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Sport in China
From the Berkshire Encyclopedia of World Sport, edited by Karen Christensen and David
Levinson. Great Barrington, MA: Berkshire Publishing Group, 2005.
by Fan Hong, De Montfort University
China has one-fourth of the world’s population and a heritage of more than five thousand

years of history and civilization. The history of China’s sport can be divided into three periods:

Ancient (21–1911 ce), Modern (1911–1949), and the People’s Republic (1949 to the present).

Ancient Physical Education and Sport

In over five thousand years of feudal history, the Chinese people have created some tradition-

al forms of physical exercise and activities and embraced others. Among them were archery, chuju

(Chinese football), polo, guiyouci (long-distance running), wrestling, and wushu (martial arts), all

with a distinct Chinese character.

Archery was a competitive contest with well-established rules and regulations. It was also

called “Archery Ceremony.” It was included in the six elements of Confucius’s education theory

and practice: ritual, music, archery, charioteering, literature, and math. It emphasized social status

rather than the performance of the participants. Distinctive bows, arrows, and accompanying mu-

sic were strictly allocated according to the social status of the participants.
Chuju was Chinese classic football. It started during the Warrior States period (475–221 bce).

It was originally an aggressive, competitive game and was played by two opposing sides, each

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Fan Hong “Sport in China”

with goals. During the Han (206 bce–220 ce) and Tang (618–907 ce) dynasties, due to its com-

petitiveness, the game was often used by military mandarins to train soldiers in order to cultivate

their fighting spirit and improve their physical conditioning. However, as time passed, two goals

merged into one in the Song (960–1279 ce) and Yuan (1260–1368) dynasties. Vigorous competi-

tion was replaced by a much gentler phenomenon: a less competitive and primarily exhibitive

game. Gracefulness and harmony of movement were given priority.

Polo was not a game indigenous to China. It came by way of the Silk Road, which began

in northeastern Iran and reached northwestern China by way of Turkestan and Tibet. The game

reached China about 641ce and was popular throughout the Tang (618–907 ce) and Song (960–

1179 ce) dynasties. Most of the twenty-two Tang dynasty emperors enjoyed playing polo. A na-

tional polo tournament attracted hundreds and thousands of spectators. The first international polo

match took place between the Tang palace team and the Tibetan prince’s team around 708 ce. Polo

was also used to train soldiers in the Tang army. Polo declined during the Ming (1368–1644) and

Qing dynasties (1644–1911).

Guiyouci means “fast runner.” It was a popular long-distance race in China during the Yuan

dynasty (1206–1368). It took place once a year in Dadu (Beijing), the capital of the Yuan dynasty.

The whole distance was 180 li (about 90 meters), which is longer than today’s marathon (42.195

meters), and it required participants to finish the distance in six hours. The fastest runner would

receive an award from the emperor himself.

Wrestling started in West Zhong (eleventh century–771 bce), and it became popular in the Qin

dynasty (221–206 bce). During the Song dynasty (960–1179 ce), wrestling became a profession,

with professional wrestling organizations and tournaments. Women wrestlers appeared during the
Song dynasty, but they were entertainers rather than competitors, and some of them wrestled naked

to attract spectators. Women’s wrestling was banned in the late Song due to criticism from ortho-

dox Confucianism.

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Fan Hong “Sport in China”

Wushu is the Chinese term usually translated as “martial arts” or “kung fu” in the West. Wu is

associated with warfare; shu with the skill, way, or methods of doing an activity. As a term, wushu

covers a wide variety of martially inspired practices. Its entire offensive and defensive repertoire

was based on the fighting methods of certain animals and adapted to form the basis of a martial arts

system. As Chinese society came to place more emphasis on warfare, weapons such as the sword,

spear, or knife were employed. Martial arts systems and methods became more complicated, and

the martial arts were a specialized profession for many. As a product of feudal society, martial arts

were closely linked to feudal culture. The ethical code of martial arts required absolute loyalty

and obedience of students to masters and of sons to fathers. The organizational system had tribal

characteristics. Each tribe had its own rules and martial arts style.

In general, during the ancient period, Chinese sports developed rich forms. However, its de-

velopment was limited by the traditional Confucian-dominated culture. In Confucianism exercise

was an educative tool. Its purpose was to achieve a morally well-developed society through non-

competitive physical activity and to serve as a cohesive ritual helping maintain the social status

quo. In Confucianism appreciation of the beauty of the human body was simply nonexistent. It was

forbidden for men to show large parts of the body or even to talk about the human physique. Physi-

cal culture was adapted to reinforce moral values. As a result Chinese sport lost its earlier degree

of competitiveness, which was replaced by an emphasis on harmony of movement, representing

cohesion. Therefore, many forms of traditional Chinese sport, such as polo, chuju, archery, swim-

ming, and wrestling, all of which could have easily developed into competitive sports as did their

Western counterparts, ceased to evolve and remained essentially forms of recreation.

Modern Sport and Physical Education

In 1911 the Nationalist Chinese overthrew the Qing government, finally ended the feudal so-

cial system, and established a republic. China began to change from a feudal to a modern society.

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Fan Hong “Sport in China”

In order to create a new culture for the new society, Western concepts, especially “science” and

“democracy’” were introduced, and modern education and physical education systems were advo-

cated in order to push aside feudal traditions. On 1 November 1922, the republic government is-

sued “The Decree of the Reformation of the School System.” The new school system drew heavily

on U.S. ideas about education. It emphasized that education must suit the needs of social evolution

and pay attention to developing individualism. The result was a complete transformation of Chi-

nese education. In 1923 a new curriculum was issued. In the new curriculum one to two hours of

exercise a day became common, and male and female students took part in modern sports activities

including basketball, volleyball, tennis, and swimming.

In December 1927 the National Physical Education and Sports Committee was established

under the Education Ministry of the Nationalist government. It was the first time that the Chinese

had a national government body to supervise exercise throughout the country. To promote exercise

the government issued the “Law of Sport for Citizens” on 16 April 1929. It was the first sports

law in Chinese history. It laid a foundation for the systematic organization of exercise throughout

Nationalist China. It stated that: “Boys and girls must take part in physical education and sport. .

. . They should participate in physical activity in which scientific sports methods are applied. . . .

The aim of physical education and sport is to develop men and women’s bodies for the good of the

country.” Four months later the “Curriculum of Middle Schools and Primary Schools” was issued.

It stated that physical education and sport were compulsory. The curriculum was revised over 1931

and 1932, but most of the original remained in force. Primary school pupils were to have 150–180

minutes physical education classes in their timetable per week, and middle school pupils 85–135

minutes. In addition they should have some activities after school. Activities in and after classes
were almost all modern ones, including games, athletics, dance, mountain climbing, football, bas-

ketball, volleyball, and tennis.

These developments urgently required professional physical education specialists, and so

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Fan Hong “Sport in China”

more than twenty new physical education colleges and departments of universities were opened

to train teachers of physical education. The students learned several subjects, including Chinese

language and literature, English, history, education, psychology, physiology, gymnastics, athletics,

dance, games, and swimming.

Provincial and regional sports meetings now took place, organized by provincial and region-

al sports associations. There were five regional sports associations in China in 1915: the North,

South, East, West, and Central. Each region included several provinces and was responsible for

organizing its own athletic competitions. For example, the North China Regional Association held

ten sports meetings from 1913 to 1934. The Central Region had six sports meetings from 1923 to

1936.

In 1924 a nongovernmental national sports organization, the China National Amateur Ath-

letic Federation (Zhonghua quanguo yeyu tiyu xiejinhui) was founded in Nanjing. The aim of the

federation was to supervise and organize all national and international athletic competitions. It was

also the official national representative organization in all international athletic organizations, such

as the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Under the leadership of the federation, national

games took place four times between 1924 and 1948. The Chinese athletes took part in the Far-

East Athletic Championships four times and the Olympic Games three times between 1932 and

1948. All the sports events followed the Olympic model. The pattern of organization was copied

from the Olympics, and the rules and regulations also were copied from Western competitions.

There were two reasons for this. First, initially most of the games were organized by YMCA sports

secretaries. Referees spoke English, and even the rules and regulations of competitions were writ-

ten in English. Second, traditional Chinese sports could not be used in these newly established

sports events. Therefore, modern sport and the Olympic Games readily furnished Chinese sports

with both forms and rules. This complete imitation provided a solid foundation for the develop-

ment of modern Chinese sport. Hence, the period between 1911 and 1949 brought advancement

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Fan Hong “Sport in China”

from a traditional sports system to a modern one. Modern sport became a major part of the Chinese

cultural domain, and a new physical culture was born.

Sport and Physical Education in the People’s Repub-

lic
In 1949 the Communist Party defeated the Nationalist government and founded the People’s

Republic of China. The new state was built on Marxist ideology and established a highly central-

ized government. Chinese Communist leaders showed no hesitation in realizing the importance of

sports in state political life. They believed in the superiority of the socialist system, and sport pro-

vided a stage on which to display this superiority. A centralized organization, the Sports Ministry,

was established in 1952 to administer and supervise sport activities throughout China. Physical

education was made compulsory in schools and universities. Mote than ten sports and physical

education institutes and colleges were established. A national official sports daily newspaper, Tiyu

bao, was published to disseminate sports propaganda.

During the early years of the People’s Republic, in order to guard the young republic against

possible invasion from outside and to develop its own socialist identity, the party’s slogan became

“Develop sport in order to build and defend the motherland.” Sport in the 1950s and 1960s, on one

hand, was focused on exercise for the masses because the New China needed healthy labor to build

the socialist country. On the other hand, the government saw the need to establish a competitive

sports system. The ministry issued the “Competitive Sports System of the PRC” in 1956. Rules

and regulations were implemented and professional sports teams were established at national and

provincial levels. In order to train and advance athletes from young age, the Soviet Union’s sports

school system (half-day study and half-day training) was copied. National Games took place every
four years.

The Cultural Revolution started in 1966 and lasted until 1976. During this period, in order to

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Fan Hong “Sport in China”

purify the prevailing ideology elite sport was attacked as capitalist and revisionist. However, mass

sport and exercise remained untouched. In many schools and universities, physical education was

often carried out in factories, on farms, and in military barracks. It was regarded as Karl Marx’s

and Mao Zedong’s ideal of physical education. Later, when China wanted to escape its long isola-

tion from the international community, competitive sport was brought back into foreground and

served as means of diplomatic communication. The “Ping-Pong diplomacy” and “friendship first,

competition second” were strategies used to open up new diplomatic channels with the West.

After the Cultural Revolution, at the end of the 1970s and into the early 1980s, China finally

emerged from its economic stagnation and isolation. New Communist leaders initiated profound

economic reformation in 1981. Their ambitions were to open up China, accelerate China’s devel-

opment, and catch up with the Western capitalist world through “controlled” emulation. China was

changing from a centralized state-planned economy to a market economy. After its long period

of international isolation, China was eager to be recognized by the outside world. Sport was used

as a shop window in which to display the progress and the greatness of China. Therefore, during

the 1980s the emphasis of the government was on competitive sport, in particular, the Olympics.

China renewed its seat at the International Olympic Committee in 1979. In 1984 China sent a

delegation (of 225 athletes) to the Olympic Games, which were held in Los Angeles, for the first

time since 1952. At the games China won fifteen gold medals. These victories provoked a “sports

fever” and “gold medal craze” throughout the country. An “Olympic strategy” was formulated:

The whole country was to channel its limited resources to convert China to a sports superpower

by the end of the twentieth century. The strategy worked well. Between 1985 and 1998 China won

1,047 world championships and broke world records 674 times. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics,

China finished third overall.

However, the rapid development of the economy and the commercialization of China, in

general, have influenced the development of the sports system. In 1993 the national sports man-

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Fan Hong “Sport in China”

agement system developed under Communism more than forty years earlier was reformed. Now,

the concern of the government was to promote the commercial development of the sports industry.

Sport was expected to stand on its own feet and not rely only on the state for support. The new

strategy was to commercialize all aspects of sport, including sponsorship and investment, the club

system, advertising, lottery tickets, and participation fees. Chinese sport today has been turned into

a money-making proposition. Gradually the government also shifted its emphasis from elite sport

to mass fitness and health while still trying to cater to both elements.

With the approach of the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, the Chinese government began

to focus on elite sports again. It expects that Chinese athletes will win more medals and that the

Beijing Olympic Games will be the best in the history of the Olympics.

Further Reading
Chehabi, H. E., & Guttmann, A. (2002). From Iran to all of Asia: The origin and diffusion of polo. The International
Journal of History of Sport, 2–3(19), 384–400.
Chinese Society for History of PE and Sport. (Ed.). (1989). Zhongguo jindai tiyu shi [Modern Chinese sports history].
Beijing: Beijing tiyu xueyuan chubanshe.
Chinese Society for History of PE and Sport. (Ed.). (1990). Zhongguo gudai tiyu shi [Physical education and sport in
ancient China]. Beijing: Beijing tiyu xueyuan chubanshe.
Gu, S., & Lin B. (1989). Zhingguo tiyu shi [History of Chinese physical education and sport]. Beijing: Beijing tiyu
xueyuan chubanshe.
Guomin tiyu fa [The Law for Sports for Citizens] 16 April 1929. (1933). Diyichi Zhongguo jiaoyu nianjian [The First
Chinese Educational Annual Book]. Nanking: Education Ministry.
Hong, F. (1997). Commercialism and sport in China: Present situation and future expectations. Journal of Sport
Management, 4, 343–354.
Hong, F. (1997). Footbinding, feminism and freedom:Tthe liberation of women’s bodies in modern China. London:
Cass.
Hong, F. (1998). The Olympic movement in China: Ideals, realities and ambitions. Culture, Sport, Society, 1(1),
149–168.
Hong, F. (2001). Two roads to China: The inadequate and the adequate. The International Journal of the History of
Sport, 2(18), 148–167.
Hong, F., & Tan, H. (2002). Sport in China: Conflict between tradition and modernity, 1840s to 1930s. The International
Journal for the History of Sport, 2–3(19), 187–210.
Hong, F., & Xiong, X. (2002). Communist China: Sport, politics and diplomacy. The International Journal for the

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Fan Hong “Sport in China”

History of Sport, 2–3(19), 317–340.

Lews, P. (1988). The martial arts. London: Apple Press.
Research Centre of Sports History, Chengdu Physical Education Institute. (Ed.). (1989). Zhongguo jindai tiyu shi
zhiliao [Historical archives of modern China]. Chengdu, PRC: Sichuan jiaoyu chubanshe.
Rong, G., et al. (Eds.). (1987). Dangdai Zhongguo tiyu [Contemporary Chinese sport]. Beijing: Zhongguo kexue
chubanshe.
Wang, D., & Hong, F. (1990). Tiyu shihua [Sport: A social history]. Beijing: kexue puji chubanshe.
Wu, Shaozu, et al. (Eds.). (1999). Zhonghua renmin gongheguo tiyu shi [Sports history of the People’s Republic of
China 1949–1999]. Beijing: Zhongguo shuju chubanshe.

Fan Hong
Fan Hong teaches in the department of physical education, sport, and leisure at De Mortfort

University.

Word Count: 2,737

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