial period towards the end of the twentieth century, and as the twenty-
first century begins.
Of all the problems faced by the Olympics, two in particular stand out,
namely, western ethnocentrism and the conflict between sport
commercialization and the Olympic ideal. These two issues hold profound
consequences for the Olympic movement.

Western ethnocentrism

The Olympic movement originated in the West, but today it has developed
into a worldwide movement. However, the movement remains dominated by
western culture, as shown by the lack of non-western sport in the Olympic
programme, of non-western cities as Olympic hosts, and of non-western sports
leaders in the international sports organizations.
 China and the Olympic movement 211

Historically, western culture is rooted in Ancient Greek civilization, but

the values of today’s industrial society are associated with fair play, striving
to be best, pursuance of truth, individual liberty and so on. It is exactly these
qualities in western culture, with the powerful support of the material base
accumulated in the Industrial Revolution, that have spread all over the world
and become the dominant form of contemporary society. However, western
culture has its own inherent shortcomings for the Olympic movement.

Materialism-oriented values
Industrial society tends to give prominence to the pursuit of material goods.
The widespread materialism in western culture has placed material wealth
above spiritual well-being, external rewards over internal ones, and physical
gains over human values.

Emphasis on ‘outcome’ and neglect of ‘process’

Being part of western culture, modern sports readily adopted the dominant
material values and, in the sports arena, tremendous emphasis has been put
on the outcome of sport competitions, namely, win or lose, whilst the process
of competitions or games themselves is neglected. It indicates alienation of
sport from its intrinsic values because the educational and cultural values of
sport mainly lie in the process of competitions or games, not their outcomes.
This value judgement of sport has inevitably diminished the educational and
cultural worth of athletes.

Athletes as ‘means’ instead of ‘ends’

Following the above, neither industrial society nor modern sport would regard
the sound development of athletes as the ultimate end of sport. Instead, athletes
are treated merely as a means for economic or political and other external
ends.
Because athletes’ sporting skills and physical prowess are the most useful
parts of these external objectives, industrial society attempts to focus only on
these aspects, which would inevitably lead to unbalanced development
between the physical and mental aspects of athletes, as Baron de Coubertin
realized 100 years ago.

Conflict between spor t commercialization and

Olympic ideals
Commercialization has become a powerful trend in contemporary society,
and is inherently apt to stress tangible values, material gains, and monetary
benefits, whilst denying intangible values such as morality, ethics and those
212 Hai Ren

upheld by Olympism. Obviously a serious conflict between the tangible and

the intangible may occur, and evidence indicates that commercialization has
had some negative impact on athletes, coaches and referees. Linked with
commercialization, directly or indirectly, are the serious problems in today’s
sports world of corruption, bribery, cheating, drug abuse and so on.
However, it would be too simple and naive to keep the Olympics separate
from commercialization, in order simply to maintain their ‘pure and noble’
goals. As a worldwide social and cultural phenomenon, it seems inevitable
that the Olympic movement should attract commercialization; the two may
even be mutually beneficial, posing the question not whether
commercialization should be involved in sport, but how to use it.
Unfortunately, a proper way for handling these two does not seem to have
been worked out yet, though various attempts have been made.
According to the Olympic Charter, ‘the goal of Olympism is to place
sport at the service of the harmonious development of man’, but the
concept of harmonious development is itself complex, involving
development of the individual, the individual and society, and the
individual in the natural environment. Obviously, Olympism sets itself very
difficult goals, and raising interest in sport is one means by which
Olympism may reach them. Having noted the shortcomings of modern
sport, it is perhaps doubtful whether we can reach such high and noble
goals through current sport practices. Considering that the problems of
high performance sports are mainly rooted in western culture, the Olympic
movement could enrich itself with new blood from other cultures and in
this respect Chinese culture may deserve attention.

The potential contribution of Chinese culture to the

Olympic movement
A striking feature of Chinese culture that is particularly useful to the Olympics
is its stress on harmony. According to Chinese philosophies, harmony is a
basic feature of the formation of the perfect world, as the master of Taoist
teaching, Lao Zi, states: ‘Both Yin and Yang are unified through harmony in
the invisible breath.’1 A Confucian classical work, Doctrine of the Mean,
also called harmony of ‘the universal path’.2 Moreover, Confucius claimed
that ‘In practising the rule of propriety, harmony is more important’3 and
Confucian scholars regarded harmony as ‘the highest virtue’.4
Based on such philosophies, Chinese culture stresses the following:

1 With regard to the relationship between an individual and society, it

emphasizes the collective spirit rather than individualism.
2 In terms of the relationship between society and the natural environment,
it emphasizes following the natural way to integrate human beings into
the natural world.
 China and the Olympic movement 213

These characteristics may possibly help to compensate for the excesses of

western culture and some shortcomings of the Olympic movement. For
example:

• emphasis on the mental and moral aspects in comparison with the physical
may strengthen the Olympic ideal which is so essential to the Olympics;
• emphasis on internal body training may counterbalance the external body
training stressed in western sport;
• emphasis on the ‘process’ of sport may help to set up a healthy relationship
with the ‘outcome’ of sport and make people take a more reasonable
attitude towards winning and losing;
• emphasis on a harmonious relationship with the natural world may help
the Olympic host cities take more care over ecological problems when
planning and building sports facilities.

A new trend may gradually be taking shape, as human society enters a new
century, suggesting that China will contribute more to the Olympics in the
next century. This is not only because Chinese culture may compensate the
Olympics, not only because China is the world’s largest country, but also
because the social conditions for China contributing more to the Olympic
movement are improving, following reforms over the last twenty years. A
long history of 5,000 years has endowed China with a unique cultural heritage,
interwoven with Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism and traditional medical
theories. It will be interesting to see how the practice and theories of Chinese
sport will contribute to the Olympic movement in the future.

NOTES
1 The Book of Lao Zi, Beijing, Foreign Language Press, 1993.
2 The Document of the Mean, Changsha, Hunan Press, 1992.
3 The Confucian Analects, Changsha, Hunan Press, 1992.
4 Dong Zhongshu, Chun Qiu Fan Luo, in Selections from Chinese Philosophy,
Beijing, Chinese Press, 1984.
Chapter 11

Sports science
Dennis Whitby

As a technical consultant with China’s national track and field team from
1984 until 1986, the author was able to visit a number of research institutes
of sports science. Extracts contain comments that were recorded during this
period. First of all, a description is given of the sports science system. At the
apex of the pyramid of research institutes are the National Research Institute
of Sports Science and the National Research Institute of Sports Medicine,
both based in Beijing.

NATIONAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF SPORTS

SCIENCE
The National Research Institute of Sports Science (NRISS) is situated in
Tiyuguan Lu (Sports Hall Road). The major role of the institute, founded in
1958, is to provide sports science support for the eleven national teams that
train in the National Training Centre (NTC) across the road. Services also
include medical supervision of national team members, treatment of injuries
and the provision of postgraduate education.
The author has visited the NRISS on two occasions. Observations that
were recorded following a guided tour of the institute in 1984 with then-
director Wang Ruying follow. Most of the information included in this section,
however, has been updated as a result of a second visit to the institute in May
1995 when a delegation from the Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI) visited
Beijing. On that occasion, a meeting was held with Director Zhao Bingpu,
Vice-Directors Gao Da’An and Cao Wenyuan, and a number of departmental
heads.
The NRISS currently employs more than 250 people, including research
professors, associate research professors, and scientific and technological
researchers, in ten departments. The athletic training department works with
coaches in gymnastics, swimming and track and field. At the time of my first
visit to the NRISS in 1984, and according to the official guidebook, the
department—then the training science department—had taken part in studies
of ‘the morphological features and physical qualities of Chinese elite athletes,
 Sports science 215

the results of which have provided a scientific basis for the training and
identification and training of potential athletes’.

Of the eighteen staff members, four had qualified in the Soviet Union
and a fifth was currently studying at the German Sports Institute in
Cologne. Eight departmental members work in track and field; two,
including the departmental head, work with my own group of athletes
at the NTC. The area appears to have great potential in its attempts to
link theory with practice. Studies in the field of gymnastics, in
particular, have clearly contributed to improved performances at the
highest level.

Today, the twelve members of the department work with coaches on a two-
year cycle of development, aiming at either the Asian Games or the Olympic
Games. The department’s major tasks are to study athletic training theory,
develop scientific training methodology for elite athletes, improve sport
techniques and methods of technique development and selection. Coaches
propose different areas for research each year. Individual athletes are often
targeted for analysis. Certain areas for study require co-operation between
different functional units. Data are provided for the coach and, later,
summarized in the form of a thesis.
The ball games training department provides assistance to three sports—
soccer, table tennis and volleyball. Basketball was also supported at the time
of the author’s visit in 1984 but has since been dropped. Nine training scientists
and one technician, all holding master’s degrees, currently work with the
sports—three with table tennis, four with soccer (two with the men’s team
and two with the women’s team) and two with volleyball.
Valuable insight into the work of the department was provided during
our visit in 1995 by Associate Professor Qin Zhifeng, a training scientist
who had worked with the national table tennis team for ten years. His role
is to assist with preparations for either the Asian or Olympic Games. The
coach first highlights areas that require investigation. A discussion paper is
then considered by the institute’s scientific research management
department and the president of the institute decides whether to submit the
paper to the State Physical Culture and Sports Commission. The
Commission makes the final decision on which research should proceed.
The training scientist’s work in table tennis covers four areas: the technical
evaluation of opposing players; the provision of tactical information; basic
research in areas such as spin, speed and service; and research into
different styles of play.
Information concerning opponents is summarized and given to the head
coach. A written paper on each opponent is prepared and updated every two
years. Players attend lectures during which individual opponents are discussed
and observed on video. Based on the information provided, training
216 Dennis Whitby

programmes can be developed or modified. Assimilated training is often used

with a fellow team player in the role of opponent. The department first
conducted an analysis of Hong Kong’s players in 1992. This detailed attention
goes a long way towards explaining Chinese table tennis success. The team
won all seven gold medals at the World Championships, held in Tianjin in
May 1995.
In 1984, the sports biomechanics department, established two years before,
had undertaken an analysis of various techniques used in gymnastics, skating,
track and field and weightlifting. Anthropometrical data had also been
collected from 5,000 elite athletes in the four sports and from youths and
children of different ages. In a laboratory, a technician was analysing a
weightlifter’s movements using a film motion analyser and mini-computer.
Apparently, this equipment, imported from Japan, was the latest available.
The department now has a total of seventeen staff-members and reacts to
enquiries from individual coaches, providing them with data to assist them
with technical analysis, evaluation and problem-solving. Data are released
immediately to coaches.
The sports medicine department was visited in 1984 and recorded in the
following way:

Fifteen members of the department hold medical degrees. Another six

staff members hold graduate degrees in various areas of physical
education; four of the six studied in the Soviet Union. Another seven
staff members have other postgraduate study experience.
There are laboratories for animal experiments, biochemistry, cardiac
function evaluation, ECGs, EEGs, histology and pathology, physiotherapy,
ultrasonic cardiograms and X-rays. A sports medicine clinic is attached
to the department.
Areas of research include overtraining and the evaluation of
physiological function in athletes subjected to heavy load training and
intense competitions. Members of the medical supervision group are
assigned to work with national teams. Two medical doctors from the
department, Dr Wu Zhennie and Dr Wang Yigin, worked with my own
group of athletes.
My guided tour took me to eight laboratories in the department. In
one, members of the sports injuries group were tending a number of
outpatients. In another laboratory, a cyclist on the national team was
receiving treatment for injuries suffered during a fall. In a third laboratory,
a swimmer, sitting in an adjacent darkened room with her head covered
with electrodes, was undergoing an EEG examination; a technician and
graduate student were collecting and analysing the data using a computer.
At one point, the swimmer was asked to hyperventilate. The doctor in
charge informed me that EEGs are used to monitor overtraining, the
effects of high-altitude exercise and the extent of head injuries. In another
 Sports science 217

laboratory, I watched a technician preserve and mount slivers of heart

muscle taken from a mouse for microscopic analysis.

In April 1996, Dr Guoping Li, Chairman of the Sports Medicine Department

at the NRISS, provided the following information concerning the work of
the department today:

The department is the largest in the institute with a total of thirty-three

staff members, including seven research professors, ten associate
professors and ten lecturers. The majority are qualified medical doctors.
The department operates in three areas:

• Medical supervision

• diagnosis and exclusion of pathological conditions in sports

participants such as congenital heart diseases, heart murmurs, etc.;
• medical consultation for elite athletes in a variety of physical
activities;
• functional evaluation of physical work capacity of elite athletes,
including cardiovascular and nervous functions;
• determination of aerobic and anaerobic metabolic capacity;
• prevention and treatment of overtraining and fatigue; and
• facilitation of local and general recovery.

Many research projects regarding the medical aspects of training have

been conducted in areas such as altitude training, overtraining syndrome,
exercise related arrhythmia, etc.

• Sports injuries

• an outpatient clinic is open to athletes and local residents suffering

from sports injuries; these are treated mainly with Chinese
traditional medicine, such as Tuina (manipulation), acupuncture,
ear pressure and Chinese herbs.

Research in this area has mainly focused on the mechanism of some

injuries to the knee, wrist, vertebrae and spinal cord, using animal models
with biomechanical techniques.

• Histopathology, including

• clinical and experimental pathology, sports injuries and diseases

of skeletal muscle, tendons and insertions;
218 Dennis Whitby

• studies of the athlete’s heart;

• use of muscle biopsy for the analysis of muscle types for the purpose
of talent identification.

The sports physiology department was visited in 1984, and the author’s
reservation were as follows:

According to the official guidebook, the department is concerned with

‘studies of aerobic and anaerobic metabolic capabilities, cardiovascular
function, neuromuscular efficiency, and haematological and urinary
systems in elite athletes.
The department has four laboratories—biochemistry, neuromuscular
function, gas exchange and metabolism, and respiration and circulation.
In the biochemistry laboratory, a doctor explained that the work was
primarily concerned with the effects of loading (intensity and duration)
and the length of resting interval upon lactic acid concentration and pH
levels. Research has been conducted on both distance runners and
swimmers. The doctor showed me some of the equipment in the
laboratory, including a Hitachi spectrophotometer, a radiometer from
Denmark and two spectrophotometers made in China.
In the neuromuscular function laboratory, another medical doctor was
conducting research into muscle stiffness induced by exercise. Following
the electrical stimulation of one of its hind legs, blood samples were
drawn from the ear of an anaesthetized rabbit. The sample was then
analysed for electromyoscopic changes and changes in the level of lactic
acid.

Today, the department employs three exercise physiologists and five

biochemists. Their work is separated into basic research and athletic science
research. The latter involves research in areas such as biochemical changes
during exercise, nutrition, the effects of Chinese herbs on recovery and training
intensity and fatigue. Staff react to requests from individual coaches. Specific
problems may be investigated through the use of animal research.
In 1984, according to the official guidebook of the NRISS, the main task
of the mass sports department was ‘to provide scientific bases for promoting
sports on a massive scale so as to improve the people’s fitness’. The guidebook
indicated that the department had carried out research on spare-time training
in factories, mines, enterprises, villages and schools. At the same time, Director
Wang Ruying had identified physical culture in schools and physical fitness
as the two major areas of concentration.
The department continues to engage in research in a number of areas,
including sport in schools, workers’ sports, farmers’ sports, training and fitness
of youth and children, broadcast exercises, National Physical Training
 Sports science 219

Standards, group calisthenics, rhythmic gymnastics and medical gymnastics.

Award-winning studies have included ‘A General Survey of the
Anthropometrical, Physiological Characteristics and Physical Fitness of
Chinese Children and Youth’ and ‘A Survey of the Physical Fitness and Health
of Chinese Students in 1985’. The former involved testing 183,424 students
and pupils, ranging from 7 to 25 years of age on twenty-three items of physical
fitness in sixteen cities and provinces. Between 1985 and 1987, the department
worked with Japanese sports scientists to produce a co-operative study on
the physical fitness of children and youth.
Three new departments have been added to the institute since 1984.

• The sports theory department established in 1987, performs research on

basic sports theories and conducts general surveys on competitive sports.
A typical study was entitled ‘Prediction of Chinese and World Track and
Field Records by 2000 and China’s Strategy for the Challenge’.
• The central laboratory also established in 1987, performs functional
evaluations (cardio-pulmonary function, aerobic and anaerobic capability
and muscular strength) of elite athletes.
• The sports psychology department was established in 1991. Until then, a
sports psychology section had operated within the ball games training
department. Today, the department has six staff, consisting of one
associate professor, three assistant professors and two technicians. The
department combines consultations and mental training for individual
athletes with research. The department is currently planning to study
aspects of teenagers’ mental health and to use results from psychological
tests to establish a data bank on China’s top athletes.

The tenth and final department of the NRISS is the sports instrument
department which designs, produces and maintains electronic sports
instruments.
The NRISS also housed a sports information and documentation
department. In 1987, however, the department was moved into an adjacent
building to become the China Sports Information Institute.

Degree programmes
In 1980, the NRISS started three-year graduate programmes in
biomechanics, exercise physiology, sports information, sports medicine and
training science. By 1984, six students had already received master’s
degrees; another eleven students were registered. During the first eighteen
months, the students attended classes at the Beijing Institute of Physical
Education (BIPE), now the Beijing University of Physical Education. The
students then transferred back to the NRISS to undertake research for an
additional eighteen months.
220 Dennis Whitby

The same degree programmes are offered by the institute today, with the
exception of sports information. A doctoral programme in biomechanics is
now jointly organized with the Shanghai Institute of Physical Education.

The coach-scientist link

During the visit of the HKSI delegation to the NRISS in 1995, Zhao
Bingpu, Director of the Institute, explained that communication between
sports scientists at the NRISS and coaches at the NTC was not particularly
good. He expressed the belief that the sports scientists must educate the
coaches concerning the potential uses of sports science research in
performance enhancement. Some coaches do, however, provide ideas for
research.

Working within the system

From 1984 to 1986, the author spent two years coaching with the national
track and field team at the NTC in Tiyuguan Lu. During his first six-month
contract—from January to June 1984—he worked with a support group of
sports scientists and medical doctors from the NRISS. The following
observations were recorded:

Six staff members of the NRISS—two biomechanists, two training-science

specialists and two medical doctors—were assigned to work with the
track and field group of four coaches and eleven athletes. One of the two
biomechanists, Li Chengzhi, had already undertaken some research using
the athletes. Mr Li studied biomechanics in the United States for two
years and had previously conducted a comparative study of Chinese and
American sprinters. The second biomechanist, Huang Zhongcheng, was
head of the biomechanics department. He had received his degree in
biomechanics in China while studying under a Russian advisor in the
1950s. At my request, Mr Huang undertook a comparison of the sprinting
action in normal race conditions and in training with the stride length
regulated.
The two training scientists were Tang Li, head of the training science
department, and Li Qing. Ms Tang had studied in the Soviet Union for
four years in the 1950s. Li Qing was a graduate of the BIPE. He left
Beijing with another training scientist from the NRISS in 1986 to study
for eighteen months in Mainz, West Germany.
The two medical doctors were members of the medical supervision
group in the sports medicine department. Dr Wang Yiqing had received
her medical degree from Shenyang, Liaoning province, and had previously
studied medical aspects of mountaineering. Dr Wang was also working
with the national swimming squad. Dr Wu Zhenmei had received her
 Sports science 221

degree from Dalian Medical University, also in Liaoning province, and

had worked at the NRISS since the institute was established in 1958.
Each day, the two doctors measured the protein concentration of each
athlete’s urine; this was used as a stress indicator. Each athlete was also
subjected to a series of tests every Saturday, including EEGs, ECGs (if
necessary) and the measurement of blood pressure. Blood tests were taken
immediately after each race during the indoor season.

During the author’s second contractual period in Beijing, the amount of

contact with the NRISS was reduced. At the end of February, however, the
training scientists administered strength tests to the athletes at the author’s
request. In addition, the doctors continued to screen the athletes on a
weekly basis and to take blood samples after competition. During this
period, incidentally, the men’s group was assisted by Gao Da’An, one of
China’s legion of West German-educated training scientists, who is now a
Vice-Director at the NRISS.

NATIONAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF SPORTS

MEDICINE
The National Research Institute of Sports Medicine (NRISM) was
established in 1987. The Institute, located in the National Olympic Sports
Centre, serves as the National Test and Research Centre for Doping and
Sports Nutrition. The Doping Control Centre was established in 1989 as
the third IOC-accredited laboratory in Asia (after Seoul and Tokyo). The
centre has since successfully passed the annual reaccreditation test and had,
in fact, passed the most recent test in the mid-1990s. Since the 1990 Asian
Games, the centre has assisted a number of Asian countries in establishing
testing programmes and has organized technical courses for doping
personnel in North Korea, India, Indonesia and Taiwan. The centre
employs twenty-six staff members. All are university graduates who are
engaged in chemical or pharmaceutical analysis. The centre has three
departments: diuretics, nitrogen containing substances (stimulants,
narcotics and beta-blockers) and steroids. The instruments and equipment
used in sample analysis are manufactured by China Hewlett-Packard
Company which services the equipment at no charge.
The sports nutrition centre was also established in 1989 and now employs
twenty-five staff members in four departments—nutrition and biochemistry,
physiology, food production and animal experiment—and has laboratories
for animal experiments, immunology, nutritional biochemistry, physiology
and the manufacture of food products.
Following the doping scandal at the 1994 Asian Games, and in an
attempt to counter the threat of drugs, more emphasis is to be put on
sports nutrition because of the obvious beneficial effects for both health
222 Dennis Whitby

and performance. Advice on nutrition is provided by the centre to national

teams who train at the National Olympic Sports Centre; as noted
previously, the NRISS provides nutritional advice to the national teams
based at the NTC. Athletes also undergo physiological and biochemical
testing and are counselled on specific problems such as anaemia, and
training and competing in a hot climate.
The NRISM offers master’s degree programmes in nutrition, exercise
physiology and doping control. The institute hopes to introduce doctoral
degree courses in doping control and sports nutrition in the near future.

PROVINCIAL RESEARCH INSTITUTES OF SPORTS

SCIENCE
In terms of elite sports, the majority of the country’s sports scientists are
employed at research institutes of sports science that are administered by
provincial physical culture and sports commissions. Every province, with
the exception of Hainan and Tibet, has an institute. With the exception of
Sichuan, each institute of sports science includes a department of sports
medicine; only Sichuan has a separate institute of sports medicine—the
National Research Institute of Sports Traumatology in Chengdu. Some
provinces, including Guangdong (in Guangzhou), Liaoning (Shenyang) and
Sichuan (Chengdu), also have institutes of sports science in their capital
cities.
The Jiangsu Research Institute of Sports Science (JRISS) is situated on the
campus of the Nanjing Institute of Physical Education (NIPE). The institute
was established in 1978 but the institute’s building was first occupied, and
the staff appointed, in 1983.

In 1985, according to Chen Zhongyuan, the institute’s director, while

the NRISS and the Shanghai Research Institute of Sports Science are
mainly involved in research which is not always transferable to the
practical situation, the aim of most provincial research institutes is to
perform applied research.
In general, the staff of the JRISS lack the higher academic qualifications
and experience of researchers at the NRISS. Of thirty staff members,
only five have master’s degrees conferred by Chinese universities. The
remainder hold bachelor’s degrees, or the equivalent.
Director Chen, himself, is a former track and field coach. He started
his career studying at the Nanjing Medical School before transferring to
Beijing to train as a high jumper with the national team. On retirement,
Director Chen coached with the Jiangsu team. His appointment as
director, he thought, was indicative of the trend towards applied research:
two former coaches had recently been appointed as directors of research
institutes.
 Sports science 223

One of the obvious advantages of the JRISS is its location on the

campus of the NIPE. Both work under the direction of the provincial
physical culture and sports commission and a close relationship exists
between the two institutes. Until recently, the vice-president of the NIPE
had also held the position of vice-director of the research institute.
The location of the Jiangsu Central Sports School and of the majority
of provincial teams at the NIPE provides the research institute with an
ample supply of subjects and, in turn, enables the institute to play an
important role in the development of the athletes. There is a continual
interchange of information between coaches of the provincial teams and
researchers. As is normal in research institutes in China, most staff
members could speak some English.
The sports medicine department was originally concerned with the
treatment of injuries. Although its title has remained unchanged, the
department’s major area of emphasis is now exercise physiology; it is
also involved in selection procedures and problem diagnosis. The
department has six staff members. One research assistant had graduated
in sport physiology. The head of department holds a master’s degree.
The department has four small research laboratories that are used in the
areas of blood chemistry and cardio-respiratory function. Most research
is directed towards the determination of aerobic threshold. Two papers
on the subject had recently been presented at an international sports
medicine congress in Beijing.
Data concerning the athletes are passed directly to their coaches.
Equipment included an oxygen/CO2 analyser, the ‘Eugo Screeb’ and a
‘Polygraph’ system for monitoring ECG, blood pressure, etc. The
equipment—manufactured in Britain, China, Japan, Sweden, the
United States and West Germany—was well-maintained, modern and
used very efficiently. All systems were computerized. The institute,
however, finds it difficult to afford new equipment in the area of
exercise physiology.
The biomechanics department also appeared to operate very efficiently.
Using a basic but compact film analysis system, members of staff work
closely with coaches who often assist with analyses. As was the case with
the sports medicine department, the system was connected to an Apple II
computer.
The sports training department was originally concerned only with
training theory. Currently, however, members of the department work
closely with provincial team coaches to improve sport techniques and
methods of technique development, and selection.
The information department is concerned mainly with publishing a
research journal every two months. Research from overseas is translated
and, together with results of ongoing research at the institute and
elsewhere in the province, published in the magazine.
224 Dennis Whitby

The institute also has an efficient reading room for researchers. This
contains numerous bookstacks and shelves carrying the latest periodicals
in sports science from around the world. Every item is carefully catalogued.
The clinic is administered by the NIPE and is concerned with the
diagnosis of injuries and treatment of students, provincial team members
and athletes of the Central Sports School. Athletes receive treatment in
three sparsely-equipped rooms. Staff-members hold the equivalent of
degrees in sports medicine earned at various medical colleges.
The institute has been in existence for only two years yet is operating
in a very efficient manner. Equipment, though not sophisticated, is
obviously fully-utilized. In addition, research is being applied. The institute
is clearly committed to the advancement of sport in the province of
Jiangsu. For his part, Director Chen regarded the expense involved in
research as an investment to be repaid, subsequently, in medals. Others,
he hastened to stress, might not agree.

In December 1994, Yvonne Yuan, Sports Science Officer at the HKSI,

visited the JRISS to study the provision of sports science support to the
provincial swimming team and to compare this with the support system at
the HKSI. Yvonne made the following comments on her return to Hong
Kong:

I worked with Sheng Lei who has been providing sports science support
to the swimming team for more than eight years. The swimming team
depends heavily on lactate monitoring during training. Lactate samples
were taken almost every day, sometimes during both training sessions on
the same day. Haemoglobin and body fat levels were also monitored on
a regular basis. Other tests that are performed…can be of immediate
benefit to our swimmers. For example, hormonal levels and the biological
age of athletes can be important criteria in talent identification.
I also visited the different departments of the institute to gain a better
understanding of the province’s overall support system for athletes. The
biomechanics laboratory is the best-equipped laboratory in the institute.
Equipment includes the latest Cybex (for isokinetic testing), a force
platform and a system of high speed video cameras for filming various
sporting activities.

In October 1992, the author visited the Guangdong provincial team training
centre in Guangzhou and met with Mr Lin Zhenbin, deputy-director of the
Guangdong Research Institute of Sports Science (GRISS), which is located
on the premises.

The GRISS, established in 1982, has a staff of approximately fifty. The

primary role of the institute is the provision of sport science support for
 Sports science 225

provincial team coaches. Twenty-two provincial teams train at the training

centre. At least one sport scientist—a biomechanist, physiologist or
training scientist—is attached to each team on a full-time basis. The track
and field team, for example, has four scientists attached to the team.
Sport scientists are expected to spend 50 per cent of their time with
their teams. Both coaches and scientists identify areas for research; only
applied research is permissible. Areas of concentration include optimum
performance, recovery and nutrition. Scientists are permitted to publish
their findings in professional journals.
Appointments at the institute are very competitive with only applicants
holding master’s degrees receiving consideration. Approximately twenty
to thirty individuals apply for positions at the institute each year; only
one or two are accepted.
Among the institute’s centres and departments are:

• The biochemistry department in which six individuals—an exercise

physiologist, a biochemist and four technicians—work. Most work
is conducted to monitor training, recovery and athletes’ general
health. Up to 100 parameters can be analysed.
• The sports nutrition department had established guidelines for
athletes and coaches prior to the 1992 Olympic Games and 1993
National Games.
• The testing centre, one of three in the country, is used for talent
identification.
• The audio-visual research centre is connected to televisions in various
training locations and allows videotaping, playback and conversion
from tape to black and white photographs (fifty frames/second) for
biomechanical analysis.
• The information centre contains information, often translated from
English, Japanese, German and Russian, on training and skill
development.
• The computer centre employs three staff-members to maintain a
database on the top athletes at the training centre.
• The sport psychology department had only recently been established.
• The cardiac pulmonary function centre.

In October 1995, a delegation from the GRISS, led by Professor Lin Shenghao,
the Director and Professor Lin Zhenbin visited the HKSI and provided
additional information concerning the Guangdong Institute.

• The major roles of the GRISS are, first, to provide technical support for
provincial teams as part of China’s Olympic Achievement Programme,
and second to provide support for the Sport for All Programme, also
known as the All-China Achievement Programme. Although China has
226 Dennis Whitby

emphasized sport for all since 1949, the Sport for All Programme became
law in October 1995 and is seen as providing a base for the Olympic
Achievement Programme. The Olympic Achievement Programme is the
responsibility of the central government. The Sport for All Programme is
the responsibility of local government and communities. The premier of
each province is nominally in charge of the programme within the province
and funding is provided by provincial physical culture and sports
commissions. All provincial research institutes of sports science are
involved.
• The GRISS is conducting research into the effects of nutritional
supplements and Chinese traditional medicine on performance. In doing
so, the institute works closely with pharmaceutical companies and medical
universities and follows the rules of the IOC. Some of the institute’s
products are considered to be better than those on the market. Products
are sent to the NRISM in Beijing for further testing.
• The GRISS does not currently offer programmes of study. However,
according to Professor Lin Zhenbin, the institute is considering whether
to apply to the provincial Science and Technology and Education
Commissions to organize its own courses or to place staff members under
the supervision of another degree-awarding institute.
• Of the various disciplines within sports science, the institute has found
that biomechanics has been the slowest to develop during the previous
ten years. The interface between the coach and the scientists is clearly a
problem with the information provided generally too advanced for the
coaches to utilize. For technical reasons, the institute had also experienced
problems in establishing performance norms. For now, coaches were
provided with film prints to assist them with technique analysis. The
institute is now attempting to address the problem.
• The institute operates under two provincial government departments.
The Science and Technology Commission is responsible for providing
funding for overheads, personnel and office administration. The Physical
Culture and Sports Commission provides programme funds—currently
Y1.5 million (US$210,000) per annum.
• Although the institute is based at, and works closely with, the provincial
training centre, the two organizations operate independently.

In May 1995, the author visited the Liaoning Research Institute of Sports
Science in Shenyang. The institute was based at the provincial Sports Training
Centre until 1992 when it moved to its present five-storey building. The
institute, headed by Professor Quan Zhifei, employs thirty-five members of
staff, including three associate professors and fourteen research assistants.
According to Professor Quan, the facility ranks among the top five in China—
along with those of the NRISS and the Guangdong, Jiangsu and Shanghai
provincial research institutes.
 Sports science 227

The importance of sports science in performance enhancement was first

recognized in Liaoning in the early 1980s. The major priorities of the institute
are the provision of sports science support for provincial teams and talent
identification. Sport scientists are assigned to teams with good medal prospects.
The type of support depends on the sport. If a scientist is assigned to a team
on a full-time basis, the national sports organization foots the bill.
The institute works on a four-year cycle, based on the National Games.
During the first two years, research assistants may work on research projects
that are assigned to the institute by the State Sports Commission; they may
also attend courses and undergo language training. For the last two years of
the cycle, all activity is directed to enhancing the performance of the provincial
teams.
The institute played a major role in the world-record performances of
Mah Jun Ren’s athletes in 1993. In 1988, Mah was transferred from the
Shenyang city team to the provincial team. At that time, sports scientists in
China knew little about training at high altitude. Mah was one of thirty
coaches who attended a seminar on the subject. He then agreed to
experiment with high-altitude training during preparations for the
National Junior Games in 1989. In July 1988, the first group of coaches
and athletes, including Mah and ten of his female athletes, travelled to
Qinghai for high-altitude training. Following competition at sea-level and a
second trip to Qinghai, Mah’s athletes competed successfully at the
National Youth Games. The rest is history.
Professor Quan, who supervised both training camps in Qinghai, claimed
that high-altitude training is only one of the components that has contributed
to Mah’s success. Lessons learned working with his athletes are now being
applied to other sports, particularly cycling and swimming. Professor Quan
was, of course, aware of the charges of drug usage that had been laid against
Mah, but emphasized that Mah’s athletes have been tested many times.
To the question ‘why had Liaoning’s male athletes not shown similar
levels of improvement?’, Professor Quan replied that Mah worked only
with female athletes. He would, however, be working with male athletes in
the future. Professor Quan also emphasized the fine performances of
Liaoning’s male distance runners at the 1993 National Games. He
confirmed that Mah’s athletes were selected on the basis of their speed and
agreed that the previous world records in the women’s 1500m, 3000m and
10,000m had been weak.
During my first visit to the Guangdong provincial team training centre in
1992, I had been informed of a new breed of coach—the coach-scientist, or a
coach who possesses a degree in sports science. I discussed the emergence of
the coach-scientist with Professor Quan and Associate Professor Tang Ruan.
Although one of the institute’s medical doctors had actually crossed over to
become a coach, Associate Professor Tang felt that it was more logical to
keep the two roles separate.
228 Dennis Whitby

We also discussed how provincial coaches in Liaoning had come to accept

the importance of sports science. Originally, the sports scientist had to lead
the coach. Now, as coaches have become more familiar with sports science, it
is they who ask the questions.
We visited three biochemistry laboratories, which include state-of-the-art
equipment imported from Japan and the United States, and a cardio-
respiratory function laboratory. Other equipment included a Cybex 6000,
soon to be linked to EMG and video equipment, and manual digitizing
equipment. Interestingly, the institute employs no sports psychologists.
Psychologists are employed from the Shenyang Institute of Physical Education
to service the psychological needs of the province’s athletes.
It was clear that Liaoning is a leader in China in the provision of sports
science support to athletes and coaches. Such support is undoubtedly a
major reason for the success of Liaoning teams since the 1987 National
Games.

INSTITUTES OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION

China’s institutes of physical education also provide a valuable source of
sports science and sports medicine support for provincial- and national-level
athletes and coaches. The Wuhan Institute of Physical Education, for example,
has both a sports science department and a separate department of sports
psychology.
The sports science department was established in early 1995 to provide
support for the institute’s athletes and coaches, the institute’s competitive
sports school and selected Hubei provincial and national teams that train at
the institute. The department now employs a total of twenty staff members
in five units—biomechanics, exercise physiology and biochemistry, sports
psychology, sports information and equipment research. The various units
often combine to provide support for a particular athlete or team.
The State Physical Culture and Sports Commission is planning to target
ten institutes and sports science departments nationwide to provide sports
science support for national teams; the department at the WIPE will probably
concentrate on water sports. The department is also involved with the Sport
for All Programme.
The institute’s separate sports psychology department—one of five
departments in the institute—is one of the best in the country. The department,
which employs twenty staff-members, has three roles:

• Services Hubei provincial teams and four national teams—archery,

canoeing, fencing and windsurfing.
• Offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sports psychology—the only
department in China to do so. The department also plans to offer a PhD
programme in the near future.
 Sports science 229

• Uses data that are collected fulfilling its service role for research
purposes.

The Wuhan Institute of Physical Education runs a separate sports medicine

department, which is involved in teaching and research, and a sports injuries
clinic.

SOME FINAL COMMENTS

Research is certainly very active, but how much it is contributing to
performance enhancement in elite sport in China may be open to question.
Certainly, the structure is in place. As noted previously, almost every province
has an institute of sports science and the major role of each provincial institute
is to assist the provincial team in its preparations for the quadrennial National
Games. Everything else is of secondary importance.
The number of sports scientists employed at each institute also appears to
be more than adequate; but, given the number of provincial-team athletes
that need to be serviced, this observation may be a little unfair. The athlete:
sports scientist ratio of 14:1 at the Guangdong provincial training centre, for
example, is identical to that at the HKSI which is considered to be a lean and
efficient sports science support service.
Another positive characteristic of the system is that, while the institutes
work in isolation in their attempts to develop their provincial teams, research
throughout the system is co-ordinated, and research projects assigned by the
State Physical Culture and Sports Commission, through the Department of
Science and Physical Education of the All-China Sports Federation. Research
is also co-ordinated on an informal basis through frequent meetings of
specialist associations such as the China Sports Science Society and China
Sports Medicine Association.
Surprisingly, however, the NRISS and NRISM have no formal leadership
role in sports science and sports medicine. Links are established either through
business or, unofficially, through exchanges, seminars and staff exchanges.
There are few official links between the two national institutes and the
provincial institutes.
In Chapter 6, it is suggested that, given the vast resources that have been
committed to performance enhancement and the country’s population of more
than 1 billion, China’s dominance of sport in the international arena is not
what it should be. Even in sports that are producing world-leading
performances, the question must be asked: how much progress is due to quality
coaching and sports science support and how much can be explained by pure
numbers? In the author’s view, the major reason for progress has been the
number of athletes within the system. Until now, the coaches and sports
scientists have had what is, essentially, a free ride. The majority of coaches
continue to use coaching techniques that worked for them as athletes;
230 Dennis Whitby

accountability was introduced only in the late 1980s. The lack of interaction
between coaches and sports scientists that exists in many provinces has also
minimized the effects that sports science could have on performance. This
must now change. With further gains in performance levels becoming
increasingly difficult to achieve, China will undoubtedly have to turn to its
research institutes of sports science for the answers. The future of sport in
China, as in any society, depends upon the technical people. In time, you
have to know what you are doing, and why. For this reason, sports scientists
in China now occupy a position of considerable responsibility. For China to
close the gap on countries such as the United States, Russia and Germany,
and to become increasingly dominant in international sport, the country’s
legion of sports scientists must move towards the level of efficiency of their
former East European counterparts. They must also convince their coaches
that sports science has an important role to play in performance enhancement.
If they fail to do so, China will probably remain an also-ran in the international
arena of sport.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author wishes to thank Li Guoping, MD, Head, Sports Medicine
Department, and Ding Xueqin, Head, Sports Psychology Department,
National Research Institute of Sports Science, for reviewing the content of
this chapter.
Chapter 12

Sports medicine
Frank H.Fu

INTRODUCTION
The development of sports medicine in China is divided into two parts: pre-
1949 and post-1949. For the period before 1949, the focus is on the historical
development of acupuncture and Meridian network, massage and physical
therapy, QiGong and wushu. The post-1949 period addresses the development
of sports medicine under the present government in the People’s Republic of
China (PRC).

PRE-1949 PERIOD
Acupuncture is presently accepted by the medical profession for treating
specific illnesses, for example, arthritis, paralysis, digestive system disorder,
high blood pressure, and muscle atrophy (China Medical Rehabilitation
Research Society 1984). As early as 2,300 BC, sharp stones were used to
relieve pain and illness, an early form of acupuncture (Chin 1985). Without
any sophisticated equipment, networks of nerves were identified and
documented by 200 BC. These networks are still used by acupuncture doctors
in giving treatment. At about the same time the subcutaneous network was
discovered. This network of nerve neurones or concentration of nerve sensors/
receptors is somewhat similar to that used for acupuncture, and is known as
the Meridian network. Its significance and acceptance are still being debated
and investigated by Chinese doctors.
There has been speculation that massage was used in China some 3,000
years ago. Certainly, the use of massage for treatment was documented during
the Chou dynasty (1112–770 BC). By the time of the Western Han dynasty
(200 BC-AD 25), it was widely used for treating a variety of diseases. Its uses
include improving blood circulation, joint function and mobility, concentration
and overall health. Massage is presently classified into five types: pushing,
friction, kneading, cupping, and hacking. It is commonly accepted that
massage also aids the recovery of fatigued muscles and is used during warm-
up and cool-down routines as well.
232 Frank H.Fu

The use of Qi (air) in treating illness was documented over 2,000 years
ago (China Medical Rehabilitation Research Association 1984). It was believed
that Qi was vital as the material that made up the human body, being
responsible for all physical functions and connecting the body to its external
environment. Thus, breathing came to hold a key position in exercise. Qi’s
indications include treating such diseases as high blood pressure, coronary
heart disease, digestive disorder, nervous breakdown, respiratory malfunction
and even cancer. In its early stages, Qi involved postural meditation, such as
‘Anqiao’ and postural/breathing exercises, such as ‘Daoyin’. Both exercises
were recorded in the Huan Di Nai Jing, the first publication in traditional
Chinese medicine (the Warring period, 475–221 BC) (see Figure 12.1). Postural
exercises were further developed in subsequent years. Wu Quin Xi was most
popular during the Three Kingdoms (AD 220–80), with exercise postures
imitating the tiger, bear, deer, monkey and bird (see Figure 12.2). Each posture
would contribute to the development of Qi and benefit the lungs, liver,
stomach, kidney and heart respectively. Ban Duan Jin was another popular
exercise practised by people during the Sun dynasty (AD 960–1271) (Qu and
Ya 1988). This series of postural exercises would contribute to better
concentration and relaxation, and to cardio-respiratory functions (see Figure
12.3).
The addition of the element of movement to postural exercise led to the
development of Tai Chi Quan, which emphasized body relaxation, breathing,
concentration, and smoothness of muscle movement. There are twenty-four
fundamental movements, but these can increase to forty-eight or more (see
Figure 12.4) (China Medical Rehabilitation Research Association 1984). The
exercise could contribute to the development of Qi, physical stamina and
concentration/will power through a combination of postural and movement
exercises. Development of other forms of Quans followed, such as Yi Jin Jing
during the Ming dynasty (AD 1368–1644) and many became components of
modern wushu.
Before the fall of the Ching dynasty in 1911, China’s closed door policy
had limited the influence of western ideology and technology, and during
the period 1911–49 China was in turmoil—with the two world wars, the
Civil War lasting from the 1920s to the 1940s, and the Japanese invasion.
Thus, despite its long history of adopting ‘therapeutic exercise’ and
‘development and application of Qi’ as a form of sports medicine, and
since modern competitive sport was only a western import during the last
100 years, sports medicine in its modern form did not really exist in China
before 1949.

POST-1949 PERIOD
With the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, and the emphasis
on enhancing national prestige through sport and the productivity of the
Figure 12.1 Silk painting of ‘Daoyin’ found at the grave of Emperor Ma (475–221 BC). Each postural/breathing exercise is for treating a specific illness
234 Frank H.Fu

Figure 12.2 Wu Quan Xi—postural exercises imitating animals—popular during the Three
Kingdoms (AD 220–280)

workforce, the political climate was conducive to the introduction and

development of sports medicine. In the early 1950s, graduates from medical
colleges were assigned to various national teams. The first breakthrough in
importing overseas expertise was the visit of a delegation of Soviet sports
medicine experts to the Beijing Institute of Physical Culture in 1956, which
led to the introduction of graduate programmes in sports medicine and sports
physiology. In the following year, China sent a group of medical doctors to
study in the Soviet Union and Hungary. Among them were Professor Qu
 Sports medicine 235

Figure 12.3 Ban Duan Jin—postural exercises popular during the Sun dynasty
(AD 960–1271)

Mianyu, Professor Yang Tienle, Professor Yang Xirang, Professor Cen

Haowang and Professor Lu Shaozhung, who have provided leadership in
this field over the last forty years. This trend in exchange programmes with
the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe (e.g. Hungary) continued until the
Cultural Revolution (1966–76). With the ‘ping pong’ diplomacy in the 1970s,
China resumed its interaction with the rest of the world. The first delegation
to the USA in 1978 comprised three coaches to Springfield College for three
months. In the following year, sports medicine experts were allowed to spend
up to two years at US universities for academic exchange programmes. In
1989, the Tiananmen Square incident again put a temporary hold on all
exchange programmes as well as the overall development of sports medicine
in China. However, with the support of the government and a strong desire
among Chinese sports medicine professionals to interact within the country
and with foreign institutions, sports medicine in China continued to develop.
The following section briefly describes the development of various aspects of
sports medicine in China.
Figure 12.4 (i) Tai Chi Quan—fundamental movements
Source: China Medical Rehabilitation Research Association 1984
 Sports medicine 237

Figure 12.4 (ii) Tai Chi Quan

PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION
Throughout Chinese history, wushu has been an important part of overall
culture. As injuries would occur during practice and competition, many wushu
‘masters’ were also competent ‘doctors’ in sports medicine, and some are still
referred to as ‘bone-setters’ today. The learning of the art of treating injuries
usually took the form of passing on family ‘secrets’ or an apprenticeship. It
was only recently that emphasis has been put on training for, and the practice
238 Frank H.Fu

Figure 12.4 (i) Tai Chi Quan

Source: China Medical Rehabilitation Research Association 1984

of, Chinese medicine. There is still, however, no formal legal structure or

institution offering a formal education programme in ‘bone-setting’ per se.
In the early 1950s, medical school graduates with no specialized
training in sports medicine were posted to work with national sports
 Sports medicine 239

squads. They were the pioneers of sports medicine in modern China. The
influence of the Soviet Union resulted in an awareness of the need to
develop formal institutions to train sports medicine personnel. In 1958,
the State Research Institute of Sports Science was established in Beijing
with specialization in sports medicine, sports biomechanics, sports
physiology and sports biochemistry. In 1959, the Beijing Medical College
became the first institution in the country to establish research
departments in sports traumatology, sports nutrition, sports biochemistry,
medical supervision and rehabilitation. At the same time, graduates from
medical schools were sent overseas to study in the Soviet Union and in
Hungary in specialized areas of sports science and sports medicine (as
mentioned above). As more and more trained personnel became available,
research centres in sports science were established in different provinces,
with funding from the central government. By 1966, there were eighteen
research centres in twenty-nine provinces. At the same time, sports
science personnel (non-medical) were trained by various institutes of
physical culture in the provinces. There are presently seventeen such
major institutions funded by the central government, while the remaining
ones (over 100) are funded by provincial governments.
The training of sports medicine personnel in China is well established.
Undergraduate programmes of four to five years are offered by medical
colleges and institutes of physical education. Graduate degree programmes
with various specializations follow, with emphasis on research, clinical and
sport-related areas. Some of these programmes are offered by universities
or research institutes of sports science and/or sports medicine. As Chinese
athletes are winning more medals in international competitions, exchanges
with overseas institutions continue to be important in the professional
preparation of sports medicine personnel, especially in the area of surgery
and pharmacology. Some traditional medical practice, for example
acupuncture, Qi and Meridian network, and use of herbal medicine, are
likely to become the focus of further research in the next century.

PROFESSIONAL INSTITUTIONS
As sport was regarded as a means of nation-building after 1949, institutes
responsible for the training of sport-related experts were founded in the
early 1950s. Key institutes, such as the Beijing Institute of Physical
Culture, were funded by the central government with an emphasis on
training athletes, coaches, physical education teachers and sports scientists
(who included sports medicine in their qualifications). During the same
period, ten medical colleges offered specialized programmes in sports
medicine with a focus on care and prevention of sports injuries. The first
graduating class of 1956 provided today’s leaders in sports science and
sports medicine.
240 Frank H.Fu

Apart from the institutes of physical culture, many medical colleges with
sports medicine departments were formed after 1958, providing training
programmes in care and prevention of sports injuries and related research
opportunities, for example the Institute of Sports Medicine at Beijing Medical
University. Others, funded by the central government through the All-China
Sports Federation, include the National Research Institute of Sports Science
and the National Research Institute of Sports Medicine. There are also
numerous research institutes of sports science/sports medicine funded by
provincial governments, for example the Guangzhou Institute of Sports Science
at Er-Sa-Tow.
In China, sports science commonly includes sports medicine, with the
exception of the courses at medical colleges. The founding of the National
Research Institute of Sports Medicine in 1992, an independent body separate
from the National Research Institute of Sports Science, is a good example. At
present, six major specializations within sports medicine are recognized, with
degree programmes offered at various institutions:

1 Medical supervision
2 Preventive medicine
3 Sports physiology
4 Sports injuries
5 Sports biochemistry
6 Sports nutrition

Despite the desire to establish sports medicine as an entity separate from

sports science, areas of common interest exist, especially when they involve
the training and preparation of national team athletes. It is envisaged that
this symbiotic relationship will continue in view of the need to integrate
traditional Chinese medicine with western technology. A Doping Control
Centre was also set up in Beijing in 1990, but it failed to prevent the
incidence of drug violations by Chinese athletes at the 1994 Asian Games
in Hiroshima. Much more effort will be needed by sport administrators to
ensure full compliance with drug regulations by coaches and athletes in the
future.

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND ACTIVITIES

The above-mentioned visit of Soviet medical experts in 1956 marked the
beginning of a series of exchanges between China and the Soviet Union. This
had a significant impact on the training of the pioneers in sports medicine
and science. The first National Conference on Sports Science was held in
1964 but, because of the Cultural Revolution (1966–76), the next conference
was not held until 1978. At present, the conference takes place biennially.
The Chinese Association of Sports Medicine (CASM) was formed in the same
 Sports medicine 241

year as the initial conference, and it became a member of the International

Federation of Sports Medicine (FIMS) in 1980. Academic exchanges with
the USA were renewed in 1979 (after a gap of some thirty years), and by
1980 China had established several exchange programmes with US universities
and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).
Sports Science, a periodical devoted to physical education and sport science,
was first published in 1981. The first Chinese Journal of Sports Medicine
was published by the China Sports Science Society in 1982 and now appears
four times per year, with a circulation of over 4,000. In recent years,
international conferences have been held by various institutions in different
cities, while many scholars and students have also been sent overseas for
further study. The ‘brain drain’ has been a major problem, especially with
young graduates who left to study in overseas institutions. However, China’s
‘open door’ policy has continued with the hope that many overseas-trained
young professionals will eventually return home.

THE WAY AHEAD

In its short history since 1949, the development of sports medicine in China
has been interrupted by the Cultural Revolution and the Tianmen Square
incident (1989). Notwithstanding, it has managed to establish its own identity
as a separate entity from sports science. As the emphasis on winning medals
in sport continues to be a top priority in China, sports medicine has to continue
to conduct applied research in sport performance-related areas in order to
gain sufficient funding for its programmes—teaching, research and practice.
Tian et al. (1993) have suggested that future research in sports science should
focus on improving methodology, increasing the knowledge base and meeting
the demands of society by conducting more applied research.
The future development of sports medicine in China will depend not only
on government support, but also on the ingenuity used in securing funding
from overseas or local companies anxious to take advantage of China’s ‘open
door’ policy. The continuing stability of the present government will have a
direct impact on the growth of sports medicine in China in the years ahead.

REFERENCES
Chin, Hsiaoyi (1985) Chronological Table of Chinese and World Culture, Taipei:
National Palace Museum.
China Medical Rehabilitation Research Association (1984) Rehabilitation Medicine,
Beijing: People’s Hygiene Printing Press.
Committee on Emperor Ma Grave (1977) Medical Diagnosis and Prescription, Beijing:
People’s Printing Press.
Knuttgen, H.G., Ma, Qiwei and Wu, Zhongyuan (eds) (1990) Sport in China,
Champaign, Illinois: Human Kinetics.
242 Frank H.Fu

Tian, Mai Jiu et al. (1993) ‘Sports science research methodology—problems and issues
in China’, Journal of China Sports Society 13(3):13–18.
Qu, Mianyu and Yu, Changlon (eds) (1988) China’s Sports Medicine, New York:
Karger.
Wang, B. (ed.) (1955) Huang Di Nai Jing, Beijing: Commercial Printing Press.
Zhu, Zongxiang (1993) The Meridian Network and Longevity, Beijing: Science
Promotion Press.
Chapter 13

Mass fitness
Shirley Reekie1

FITNESS BEFORE 1949

Fitness activities have a long history in China. Some activities, such as archery,
horseriding, spear throwing, tree climbing, shuttlecock kicking and Chinese
martial arts, can be traced back several thousand years, and fitness for inner
health has a similarly long history, especially Qi gong and Tai ji quan. These
activities were very popular whenever the economy was in good condition,
and various organizations were set up to deal with the activities, such as
those for archery, ball kicking, and martial arts, in which ordinary citizens,
as well as emperors and imperial officials, participated.
Modern sport was introduced into China at the end of the nineteenth
century and began with military training and church-initiated physical
education classes. Gradually, other sports, including basketball,
gymnastics, volleyball, team handball, baseball, weightlifting, track and
field and soccer, spread. Most of the participants, however, were school
students or the rich, and these sports tended to be played only in the
eastern regions and in large cities. The fitness pioneers worked very hard to
promote sports in order to improve the fitness of ordinary people. They
published articles in the newspapers, organized competitions, and taught
school students, but their efforts were not particularly successful owing to
the low level of the economy, the various wars, problems with drugs and
natural disasters. By the 1940s, the average fitness level of ordinary
Chinese was very low, and their average life span was only 40 years. China
had few high level athletes; only one runner participated in the 1936
Olympics, and he was eliminated in the first round. Because of the low
fitness levels, China at that time was sometimes referred to as the ‘Sick
Man of Asia’.

FITNESS BETWEEN 1949 AND 1979

After taking power in 1949, the new Chinese government decided to make
fitness a priority. In the same year, the first national physical education
244 Shirley Reekie

convention was held in Beijing, and the State Physical Education and Sports
Commission of China (SPESC, but also referred to at that time as the State
Physical Culture and Sports Commission, SPCSC) was established as the
executive body to promote fitness and health. In 1951, the SPESC created
the first form of Chinese ti cao (callisthenics set to music), and promoted it
through national administrative bodies. Ti cao was practised by school
students and government employees during their recess time and the new
form of exercise spread rapidly through the whole nation, attracting much
attention. The SPESC further set a basic exercise standard for schools, factories,
farms and the army and, by 1956, nearly a million people had reached the
standards set.
The Chinese government also organized various sports competitions in
order to promote exercise and sport. An impressive national folk exercise
demonstration was held by fifty-six minority groups, but the largest event
during this period was the national industrial workers’ sports tournament in
which 1,200,000 workers participated, during the preliminary stages, in
various sports. This became the cornerstone of the worker fitness movement.
In this period, more than twenty sports associations for state employees (such
as those of mineworkers, and railway workers) were established, with 36,000
branches and more than 4 million members.
Ti cao was updated several times and, most importantly, the SPESC trained
many Tat ji quan experts to develop a standard, simplified form of Tai ji
quan—the 24 Form—to promote this Chinese traditional exercise (because
there were several styles, it was difficult to make them all popular). It worked
well and more people practised Tai ji afterwards. In 1959, the first national
games of the People’s Republic were organized, which reflected concerns
about fitness and sport. However, this period was beset by natural disasters
and severe political problems, and fitness and sport became neglected until
1965. As the economy recovered and the political situtation stabilized, China
organized the second national games, which gradually restored people’s
interest in fitness and sport.
The Cultural Revolution in 1966 was a disaster for mass fitness. Virtually
all sport and exercise ceased. This situation lasted for five years until, starting
in 1971, sport and fitness returned in popularity, although the number of
participants was far less than before the Cultural Revolution.

FITNESS IN THE 1980s AND 1990s

The 1980s was the boom time for the fitness movement and three factors
facilitated this. First, the improved economy gave increased opportunity for
fitness and exercise. Second, the publishing of a new style Qi gong—Crane
style Qi gong, which spread to the whole country in just one year as an
exercise and therapy for inner health—started a fitness fever. Third, the
consecutive victories of the Chinese women’s volleyball team in the world
 Mass fitness 245

championships, and the achievements of Chinese athletes at the 1984 Olympic

Games in Los Angeles, stimulated people’s interest and attracted youth to
sport training.
The reforms of the 1990s have had several repercussions. First is the change
in people’s attitude toward fitness, thanks to the influence of ‘fitness fever’ in
developed countries. Before this time, the government used to assist people
to participate in sports competitions or exercise. For example, when employees
participated in competition and training, the government provided sportswear,
transportation and meals. In the 1990s, however, higher salaries allowed
more people to spend their own money to play or exercise, and such expenses
have become a part of the everyday budget for many. Second is the changeover
of the administration of fitness from government-based to society-based. This
has led to greatly improved resources and opportunities. And third, in 1995,
the SPESC started a national project, ‘Fitness for All’, which has attracted
people all over China and has started an even bigger wave of fitness
movements.
Fitness activities can be identified in four categories: government
departments, national sports organizations, businesses, and spontaneous
groups.

Government level
Restructuring of the government in March 1998 (see Chapter 1) is changing
the former responsibilities of various departments. Although the closure of
the SPESC reflects new government priorities concerning sport, it would be
wrong to interpret the move as an abandonment of government interest, and
much of the work and duties mentioned in this section will doubtless remain
within government offices.
At the point of restructuring, several government departments were involved
in the administration of mass fitness, but the SPESC had overall responsibility.
Its duties included development of long-term, and annual, planning for mass
fitness, development of budgets for mass fitness, management of mass fitness
organizations, establishment of mass fitness policies and rules, supervision
and evaluation of procedures, and organization of comprehensive fitness
events.
Attached to the SPESC, the Mass Fitness Department, in 1997, was involved
in research studies, drafting laws and regulations, organizing meetings,
tournaments, national fitness events and international activities, and
administrative work related to fund raising, publications, supervisor and
instructor training, awards and fitness equipment testing. Assisting the SPESC,
the Fitness Centre Society organized meetings, international fitness and
recreation events, and directed activities such as youth fitness camps and
youth weight control camps.
246 Shirley Reekie

Other government departments included the Department of Health,

Physical Education and the Arts (attached to the State Education Commission,
now Ministry of Education), dealing with schools; the Ministry of Health
and its subordinates, for sport rehabilitation and therapy, health examinations,
and fitness assessments; the National Minority Population Commission,
organizing traditional minority population sport events; and the National
Ministry for the Disabled, promoting and organizing sports and fitness for
people with disabilities. Each of these ministries or commissions, funded by
tax revenues, operates under the State Council, at national, provincial, city
and lower levels.

Specific sports organizations

Beyond (and largely outside) the government ministries, there is an array of
organizations that are involved with the organization of sport and fitness.
They have in the past liaised with the SPESC and have received
government financial support, but the latest reforms are likely to give them
greater responsibility, or to lead to their closure, depending on their success
in fundraising, recruitment of members, provision of facilities and
equipment and consultation, and general organization. Some operate for
specific groups of employees (e.g. the railway workers), or for specific
groups of people (e.g. the elderly), or for specific sports (e.g. the
Badminton Association).

Business-oriented clubs
With greater income and a shorter working day giving greater recreational
opportunities, people are choosing to spend more time and money on fitness
activities. In the new economic climate, many commercial sports clubs have
opened, especially in the major cities, to meet the growing demand. Clubs for
aerobics, martial arts, bowling alleys, tai ji quan, qi gong, golf and social
dance may be found and, although expensive, they are becoming popular.
The clubs attract the general public, but especially the self-employed. There
are, however, many people who still do not have access to government-
sponsored or ministry-run facilities, and who cannot afford the business-
oriented clubs.

Spontaneous groups
These groups are both popular and active. The retired population, those
who do not have access to other exercise facilities, do not have time to
participate in other organized exercise, or do not have extra money for
clubs, may form spontaneous groups. The groups are usually loosely
organized, without formal organization or administration, and often grow
 Mass fitness 247

from a small initial group interested in one type of exercise or activity. By

starting and finishing before breakfast, participants are able to go to work.
The scale of these spontaneous groups may be quite large, as the following
example shows: at 5.30 a.m. in May 1996, at Beiling Park in Shenyang
(capital city of Lioaning province in north east China), a group of about
100 swimmers was observed, along with a social dance group estimated at
700–800, a large Chinese folk dance group of at least 2,000 people,
twenty-five tat ji quan and qi gong groups ranging from eighty to 200
participants, and several martial arts groups with thirty to forty
participants. Besides these, other small groups and individuals were playing
badminton and volleyball or jogging.

FITNESS TESTING PROCEDURES IN CHINA

Following the start of fitness testing in 1980, the SPESC established national
standards of fitness in 1982, to be used for students and young people (other
organizations, such as government institutions and community groups were
also able to adopt part of the standards).

Students and young people

There are four age groups (9–12 years, 13–15 years, 16–18 years and 19
years or older) and three evaluation categories for each age group: outstanding
(420–500 points), good (350–415 points) and pass (250–345 points). The
government gives certificates to those who achieve the necessary standards,
and recognition of these standards is given for admission to universities (see
Chapter 5).
The national standards include five types of fitness test for each of the
four age groups, but may overlap in some tests (50 and 100 metres, 1000 and
1500 metres for example) and lack other tests, such as those for flexibility
(see Table 13.1).

Adults
Fitness standards for adults were designed for males, age 18 to 60, and females,
age 18 to 55; 60 and 55 years are the standard ages of retirement for males
and females respectively in China. This adult group is further divided into
Group A, age 18 to 40, and Group B, age 41 to 60 (55 for females). The
government suggests that adults take the test once a year, and awards
certificates in the ‘outstanding, good, or pass’ categories. The test items include
two sets for Group A and Group B. The first set is considered to reflect basic
fitness, and the second set overall health. However, the two sets of adult tests
are not discrete and also lack certain tests that might be expected, such as
blood pressure and cholesterol level (see Table 13.2).
248 Shirley Reekie

Table 13.1 Test items for young people in the National Fitness Standards
 Mass fitness 249

Table 13.2 Test items for adults in the National Fitness Standards

CHINA’S ‘FITNESS FOR ALL’ PROJECT

In 1995, the government introduced the national ‘Fitness for All’ project. Its
purpose was:

1 to promote national fitness for the benefit of economic development;

2 to improve the overall fitness and health of the nation; and
3 to establish a national fitness network.

While a primary focus of the project is on children and young people, most
groups, including people with disabilities, were targeted. To achieve the goals,
the government established a four-stage plan. The introductory stage (1995–
6) was to establish the plan at different experimental locations. In the second
stage (1997–8), promotion of the fitness concept and participation in fitness
activities was to be gradually expanded to other places. The third stage (1999–
2000) would spread the basic structure of the Fitness for All project to the
whole nation and the fourth stage would continue to raise the fitness levels
and establish a broad network of fitness organizations.
To carry out the project, the SPESC proposed a 1–2–1 plan:
250 Shirley Reekie

1 Every individual should participate in at least one daily fitness activity,

learn at least two kinds of sports or activities, and have one annual fitness
test.
2 Every family should have at least one piece of fitness equipment,
participate in at least two outdoor fitness activities for every season, and
take at least one fitness journal or newspaper.
3 Every community should provide at least one fitness or sport facility,
organize two community-based fitness events, and develop one team of
mass fitness supervisors.
4 Every school should provide students with at least one hour, daily, of
fitness activity and organize two camping or long-distance hiking
excursions.

The SPESC also developed several strategies:

1 To include fitness projects in the national economic development plan,

balancing competitive sport and mass fitness.
2 To raise awareness of fitness through intensive national propaganda.
3 To carry out the existing law and develop new laws for mass fitness;
improve the management of mass fitness; and plan regular, formal, sport
and mass fitness events.
4 Gradually increase the involvement of sports associations and
communities in mass fitness.
5 Increase resources from the government and encourage institutions and
individuals to invest money in fitness activities.
6 Establish fitness testing and publicize the results. Train mass fitness
supervisors to teach, supervise and manage mass fitness activities at
beginner, intermediate, advanced and national levels.
7 Encourage personalized fitness activities and promote traditional fitness
and health activities.
8 Conduct intensive research in mass fitness and provide feedback for
further improvement.
9 Include the development of fitness facilities in the overall planning of
any city or countryside area.
10 Request all sports and fitness facilities be open for mass fitness.
11 Request all institutions to regularly organize exercise to music.
12 Reward outstanding institutions and individuals in the mass fitness
movement.
13 Draw up a national list of the various fitness activities.

The Fitness for All project has been in existence since 1995 and some
descriptive reports and observations suggest the project is going well, although
there are few research data currently available. The following statistics were
published in articles appearing in the People’s Daily (the official government
 Mass fitness 251

newspaper) between November 1996 and December 1997. In Guangzhou

(the capital of Guangdong province), a fitness network has been established,
and more than 4 million people participate in fitness activities, accounting
for 60 per cent of the total population. In the whole of Guangdong province,
40 per cent of the population participate in regular exercise, and the same
was true in Dalian, northern China. In Chengdu (capital of Sichuan province),
gymnasiums or fitness facilities (more than 100) were open to the public
during the 1997 Chinese New Year, and all of them were full. The city also
built a sports equipment shopping centre, which has become very popular. In
Gansu province, 90 per cent of the institutions and industry have participated
in the Fitness for All project. More than 50,000 fitness events were organized
and more than 8 million people participated in the events. In Inner Mongolia,
35 per cent of the people participated in fitness or sport events, and more
than 1 million people participated in 2,000 organized fitness and sport events.
An estimated 150 million elderly people throughout China participate in
regular exercise, and several hundred new organizations for different groups
have been formed.
Although mass fitness in China has been developing rapidly and the national
Fitness for All project has many achievements to its credit, there are still
problems that need to be solved. For historical reasons, competitive sport has
been the major focus of the Chinese government. China was weak and had
been invaded by other countries before 1949, and the government and people
wanted to regain their dignity by standing at the top of the world. However,
the development of the economy is a long-term task, and the government
turned to sport with high expectations, hoping that victories in sport would
show to the world that China was a strong nation. Thus, winning gold medals
has been the dominating force in Chinese sport. Under this pressure, the
SPESC spent 90 per cent of its sport budget on competition-related activities.
An investigation in Dalian city (a well-developed area with a high participation
rate in sport) indicated that only 1 per cent of their budget in 1997 (two
years after the Fitness for All project started) was used for mass fitness
activities. The total amount of money was about US$12,000, and that was
for almost 4 million people.
The ‘gold medal syndrome’ has also had a negative influence on people’s
fitness. Many people, from top leaders to ordinary citizens, have become
sport spectators rather than participants. They are concerned about the
achievements of national teams and they get very excited when Chinese
athletes win gold medals in the Olympic Games. However, they do not
participate in sport themselves. For example, soccer is the favourite spectator
sport, but it does not have the highest number of participants. People forget
their own need for exercise when they watch sport on TV.
Another source of confusion is that the SPESC classifies chess and card
activities as sport. The result is that many people participate in these activities,
which have no value for fitness—and these are counted in the various statistics.
252 Shirley Reekie

Newspapers also focus their reports on professional sports, and the small
number of professional athletes, instead of on fitness for more than a billion
people. One statistic indicated that among the 3,722 reports and articles in
the People’s Daily (the most popular Chinese newspaper), in 1997, 62.5 per
cent were on professional sport competitions, 17.5 per cent on chess or cards,
18.7 per cent on meetings and information on famous people in sport, but
only 1.3 per cent on fitness, and this at the time of the second stage of the
Fitness for All project.
Although there have been changes in the fitness levels of city people,
those in the countryside still lag behind significantly. As many as 80 per
cent of the population are farmers, whose living conditions and health care
differs considerably from that in the cities. Exercise and sport could
therefore play an important role in helping to keep farmers fit. However,
except for a few regions, where fitness is part of the rural way of life,
fitness is still a remote concept in the countryside. There are several
reasons for this:

1 Working patterns. Farmers spend most of their time in the fields, following
traditional work patterns. They have no time or energy for exercise or
sport after working from early morning to evening. There is less
government sport provision in the countryside compared to cities, and
few farms organize their own sport or fitness activities.
2 Concept and atmosphere. Most farmers believe that exercise and sport
are a waste of time and energy; they feel that fitness activities are not
necessary, since they do daily physical labour. This concept sets a mental
block for most farmers and has a negative influence on their motivation
to participate. Furthermore, the fitness movement has not yet created
significant interest in the countryside, even though it is becoming popular
in the cities.
3 Economy and living level. The economic development of farms and
the living standard of most farmers in China are far below city level.
Most farmers have just achieved, or are still trying to achieve, a
living-wage level which allows them to have ample food and
improved living conditions. Fitness is not yet on their agenda. The
economy of farms changes very slowly in comparison to cities, and
farm areas cannot afford gymnasia or equipment for fitness.
Rudimentary outdoor basketball courts are still the only fitness
facilities on most farms.

LACK OF RESOURCES
China is still a developing country even though its economy has been growing
relatively quickly in recent years. The limited resources have had to be used
 Mass fitness 253

on other things deemed more important than fitness; the resources the
government can provide for fitness are limited, even for the Fitness for All
project, and this situation is unlikely to change. Because gold medals are still
a high priority, competitive sport continues to attract major funding and the
only way to raise additional money for fitness is to count on donations from
society and industry.
The lack of facilities is a key factor hampering the development of
fitness. According to national statistics, by the end of 1995, 615,693
standard sports facilities covered 1.07 billion square metres, averaging
0.65 square metres per person. The government only invests 80 million
yuan (approximately US$10 million) annually on building sports facilities,
and about 80 per cent of existing facilities are inadequate. Most
communities do not have exercise and sport facilities, and one-third of
elementary schools do not have standard sports fields. Many schools are
losing existing facilities because businesses are looking for space for new
construction and often the school sports fields are targeted. Because
education in China does not have enough resources, many schools have to
find ways to support themselves to some extent, and selling parts of the
sports field is one possibility.

SUMMARY
Throughout China there is a huge range of popular sports, traditional
activities, children’s and adult games and pastimes that reflect climate,
regional differences, ethnic minority groups and overseas influence.
According to figures collected in 1997 by the SPESC, the activities include
formal sports (e.g. basketball, volleyball, soccer, badminton, table tennis,
track and field, swimming, gymnastics, ice skating, weightlifting and social
dance), fitness and health-oriented activities (e.g. aerobic dancing, cycling,
jogging, tat ji quan, qi gong and wushu), play-oriented activities (e.g. tug-
of-war, hopscotch, skipping, jumping rubber bands, shuttlecock kicking),
and ethnic minority-related activities (e.g. horse riding, dragon dancing
and dragon boat racing). Mass fitness has a long history, but with the
growth of the Chinese economy and opening doors to the world, mass
fitness at the end of the 1990s has been accepted by many people and the
government.

NOTE
1 The author would like to acknowledge material and advice contributed by Ji-
Hong Cao, Wen-jian Zhang, Xiao-chun Wang and Xiao-ru Liu of Shenyang
Physical Education Institute, and Gong Chen of San Jose State University.
254 Shirley Reekie

REFERENCES
Olympics (1993) Beijing: People’s Sport Publisher.
Mass Fitness (1990) Beijing: People’s Sport Publisher.
Fitness for All (1996) Beijing: National Physical Education and Sports Commission.
Fitness for All Documents (1995) Beijing: National Physical Education and Sports
Commission.
Mass Fitness Supervisor’s Handbook (1994) Tianjin: Tianjin People’s Publisher.
Fitness Assessment Manual for Adults in China (1996) Beijing: Standard Publisher of
China.
Essays on Play and Sport (1996) Hainan: Hainan Publisher.
Lu, C. (1992) Chinese Gongfu, Canton: Canton Tour Publisher.
Ke, Y.L. (1993) Chinese Oigong, Shanghai: Writers Publisher.
Shu X.W. and Liu, P. (1993) Chinese Defeated Chinese, Shanghai: Hua Yi Publisher.
Knuttgen H.G., Ma, O. and Wu, Z. (1990) Sport in China, Champaign, Illinois:
Human Kinetics Publisher.
People’s Daily (1996, 1997), Beijing.
Appendix
Administration of sport

Shirley Reekie1

China has traditionally been a highly centralized nation, although the situation
has begun to change in recent years. The administration of physical education
and sport is undergoing similar change although it is still dominated by three
government structures. The first is the National Physical Education/Sport
Commission (a ministry or government department) which is in charge of
general professional and amateur sport training and competition, mass fitness
and research. The second is the National Education Commission which is in
charge of physical education and sport in school, and the third is a collection
of industry and business ministries responsible for fitness and sport for their
employees and families. These three organizations have a vertical
administration system at provincial, city and district division levels to carry
out their duties, with lateral networking among them. For example, two of
them may work together to organize sports events. These three systems are
all responsible to the head of government.
Besides the above three government-controlled administrations, there
are two other types of major organization which co-ordinate with these
government structures and have their own specific professional duties. One
is comprised of professional organizations, including the Chinese Olympic
Committee, the All-China Sport Federation and the Chinese Physical
Education Association. The second embraces a variety of other
organizations, including the trade unions, the national youth association,
the national women’s association, the national student association,
business/industry-sponsored sport clubs and spontaneously organized
groups in the community.

NATIONAL PHYSICAL EDUCATION/SPORT

COMMISSION
The National Physical Education/Sport Commission is the major sport/ fitness
administrative organization in China, and although groups share similar
responsibilities, this commission does most of the work in nationwide sport/
256 Shirley Reekie

fitness. It has several sub-structures. The first is its vertical administration

from national through district level offices, with each office working at its
own administrative level. The second is the collection of special departments
responsible for research and education which govern six teaching institutes
and one research institute, one mass fitness department in charge of national
mass fitness affairs, one sport training and competition department which
governs nationwide professional sport training and competitions through
nearly twenty newly-established sport training centres, and one training
division responsible for the training of national teams. In early 1998, the
Chinese National Congress passed a bill to eliminate the National Physical
Education/Sport Commission and delegate its duties to the All-China Sport
Federation, which would itself be placed under the prime minister at a level
of administration lower than a ministry. This decision ran into extremely
strong resistance and resulted in the prime minister deciding to maintain the
commission as part of the government, but to change its name to the National
TiYu (Physical Culture) Bureau. Its functions will thus remain the same as
before, but it is no longer listed as a ministry.

Structure of the commission

National commission
The national commission administers, co-ordinates and supervises nationwide
sport and physical education/fitness, and has several major functions:

• makes policies, regulations and guidelines for nationwide activities

• establishes and carries out nationwide annual and long-term plans
• supervises its vertical administration and special organizations
• organizes nationwide sport events
• approves national sport records, awards athletes’ degrees (somewhat
similar to the old Soviet Master of Sport titles, achieved by attaining
certain high standards in a specific sport; they are not academic degrees
in the western sense of the word ‘degree’) and approves referees
• supervises and co-ordinates community fitness and sport affairs
• organizes publications, conducts research and trains administrators
• plans and organizes nationwide professional and amateur sport training
• organizes international exchange programmes and competitions
• selects and trains national sport teams

Provincial commission
Each province in China has a provincial commission on physical education/
sport. The provincial commissions are supervised by the national commission,
but they are part of provincial governments. Their major functions include:
 Appendix: administration of sport 257

• carrying out the national plans and developing provincial plans on sport/
fitness
• supervising and co-ordinating provincial sport/fitness events
• organizing provincial competitions and co-sponsoring some national
competitions
• approving athletes’ degrees and provincial referees
• planning sport training in the province and establishing proficient
professional and amateur sport teams
• organizing publications, research and administrator training
• supervising the city commissions
• selecting and training provincial sport teams

City commission
Each city in a province has a sport/physical education commission supervised
by the provincial commission, but belonging to the city government. Their
major functions include:

• carrying out provincial plans and developing city plans on sport/fitness

• organizing citywide competitions and co-sponsoring provincial
competitions
• planning sport training in the city, and establishing proficient amateur
sport teams and networking with its districts
• supervising the district commissions
• selecting and training city sport teams

District commission
Just as at city level, each district in a city has a sport/physical education
commission supervised by the city commission and belonging to the district
government. Their major functions include:

• carrying out city plans and developing district plans on sport/fitness

• organizing district competitions and events
• planning and carrying out amateur sport training and networking with
schools, institutions industries and farms
• supervising and co-ordinating sport/fitness schools and other
organizations
• selecting and training district sport teams

Research and education department and its institutes

The research and education department of the National Physical Education
and Sport Commission has several functions. The first is to train and assess
258 Shirley Reekie

the administrators of the commission system. The second is to supervise the

National Sport Research Institute and the six physical education institutes
with national importance—Beijing Physical Education University, Shanghai
Physical Education Institute, Shenyang Physical Education Institute, Wuhan
Physical Education Institute, Chengdu Physical Education Institute and Xi
An Physical Education Institute.
A major function of the National Sport Research Institute is to conduct
research related to the national sport teams and sometimes related to mass
fitness. The six physical education institutes have several functions. The first
is the training of university and high school teachers, fitness supervisors,
sport coaches and physical education administrators. These institutes have
their own youth sport schools and sport teams for national competitions.
Conducting research is another function of these institutes. In 1980, Shenyang
Physical Education Institute was the pioneer in conducting intensive fitness
assessments of high school students.
Besides these commission-supervised institutes, there are provincial physical
education institutes and research institutes. These provincial institutes have
the same functions as the national institutes, except that they serve their own
provincial needs.

Training/competition department and its centres

This department used to be comprised of three departments in charge of all
national professional sport training and competitions. Following a major
reform in November 1997, the three departments were replaced by the new
training/competition department. All functions of the former three
departments were distributed to the newly-established national sport training
centres. Over eighty sports, which used to be administered by the National
Physical Education and Sport Commission, are now managed by these centres.
The purpose of this reform was to delegate work from the commission to the
centres and sport associations. These training centres and the events they
manage are as follows (they are responsible for all training and competitions
of their sports at national level), by sport:

• archery and rifle shooting

• basketball
• cycling, motor-cycling
• chess
• fencing (also includes horseriding and pentathlon)
• gymnastics
• martial arts (non-Chinese martial arts: boxing, weightlifting, judo,
wrestling, taekwondo)
• mass fitness and sport
• model racing (includes model airplane and model sailboat racing)
 Appendix: administration of sport 259

• mountaineering
• small ball sports (baseball, softball, team handball, field hockey, golf,
bowling, racquetball, etc.)
• soccer
• swimming (includes swimming, synchronized swimming, water polo and
diving)
• table tennis and badminton
• tennis
• track and field
• volleyball
• water sport (water polo, power boat racing, sailing, etc.)
• winter Sport (speed skating, figure skating, skiing, ice hockey)
• wushu (Chinese martial arts)

Sport training division

This department is in charge of the training of national teams. All professional
athletes and their coaches, as well as the sport training bases across the nation,
come under this department. They provide all resources for training at the
highest level. They select professional athletes for each national team for
either short-term training for upcoming sport competitions or long-term
training, such as for the national table tennis team. The coaches for each
national team are also chosen by this department.
Following the recent reform of sport administration in November 1997,
the function of this department has also changed. It now shares responsibilities
with the national sport training centres and the national sport associations,
and co-ordinates training and competition with these centres and associations.
The format of financial support for these sport teams has now changed from
being solely government-supported to being government and business/ industry
co-sponsored. Professional sport competitions are also moving away from
government sponsorship alone and are changing to the government and
industry/business co-sponsorship operational pattern.

Mass fitness department

Five government organizations are involved in the administration of mass
fitness. The most important is the Department of Mass Fitness attached to
the National Physical Education/Sport Commission which is in charge of
nationwide mass fitness. Similarly, sport commissions at provincial and city
levels are in charge of the mass fitness at their respective levels. The second is
the Department of Health, Physical Education and the Arts attached to the
National Education Commission. This department is responsible for school
physical education and fitness, and the subordinate commissions are
responsible for the administration of fitness and physical education in schools.
260 Shirley Reekie

The third is the National Ministry of Health and its subordinate levels. The
duties are to conduct sport rehabilitation and therapy, health examinations
and fitness assessments. The fourth is the National Minority Population
Commission whose duty is to organize traditional minority population sport
events. An example is Mongolian ‘nadamu’ sport which includes Mongolian
wrestling, horse racing and goat chasing. The fifth is the National Ministry
for the Disabled which promotes and organizes sports and fitness for people
with disabilities. All five ministries or commissions are responsible to the
head of government. Most of them have several levels of operation—national,
provincial, city, district and institution or ‘dan wei’ (work unit such as
company, factory or school). These are all government departments funded
by taxation.
The National Physical Education and Sport Commission is the major
organization with overall responsibility for mass fitness. Its duties include
the development of annual and long-term planning for mass fitness,
development of the budget for mass fitness, management of mass fitness
organizations, making mass fitness policies and rules, supervision and
evaluation of the procedures and organization of comprehensive fitness events.
There are two departments directly involved in national mass fitness related
activities and events: the Mass Fitness Department and the Society Fitness
Centre (the latter is less of an administrative group and more a body involved
with health promotion and conducting research). In 1997, the Department
of Mass Fitness had seven types of work, which included conducting research,
establishing laws and regulations, organizing meetings, tournaments and
national fitness events, welcoming international delegations and running
workshops for them, and administrative work such as fundraising, writing
publications, overseeing supervisor and instructor training, giving awards,
and fitness equipment testing. The Society Fitness Centre has four types of
basic work: organizing meetings and training courses, organizing fitness or
recreational activity events, organizing international fitness and recreation
events, and other activities such as organizing youth fitness camps and youth
weight control camps.

NATIONAL EDUCATION COMMISSION

The National Education Commission is responsible for physical
education and sport in schools and colleges, including elementary
schools, middle and high schools, and universities, across the nation. The
Department of Health and Physical Education is the major unit for sport
and physical education. Its major responsibilities include making policies,
establishing sport and fitness standards, organizing national sport and
fitness events, supervising the assessment of fitness levels, establishing
national curricula for physical education instruction, and publishing
standard textbooks. The commission carries out its duties through the
 Appendix: administration of sport 261

Department of Health and Physical Education in its provincial

commissions which, besides carrying out policy, is also able to adjust
policies to fit specific regional needs. The provincial commissions
supervise the work of the Department of Health and Physical Education
at city level, and the city departments of health and physical education
supervise the same department at district level. The district level
departments organize and co-ordinate sport events and fitness activities
at schools within the regions for which they hold responsibility.
University sport events or fitness activities are usually organized and
supervised at provincial or city levels.

MINISTRIES
Each ministry in China has its own vertical administrative structure. The
ministry usually controls personnel, budget and academic aspects of local
offices. The local offices are partially controlled by local government for
community-related activities or city-organized activities. The ministries usually
control the sport activities through their internal sport associations, but also
through women’s associations, trade unions (which are actually a part of
government), or youth associations whenever there is no sport association
within that ministry. These ministry-wide organizations include, but are not
limited to, the following:

Armed forces sport association (National Armed Forces Political

Department)
Automobile industry sport association (National Automobile Industry
Ministry)
Aviation sport association (National Aviation Industry Ministry)
Chemistry sport association (National Chemical Industry Ministry)
Coalmine sport association (National Coalmine Industry Ministry)
Collegiate sport association (National Education Commission)
Disabled population sport association (Benefit Affairs Ministry)
Electric power system sport association (National Electric Power
Ministry)
Farmer sport association (National Farm Ministry)
Forestry sport association (National Forestry Ministry)
Geographic industry sport association (National Geographic and Mine
Industry Ministry)
Engineering and electronic industry sport association (National
Engineering/Electronic Industry Ministry)
Middle and high school sport association (National Education
Commission)
Minority population sport association (National Minority Com
mission)
262 Shirley Reekie

Premium-oil system sport association (National Premium-oil Industry

Ministry)
Police sport association (National Public Safety Ministry)
Post office sport association (National Post Ministry)
Railway sport association (National Railway Ministry)

These ministry-supported levels of administration occasionally receive

financial support from the National Commissions for important events.
They used to be comparatively weak owing to dominant control by the
National Physical Education/Sport Commission; however, they are
developing rapidly and will take over major responsibility of national/local
fitness events in the near future. The major duties of these organizations
include providing facilities/equipment and consultation, organizing fitness
activities or recreational events, and organizing sport competitions within
their ministry system. They often co-ordinate events with the National
Physical Education/ Sport Commission, such as at national or local sport
competitions or tournaments. These organizations usually serve their own
employees and families.

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

The Chinese Olympic Committee

The Chinese Olympic Committee is not a part of the government. It is a
small organization with most of its officers working as administrators
within the National Physical Education and Sport Commission. The
Chinese Olympic Committee represents China in the activities of the
International Olympic Committee. The major functions of the committee
are to:

• establish the constitution of the Chinese Olympic Committee based on

the constitution of the International Olympic Committee
• organize trials and select Chinese teams and athletes for Olympic
competition
• supervise the training of each sport association which participates in
Olympic competition
• participate in all activities organized by the International Olympic
Committee.

The All-China Sport Federation

The All-China Sport Federation is not an official part of the government and
its officers are not in paid positions within this Federation. Most officers are
administrators of the National Physical Education/Sport Commission and
 Appendix: administration of sport 263

are distinguished experts in their sports. The major duties of the All-China
Sport Federation are:

• promotion of mass fitness and raising skill levels

• co-ordination with the government and other organizations of the
development of sport and physical education in China.
• co-ordination with related groups of organizing national sport events
• development of international relations and co-organization of
international competitions
• supervision of national sport associations, system-wide sport associations
and provincial branches of the federation
• participation in training of sport teams at national and provincial levels

The All-China Sport Federation supervises three types of sport organizations.

The first consists of the divisions of the All-China Sport Federation at
provincial level. These branches have similar functions to those at
headquarters, but at the provincial level. There are thirty divisions in the
entire nation. The second type is made up of the national sport associations
of which there are forty-one. The third type is comprised of the ministry
sport associations as previously described.
The major national sport associations are all grouped by sport:

Chinese Archery Association

Chinese Badminton Association
Chinese Basketball Association
Chinese Baseball/Softball Association
Chinese Bicycling Association
Chinese Boxing Association
Chinese Chi Gong Association
Chinese Fencing Association
Chinese Field Hockey Association
Chinese Gymnastics Association
Chinese Horse Racing Association
Chinese Ice Hockey Association
Chinese Ice Skating Association
Chinese Judo Association
Chinese Power Boat Racing Association
Chinese Sailing Association
Chinese Shooting Association
Chinese Skiing Association
Chinese Soccer Association
Chinese Swimming Association
Chinese Table Tennis Association
Chinese Team Handball Association
264 Shirley Reekie

Chinese Tennis Association

Chinese Track and Field Association
Chinese Volleyball Association
Chinese Weightlifting Association
Chinese Wrestling Association
Chinese Wushu (Chinese Martial Arts) Association

The major duties of these specific sport associations are:

• promotion of their sport nationwide

• conducting of research and organization of annual conferences
• training of coaches
• co-selection and training of amateur and professional athletes
• co-organization of tournaments and competitions
• provision of consultation to coaches

In addition to the sport-focused organizations, there are also those which

cross horizontal boundaries, such as:

Collegiate Sport Association Disabled

Population Sport Association
Elderly Sport Association
Farmers’ Sport Association
Middle and High School Sport Association
Minority Population Sport Association

The major duties of these specific associations are:

• promotion of fitness for their designated population

• co-organization of sport tournaments and competitions

Chinese Physical Education Association

The Chinese Physical Education Association is an academic organization for
national physical education. It is a part of the China Science and Technology
Association. Its major functions are:

• organizing and co-ordinating essential research

• publishing books and journals
• spreading knowledge on physical education, research and training
• advising and counselling the government on sport, mass fitness and
physical education
• organizing seminars and workshops for improvement of professionals
• organizing national and international conferences
 Appendix: administration of sport 265

The members of this association are professors and researchers in physical

education and sport, as well as some coaches and administers.
The Association also has its provincial and city divisions. These divisions
have a similar function to the national association, but serve at provincial
level and city level.
The Association has twelve divisions which cover:

• computer/technology physical education

• fitness
• kinesiology
• physical education information
• physical education statistics
• physical education history
• school physical education
• sport equipment
• sport medicine
• sport psychology
• sport sociology
• sport training

The major functions of these divisions include organizing and co-ordinating

professional conferences, organizing research in their fields, and establishing
networking with national and international experts in their specific fields.

OTHER ADMINISTRATION SYSTEMS

There are other types of informal administration of sport and physical
education in China. These include the national trade union organization, the
national youth association, national women’s association and national student
association. However, these organizations usually organize short-term or a
limited range of events, and mostly they co-ordinate events organized by the
formal administrations, such as the sport commission or ministry.

National Trade Union Organization

Despite its name, the organization is part of the government, rather than
being an organization of workers. The trade union system has its vertical
administration all the way from the national division through provincial,
city and district divisions, and down to an office at each government-owned
institution, school, factory and business. The major function of the union
from national through city level on fitness and sport is to co-ordinate
competitions and fitness events with the sport commissions or other
administrations on sport. The union offices at the institution level are directly
involved in organizing or co-organizing the actual fitness/sport activities or
266 Shirley Reekie

events. For example, the union office within a factory organizes basketball
games, table tennis games or other events for the employees at that factory.
The offices at this level usually organize their own sport teams to participate
in competitions at city- or ministry-wide sport events.

National Youth Association

The National Youth Association is also part of the government. It
functions as the Communist Party at youth level, so that it is a kind of
political organization. But it does provide many opportunities for young
people besides the political function. The youth association has its vertical
administration all the way from the national office through provincial, city
and district divisions to all government-owned institutions, schools,
factories and businesses. The major function of the youth association from
national through city levels on fitness and sport is to co-ordinate with the
sport commissions or other administrations such as the ministries on youth
sport competitions and fitness events. The youth associations at factory or
school level are directly involved in the youth fitness or sport events within
their factory or school. For example, the school youth associations
organize activities such as basketball games between cohort-group classes
(in China, high school students stay with the same classmates until they
graduate) or co-ordinate with school physical education departments to
conduct campus-wide fitness displays or annual track and field
competitions which are popular in almost every school. The youth
association in a department store often organizes fitness activities, such as
soccer or chess, for young employees.

National Women’s Association

The National Women’s Association is also part of the Chinese government.
The association has its divisions all the way from the national through
provincial, city, district to all government-owned institution, school,
factory and business. The major function of the women’s association from
national through city level on fitness and sport is to co-ordinate with the
sport commissions or other administrations, such as the ministries, on
advocating sport and fitness for women. The women’s associations at
factory or school level are directly involved in fitness or sport events within
their factory or school, but their function is limited to assisting other
organizations such as the trade union, youth association or physical
education department to organize fitness or sport activities. For example,
the school women’s associations encourage women to participate in
activities such as basketball or co-ordinate with school physical education
departments to conduct campus-wide annual track and field competitions.
The women’s association in a factory often encourages employees to
 Appendix: administration of sport 267

participate in fitness activities, but it rarely organizes a sport or fitness

event for women only. Its major function in sport or fitness is mainly
replaced by the youth association and trade union.

National Student Association

The National Student Association is not part of the government, but it has
divisions such as the youth association from the national level though the
institution level. The major function in sport and fitness is limited to advocating
school students’ participation in fitness/sport and to co-ordinating with sport/
fitness government agencies at national or provincial level. At school level,
the student association co-ordinates with the youth association or physical
education department to organize sport tournaments, such as volleyball or
annual track and field events.

Business/industry-sponsored sport groups

As the reform of China’s economy progresses from planned to free market,
sport is entering the free market economy as well. In recent years, sport groups
owned by industry/business or institutions have boomed in China. These
groups have corporate sponsors and attract national and even international
sports stars to join. Examples include Beijing Duck Basketball Team (owned
by Beijing Steel Company), Beijing Jing-shi Basketball Team (co-owned by
the Beijing Teachers’ College of Physical Education and a business company),
Wang Kui Race-walking Club (co-owned by a company and the world-
renowned coach Wang Kui). These teams and clubs directly participate in
national high-level competitions. As the Chinese government is determined
to change the sport system from government sponsorship to private
sponsorship, professional sport in China is likely to become much more highly
commercialized in the near future.

Spontaneous community organizations

These organizations are not part of the government, but serve the people
who share an interest in the same sport or activity. These kinds of organizations
are usually local groups. They often start with several people interested in
one type of exercise or activity and gradually expand by the snowball effect.
Some spontaneous groups have formal constitutions and regulations, but
most do not and they are loosely organized. There are three types of
spontaneous groups. The first is the sport group, usually formed by young
people. They meet whenever they have time and just play for fun. These
groups play a formal sport, such as basketball, soccer or martial arts. The
second type is the fitness group. These groups usually serve the retired
population and people who do not have access to an exercise facility, or do
268 Shirley Reekie

not have time to participate in other organized exercise during the day or
evening, or do not have money for clubs. These groups usually meet in the
early morning for a couple of hours and finish their activities before breakfast.
The exercises or activities they participate in include social dance, Chinese
folk dance, Tai Chi, Chi Gong, walking or jogging, and winter outdoor
swimming. The third type is made up of recreational activity groups and
often they are not sport or fitness oriented (however, in China these activities
are all classified as fitness). These groups participate in activities such as
bridge, chess, fishing and pigeon racing.
Even though these spontaneous organizations are not of major
administrative importance in sport or fitness in China, they are nonetheless
very popular and active. What they do represent is the direction of mass
fitness in China in the future—that is, that this level of sport participation
will be increasingly run by the people themselves with very little government
support.

RELATIONSHIP OF THESE ADMINISTRATIONS

The previous sections introduced each sport/physical education administration.
These systems all have several functions and they overlap and co-ordinate
with each other to carry out fitness/sport activities. In this section, the inter-
relationship of the various organizations will be discussed from the perspective
of the overall organization of sport and fitness.

Professional competitive sport

Professional sport competitions, such as national games, national basketball
championships or provincial games, are all organized by the National Physical
Education and Sport Commission at national and provincial levels. All training
of Chinese professional sport teams and their participation in international
sport competitions are organized by this commission (the department of
training and competition, the training division and the national training
centres). Their work is co-ordinated by the All-China Sport Federation and
the Chinese Olympic Committee. The costs are borne mainly by the
government and co-sponsored by industry/business. The professional teams
are either owned by the sport commissions at national and provincial level or
by industry/business.

Youth competitive sport and amateur

competitive sport
Youth competitive sport is under the administration of the National
Physical Education and Sport Commission and yet forms part of the
professional sport training pyramid. The national teams choose their
 Appendix: administration of sport 269

athletes from the provincial professional teams, the provincial teams

choose their professional athletes from the provincial and city amateur
sport schools. The city and district amateur teams choose their athletes
from the schools. Youth competitive sport is handled at provincial and city
level by the Sport Commission. The youth sport schools are at amateur
level, but their purpose is really to prepare athletes who will become the
professionals of the future. All financial support comes from the National
Physical Education and Sport Commission.
Examples of amateur competitive sport include the national coal-mine
industry basketball games or provincial business track and field
tournament. They are controlled by the ministries with support from the
Sport Commission and sport associations. The provincial games and city
games are also a part of amateur competitive sport, mainly organized by
the National Physical Education and Sport Commission, and co-sponsored
by other organizations.

Physical education in schools

Physical education in schools and universities is organized by the National
Education Commission. All education system amateur sport competitions
and training are also under the administration of the National Education
Commission at different levels. Examples of these sport competitions include
the national university games, national middle school basketball tournament
or city level school track and field events. Their work is co-ordinated by the
department of school physical education within the National Physical
Education and Sport Commission, and other organizations such as the youth
association or national or provincial level student association.

Mass fitness
Mass fitness in China is encouraged and led by the National Physical Education
and Sport Commission, together with various ministries, the National
Education Commission, and other organizations such as the trade unions
and youth association. Actual fitness activities are carried out at the institution
and local levels. Business-oriented clubs and spontaneous groups are part of
the informal administration.

Research in sport and physical education

Research in sport, physical education and fitness in China is conducted at
national and provincial research or teaching institutes, and at physical
education departments within universities. The major administrators and
leaders of research are the Chinese Physical Education Association and the
National Physical Education/Sport Commission.
270 Shirley Reekie

Training of administrators, teachers and coaches

The responsibility for training administrators, teachers and coaches is shared
by several administrations. The top leaders at national and provincial levels
are trained by the Communist Party, and very often these people do not have
a background in sport or physical education. On the other hand, some national
and provincial administrators are former world-class athletes or coaches who
were assigned solely because of their excellent reputations in sport or coaching.
The administrators of fitness and sport attached to education commissions,
ministries and city sport commissions are trained by the physical education
institutes, but some are former athletes or coaches who came directly from
the sport teams.
Physical education teachers at university and high school are trained by
physical education institutes and departments of physical education within
universities. Physical education teachers at elementary schools are trained by
the teacher schools (which are of high school level). The mass fitness/
instructors/supervisors are trained by the Sport Commission and physical
education institutes.
Coaches for professional and amateur sports come from two sources.
One source is graduates from the physical education institutes and the
other is former athletes. In practice, most coaches, especially at
professional level (provincial and national level) are former athletes. Some
of them attend short workshops but most are assigned to the coaching
position without any training. A few coaches who lack formal training
receive education from various correspondence courses offered at physical
education institutes.

THE CURRENT SITUATION

The administration of physical education, sport and fitness in China is
undergoing major change, and this reform may take many years to
establish a new administrative system. The basic changes include six
aspects: (1) the focus of physical education and sport in China may switch
from a gold-medal-winning orientation to a more balanced view of both
professional sport and mass fitness; (2) mass fitness will transfer from
government to private sponsorship and, at the same time, participants will
be required to bear more of their own costs, or so the government hopes;
(3) the government will maintain general control of sport and physical
education, but the major functions will be delegated to professional
organizations, society and the community; (4) the administrative style will
change from being experience-oriented to being more scientifically
supported and trained; (5) sport and fitness will increasingly be seen as an
industry and enter the free market; and (6) administration will be based
more on formal regulations and law.
 Appendix: administration of sport 271

Results of these reforms have yet to be realized, and there may well be
problems that develop during the reform process. What is clear, however, is
that the direction being taken is towards internationally-recognized patterns,
including having more experts participating in the decision-making process,
and also moving towards a more commercial basis for sponsorship.

NOTE
1 The author would like to acknowledge material and advice contributed by Xiaoe-
chun Wang, Xiao-ru Liu, Ji-hong Cao, Wen-jian Zhang and Gong Chen.

REFERENCES
Documents on reforming the sport administration (1997) Beijing: National Sport/
Physical Education Commission.
Essays of Play and Sport (1996) Hainan: Hainan Publisher.
fitness For All Monograph (1996) Beijing: National Sport/Physical Education
Commission.
Knuttgen, H., Ma, Q. and Wu, Z. (1990) Sport in China, Champaign, Illinois: Human
Kinetics Publisher.
Ke, Y.L. (1993) Chinese Chi Gong, Shanghai: Writer’s Publisher.
Mass Fitness (1990) Beijing: People’s Sport Publisher.
People’s Daily (November 1996-November 1997) Beijing: People’s Daily Publisher.
People’s Daily, 11 March 1998.
People’s Daily, 19 March 1998.
Olympics (1993) Beijing: People’s Sport Publisher.
Shu, X.W. and Liu, P. (1993) Chinese Defeated Chinese, Shanghai: Hua Yi Publisher.
Index

acrobatics 26, 31, 42, 43, 65 Beijing Medical College 239

active man, Manchu emphasis on 57– Beijing Normal University (BNU) 156–8
65 Beijing Sports Competitive School 131
All-China Achievement Programme Beijing University of Physical Education
225–6 (BUPE) 150–1
All-China Sports Federation 229, 240, board games 25, 32, 57, 65, 66
262–4 board hitting 28
American College of Sports Medicine Bonavia, D. 77
(ACSM) 241 boxing 31, 54–5, 62, 65, 135, 156
Annals of Lu 26 Boxing of the School of Shaolin 37
archery 24, 27–8, 30, 32, 36, 39, 49, Brownell, S. 63, 72, 75, 77, 81, 82, 84,
53, 59, 66, 67, 72, 124 85, 169, 170–2, 173, 175, 176–7
aristocratic empires (581–960) 38, 43; buda qin (ball striking on foot) 41
civilian recreations 39–42; health Buddhism 36, 62
and exercise 42–3; military activities bull fighting 47–8
38, 39 business/industry sponsored sport
Asian Games 125, 126 groups 267
athlete development 126–7; in Beijing
131; central sports school 128–31; Chai, C. and Chai, W. 76
national team 136–8; provincial Chang, J. 175
team 132–6; spare-time sports Chao Yuanfang 43
schools 127–8 charioteering 26–7, 30, 65
athletics 78, 121, 152 Ch’en Jerome 72, 74, 76, 78
chess 57, 66, 72
Ba Duan Jin (Exercises in Eight Forms) Ch’ien-Lung 60
48 children: coaching for 127–8, 133;
Ba Shan 36, 43, 47, 48 fitness testing procedures for 247;
badminton 124, 129, 152 sport for 47
Bai Juyi 48 China 86–7; end of old order 74–9;
Ban Duan Jin 232, 235 establishment of Republic 79–86;
Bao Sheng Yau (Lu Essentials of and introduction of western physical
Maintaining Health) 48 education 71–4; post-imperial 79–
Baoding Zhiyan 41 86; rebellions in 74–6; social,
baseball 73 economic, political background 70–
basketball 78, 121, 133, 135, 151, 152, 1, 74–6
153, 154, 157 China Sports Medicine Association 229
Beijing Institute of Physical Culture Chinese Association of Sports Medicine
234, 239 (CASM) 229, 240–1
274 Index

Chinese Olympic Committee 262 fitness: in 1980s and 1990s 244–5;

Chinese Physical Education Association between 1949 and 1979 243–4;
264–5 business-oriented clubs 246;
chiuwan (hitting the pellet) 49–50 government level 245–6;and lack of
Chou dynasty (1112–770 BC) 231 resources 252–3;mass 269;pre-1949
Clumpner, R.A. and Pendleton, B.B. 78, 243; specific organizations 246;
83, 85, 86 spontaneous groups 246–7; testing
coach education 142–3;course procedures 247–9
organization 144–5; funding 145; Fitness for All project 14, 249–52
information service 147–8; national football 32–3, 41, 56, 65, 66, 67–8
coaches 146–7; part/full-time
courses 145; participants 145–6;
Georges, P. 174
refreshercourses 143–4
Gernet, J. 20, 36, 46–7, 51, 57, 58, 65,
community organizations, spontaneous
70, 74, 79
267–8
golf 49–50, 66, 68, 73
competitive sport: domestic 122–5;
Gu Shiquan 78, 82
growth of 78–9; international 84–6,
Gu tinglin 55
125–6; national 84–6; professional
Guangdong Research Institute of Sports
268; youth/amateur 268–9
Science (GRISS) 224–6, 240
Confucianism 24, 172–5
Guangdong Sports Technical Institute
Crew, C. 72–3
134–5
cuju 32–3, 41, 56, 57
Guangzhou Institute of Physical
cycling 135, 253
Education 151–2
gymnastics 129–30, 133, 136, 156, 157
dance 25, 26, 28–9, 31, 32, 33, 41–2,
47, 65, 253
Hackensmith, C.W. 76
daoyin 23, 34, 37, 43, 232, 233
Han dynasties 29
Deng Xuezheng 174
Han Fei Zi 24, 34
Dong Jinxia 166, 168, 172, 174
Han period 34–5
dragon boat racing 33, 48, 65, 253
hand fighting 31, 68
drugs 7–8, 160–1, 178–81
hockey 66
Du Jin 56
Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI)
130, 134, 224, 225, 229
elite sport 120–2; athlete development Honig, E. and Hershatter, G. 177
126–38; domestic 122–5; horse racing 8–9
international 125–6; major Howell, M. 4
competitions 122–6; trends/ Hsu Yi-hsiung 78, 83, 86
observations on 138–41 Huan Di Nai Jing 232
equestrianism 8–9, 26–7, 30–1, 53–4, Huang Haiwen 178
59, 253 Huang Li-chow 55, 62
exercise: and health 34, 36–7, 42–3, 48, Hughes, E.R. 75, 77, 78, 79, 83
56, 66; with padlocks 59–60; status Hung-wu 52
of 14; and women 42
Hunter, W.C. 71, 72
hunting 64
falconry 63–4
fencing 31, 59, 135, 151
festivals 25, 33–4, 41, 43, 72 I Zhuan (Book of Changes) 22
feudal society (476 BC-AD 220) 29–30; ice sports 60–1, 65, 157
festival recreations 33–4;health and International Federation of Sports
exercise 34–5;military activities Medicine (FMS) 241
30–3
field/track events 155, 156, 157, 159 Jiang Yun 165, 166, 167
 Index 275

Jiangsu Research Institute of Sports National Education Commission 260–1

Science (JRISS) 222–4 National Games 11, 84–5, 106, 122–3,
Jiao Di games 31, 66 159, 171, 229
Jin dynasty 45–51 National Games of Minority
Jones, R. 166, 168 Nationalities 124–5
Ju Cheng Ming 33 National Physical Education/Sport
Junior Games 123–4 Commission 255–6;city 257;district
257;functions 257–8;mass fitness
kangding (tripod lifting) 31 department 259–60;national 256;
Kanin, D.B. 82, 86 provincial 256–7;sport training
kite-flying 42, 43, 65, 72 division 259;structure 256–
Knuttgen, H.G. 78–9, 82, 84, 86 7;training/ competition department/
Kolatch, J. 77 centres 258–9
Krotee, M.L. and Wang Jin 83 National Research Institute of Sports
Ku Ting-Lin 62 Medicine (NRISM) 221–2, 226,
Kung-fu 62 229, 240
National Research Institute of Sports
Latham, R. 53, 54, 55, 56 Science (NRISS) 214–19, 226, 229,
Lewis, T. 168 240; coach-scientist link 220;degree
Li Hongbing 167 programmes 219–20; working
Li Ning 13 within the system 220–1
Li Sao 34 National Student Association 267
Li Shih-chen 53 National Trade Union Organization
Li Shu-Ku 62 265–6
Li Yen 33 National Training Bureau of the State
Li You 33, 67 Physical Culture and Sports
Liao dynasty 45–51 Commission 136–8
Liaoning Research Institute of Sports National Women’s Association 266–7
Science 226–8 National Youth Association 266
Liaoning Sports Training Centre 135–6 Needham, J. 10
Liu Lingling 40 Northern Chou dynasty (557–581) 38
Liu Pingchung 51
Liu Qian 172 Olympic Achievement Programme 225–
Loh, M. 180 6
Lui, S. 83 Olympic Games 4, 10–11, 86, 87, 121–
2, 125–6, 136, 202;and bid for 2000
Macleod, I. 168 208; and conflict with sport
Manchus 57–65, 72 commercialization 211–
martial arts 36, 65, 151;emergence of 12;controversy over 205–6;further
53–5;and influence of shaolin 62–3 development in 206, 208;future
middle ages (220–589) 35–6;exercise trends 209–13; historical
and health 36–7;military life background 202–4;initial
36;religious/ social influences 36 involvement in 204–5;and
military sport 22, 32, 47, 65–6; integration of Chinese culture with
aristocratic empires 38, 39; 210;new era in 206;potential
examinations in 61–2; feudal 30–3; contribution to 210, 212–13;social
middle ages 36; Mongol 53–5; dimension 202–3;sport dimension
primitive 26–7; Qing dynasty 59–62 203–4;western ethnocentrism of
Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) 21, 51–7, 68 210–11;women in 161–5, 167–8

Nanjing Institute of Physical Education Pai Yu-fung 55

(NIPE) 129–30, 152–3, 222, 223, 224 Pan Gu 32, 68
276 Index

Pendleton, B. 84 Schirokauer, C. 70
People’s Liberation Army (PLA) team self-sufficiency movement 74–9
136 Semotiuk, D. 82, 85
Percival, W.S. 73 Sewell, W.G. 84
physical education: curriculum 101–4, Shan Hai Jing 23
149;funding 149;general sports Shang civilization 26
classes 104–5;inspections 102; Shang Shu (Book of History) 23, 29
institutes 148–58;introduction of Shanghai Baseball Club 73
western 71–4;in middle schools 95– Shanghai Boat Club 73
104;modernization of 76–7; outline Shanghai Institute of Physical
health plan for 115–19;in overall Education 153
structure 94;in primary schools 94– Shanghai Sports School 128–9
5;problems facing introduction of Shanghai Yacht Club 73
77–8;research in 269;in schools 90– Shaolin, influence of 61–2, 65, 68
3, 269;science/science research Shenyang Institute of Physical
institutes 113;in the service of the Education 154
Republic 81–3;special schools for Shi Ji (Historical Records) 32
110–13;in specialist institutes 108– Shi Jing (Book of Songs) 28
10;standards 103–4;tertiary level Shu Shi 49
104–13;in universities 93–4, 105–7 shuttlecock 47, 67, 72
Physical Education Law (1929) 82–3 Sima Qian 32
P’ng, C.K. and Donn, F.D. 63 soccer 9–10, 136, 157, 168;buying/
polo 39–41, 43, 49, 65, 66
selling of players 193–4; club system
Polo, Marco 52, 55–6
187, 190–2;in international arena
Powell, D. 173, 176
194–5; international comparisons
primitive society (3000–476 BC) 26–9
197–9; observations/trends 199–
200; opportunities in 195–
Qi 22, 23, 24, 232 6;professional emergence of 186,
qi gong 14, 244, 247 196–7; promotion of 192; women in
Qi Jiguang 55 197; world trappings 192–3
Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) 31 social recreation 72–4;Mongol 55–6;
Qing dynasty (1644–1840) 57–65, 171 Qing dynasty 63–4;Song to Yuan
Qu, M. and Yu, C. 232
dynasty 47–8
quan 31
Song dynasty (960–1279) 21, 45–51,
67, 68, 170
Radice, B. 28 Song He 167
Rai, S. 172, 176 sport: background 1–2; decline in non-
recreational sport 20;in aristocratic Olympic events 11–12; effect of
empires 38–43;development of, in political/economic change on 3–5,
Ancient China 20–43;in feudal 10, 13–14; funding for 4–5, 12, 13–
society 29–35; in middle ages 35–7; 14, 136; future direction of 10–12;
military, medical, philosophical, and gender 175–6; groupings of 12;
social factors 22–5; political/ growing sophistication of 45–51;
economic influences 20– 2; in high performance/mass sport linkage
primitive society 26–9 210; infrastructure 168; and lack of
religion, influence of 61–2, 65 pure competition 67; as lower-class
Ren Hai 24, 34, 68 activity 171–2; modern 71–4;
Riordan, J. 81, 86, 168, 170 outline health plan for 115–19;
Rizak, G. 77 professionalism in 9– 10, 185–
running 48, 56, 168 200;as Recreation for All 5–6;
regional/other differences in 8–9;
Sasajima Kohsuke 41 regulations for 6–7;research in 269;
 Index 277

role of in society 165–9;rural-urban Tian, M.J. et d. 241

difference 12;in the service of the touhu 28, 32, 47, 68
Republic 81–3; status of 14; Traditions of Tso 26
structure/ strategy of 15–17, 209; training 168; administrators and
texts on 68; traditional 14; teachers 270; coach education 142–
traditional/modernist combination 8, 270; physical education 148–58
in 2–3; and transport/ tug-of-war 27, 42, 65, 253
communications 13 tuoguan (lifting a city gate bolt) 31
sport administration 84–6, 255; current
situation 270–1; ministries 261–2; Urban Games 124, 126
National Education Commission
260–1; National Physical Education/ Van Dalen, D.B. and Bennett, B.L. 81,
Sport Commission 255–60; other 84
systems 265–8; professional volleyball 124, 133, 135, 152, 153,
organizations 262–5; relationship 154, 155, 156, 168
between organizations 268–70
Sport for All Programme 225, 228 Wang Chuan-shan 62
sport medicine: future development Wanjing 49
241; post-1949 period 232, 234– Warring States period (476–221 BC)
5;pre-1949 period 231–2; 29–30, 31, 32
professional institutions 239–40; weight training 151
professional organizations/ activities weightlifting 31, 124, 134, 168
240–1; professional preparation Wen Jiang project 8–9
237–9 Wenli Yehuopian 57
sport science: NRISM 221–2; NRISS Werner, E.T.C. 71–2, 73–4
214–21; observations/trends 229– Western Han dynasty (200 BC-AD 25)
30; PE institutes 228–9; provincial 31, 231
research institutes 222–8 Western Wei dynasty (535–557) 38
State Physical Culture and Sports women: ‘Chinese first, women second’
Commission 228 169–70;contribution to Olympics/
State Physical Education and Sports world championships 161–5;
Commission of China (SPESC) 15, countryside/Confucian philosophy
244, 245–6, 249–51, 253 172–5;and drugs 160–1;and exercise
stilts walking 72 42;physique, medicine, science 178–
Sui dynasty (581–617) 38 81;reasons for progress 181–2;
Sun Simiao 43 recreational activities of 56;and
sunbathing 48 social change 175–6;and socialism
swimming 28, 56, 66, 121, 129, 135, 176–8; and sport 66–7;strength of
151, 152–3, 157, 159–60, 168, 174 54;success of 159–60; as swimmers
swing 32, 42, 43, 65, 66 28; traditional attitudes towards
swordplay 31 170–1; as wrestlers 47, 67
wrestling 27, 41, 43, 47, 49, 54, 60,
table tennis 152, 156, 168 65, 67, 124, 135, 151, 168
tai ji quart 14, 232, 236–8, 244, 247 Wu Quan Xi 232, 234
Tait, P. 180 Wu Shao Zu 7, 166
Tan Hua 28, 42, 67 Wu Weng-chung 37, 41, 47, 60–1, 62
Tang dynasty (618–907) 34, 38 Wuhan Competitive Sports School 130–
Tao Hou-jung 37, 68 1
Taoism 23–4, 30 Wuhan Institute of Physical Education
tennis 73 (WIPE) 154–6, 228
ti cao 244 wushu 14, 22, 31, 150, 152, 153, 155,
Tian Ma 64 156, 237–8
278 Index

Xie Kainan 178 Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) 51–7, 68

Xie Yanmin 169, 173, 178 Yue Fu institute 32
Xie Yunxin 36, 59, 63
Xu Qi 166, 167 Zhan Guo Ce (History of the Warring
Xun Zi 24 States) 32
Zhang Li 5
Yan xixhai 55 Zheng Chuhai 42
Yang Wanhua 174 Zhong Bian 53–4, 56
Yen Shi-chai 62 Zhou Bangyan 48
Yen Yuan 58 Zhou civilization 26–8
Yin and Yang 22–3, 24 Zhou Mi 48
YMCA/YWCA 78–9, 84–5, 87 Zhou Xikuan 24, 67, 76, 82, 84
Yu Daiyou 55 Zhu Ming-yi 85