Sport in China
Sports in China consists of a variety of competitive sports. Traditional Chinese culture regards physical fitness as an important characteristic. China has its own national quadrennial multi-sport event similar to the Olympic Games called the National Games. In 2018, 21% of people in China called basketball their favourite sport. The figure was 17% for association football. In recent years, the popularity of association football grew harder than the popularity of basketball. In 2022, 22% of people in China said that basketball is their favourite sport, followed by 21% for association football.
Sports in China has long been associated with the martial arts. Before the 1980s, the country's international sports success was mainly in table tennis. This changed with the 1981 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup where the Chinese team won the gold medal amid enormous public attention.
Prior to the 1990s, sports were entirely funded by the government. In 1994, Chinese association football was professionalized, followed by basketball, volleyball, ping pong, and weiqi. Professionalization led to commercialization; this meant that sports associations became profit-making entities and that a club system and professional sports leagues were formed. Chinese athletes have also begun joining professional leagues abroad, such as basketball player Yao Ming's entry into the United States' NBA in the 2002 draft.
China led the gold medal count at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. China hosted the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics from August 16 to 28, 2014. Beijing was the host of the 2022 Winter Olympics.
History
dates back about 2000 years ago and remains a traditional event held around China every year. Cuju, a game similar but not related to the modern game of football, was played in China during the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC. Qigong martial arts activities became popular in China.Modern sports appeared in China at the beginning of the 20th century, largely under the influence of the American YMCA and Chinese reformers interested in adopting and adapting physical education models from the U.S., Europe, and Japan. The People's Republic of China emphasizes sports and the government funds and trains talented youngsters into professional players, especially beginning in the mid-20th century. Ping pong is one of the biggest amateur recreational sports with an estimated 200 million players. Badminton is also well established and popular.
According to CCTV Sports Channel, the gold-medal women's volleyball game of the 2004 Summer Olympics drew the viewership of 30% of TV-owning households; the figure was 18% for the China vs. Brazil match in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Football and basketball are also shown on TV.
Even though Western observers tend to associate China with table tennis, badminton, martial arts, and various forms of pool, traditionally Western sports such as basketball and football are getting more and more popular. China's professional sports are in its developmental stages. They also may consist of hacky sack, or ping pong during their free time.
Types of sports
Badminton
is popular in China thanks to its relative simplicity in recreational use and inexpensive equipment. Many Chinese badminton players have gained international success and fame, especially the many Gold medalists at the BWF World Championships. It is a popular recreational, and professional sport, with amateur leagues throughout the country.Bandy
China started a bandy development programme by organising educational days in Ürümqi in June 2009. They did not come as planned to the 2011 Asian Winter Games. However, China national bandy team debuted in the 2015 Bandy World Championship. Harbin hosted Division B of the 2018 tournament.A picture of the team based in Harbin is available online.
The China women's national bandy team made its World Championship debut in 2016. Chengde hosted the 2018 tournament.
China has announced its intention to participate in both the men's and women's tournament of the 2019 Winter Universiade.
In terms of licensed athletes, it is the second biggest winter sport in the world.
Baseball
was first introduced in 1864 with the establishment of the Shanghai Baseball Club by American medical missionary Henry William Boone. Organized baseball games were established with a game between the St. Johns University and the Shanghai MCA baseball club in 1905. However, in 1959 Mao Zedong disbanded all the teams and outlawed baseball.After the Cultural Revolution ended, baseball activities restarted, and the China Baseball Association formed in 1974. In 2002, the China Baseball League was formed and in 2019 China National Baseball League. China participates in the World Baseball Classic. Defeats of the national team to Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea may help change the trend as Chinese become more aware of the game's internationalization.
Basketball
In 2018, 21% of Chinese people said that basketball is their favorite sport. China hosted the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup.The game was introduced to China by American YMCA workers in 1896, just five years after Canadian-American James Naismith invented basketball in 1891 while working for the YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Since Yao Ming's 2002 arrival in the NBA, basketball has become increasingly more popular. According to the Chinese Basketball Association, there is a record number of around 300 million active basketball players in China.
China's first professional team was started in Shenyang and sponsored by the Anshan Steel Company. The CBA was established in 1995, and by 2008 it had expanded to 18 teams.
The fact that the United States is starting to notice Chinese players after Yao Ming's success, and young CBA players such as Yi Jianlian and Sun Yue entering the NBA are a testament to basketball's increasing popularity. In 2008, Sun Yue became another Chinese to join the NBA by signing with the Los Angeles Lakers to a two-year contract.
Boxing
in China first appeared in the 1920s. Professional boxing is followed by some fans in China.Chess
China had a good result in the 2006 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin when the men's team came second behind Armenia and the women's team third for the best result overall. The Chinese progress has been underpinned by large government support and testing competition in numerous tough events. Commensurate with its status, China currently has seven hundred players, second only to Russia. However, even today countries like Russia and Israel still have an edge in experience over their Chinese counterparts.Xiangqi is also considered a sport in China, with millions of players nationwide. There is a national Chinese chess league.
Curling
Although generally unheard of and unpopular, curling has been an improving sport for China to play. The government selected athletic individuals to play curling for China. The Chinese teams both Men and Women have improved at the international level. At the 2008 Ford World Women's Championships, the Chinese curling team consisting of Zhou Yan, Liu Yin, Wang Bingyu, and Yue Qingshuang won a surprising silver medal finish. At the 2008 World Men's Curling Championship, the Chinese didn't have as much success, but they also did very well, finishing 4th. The government is also hoping to promote the sport through Universities and Colleges. In March 2009, China became the first Asian team to win a curling world championship by beating Sweden in the final. At the 2010 Winter Olympic Games the women's team won the bronze medal, defeating Switzerland in 10 ends.Field hockey
The China women's national field hockey team won silver at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, as well as bronze at the 2002 Women's Hockey World Cup. Also, the team won the 2002 Hockey Champions Trophy and finished second in 2004 and 2006.Figure skating
Since the 1990s, China has been one of the top nations in the pairs events of figure skating. Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo were very famous figure skating pair in China that received widespread media coverage during their career; they were three-time world champions and won a gold medal in Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010. Comparatively, China is weak in the other three disciplines.Football
is the best-attended sport in China. The 2024 Chinese Super League saw an average attendance of 19,431, while the Chinese Basketball Association typically draws around 5,000 spectators per game. Football has become the most popular sport in nearly every province of China, with basketball closely following behind. In Chinese-speaking regions, association football is not the number one sport in Taiwan, where baseball takes the top spot, and in Hong Kong, where horse racing is the most popular sport.Football earns one of the highest television ratings of any sport in the country and has been one of the most well-supported sports in China ever since it was introduced in the 1900s. There is also written evidence that a game similar to football, Cuju, was first played in China around 50 BC. The current Chinese Football Association was founded in the PRC after 1949. Its headquarters is located in Beijing, and the current chairman is Chen Xuyuan. From 1994 to 2004, the CFA established the first professional football league, which was "Jia A". The Chinese Super League is the premier football league in China, which was changed from "Jia A" in 2004, as the top of a league hierarchy that extends to four leagues. Jia in Chinese also means "First" or "Best". Since its foundation the Super League has been relatively unstable, and has struggled to maintain popularity. In 2016, the average attendance of the CSL was 24,159 making it one of the highest attending professional football league around the world.
At the international level, Chinese football has enjoyed little success despite the amount of support it receives from fans. Although the national team qualified for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, they failed to score a single goal and lost three group matches. Conversely, the women's national team has finished second at both the World Championships and the Olympic Games. Despite the Chinese women's team's success at international competitions, however, women's football in China does not receive nearly as much attention as their counterparts in Canada and the United States, therefore China's good trend in women's football may well come to an end in the near future. In 1991, China hosted the inaugural Women's World Cup in Guangzhou; in 2004, it hosted AFC Asian Cup.
Football has always been among the more popular amateur team sports for recreation in China. High schools often have football facilities, some of which are rented on weekends to local amateur teams to organize matches. It is also popular to watch on television, with large international tournaments such as the World Cup and the European Championships, as well as major European leagues receiving widespread coverage.
File:Lin Dan.jpg|thumb|Lin Dan is the only player in badminton history to have won three consecutive titles at the World Championships.
File:Збірна України з хокею з м’ячем IMG 1619.jpg|thumb|right|China national bandy team with Ukraine at the 2016 World Championship