Sports and Pastimes
"Promote physical culture and build up of the people's health!” (Mao Zedong, 1952)
Sports
Chinese traditional sports, which include boxing, archery, wrestling and others were developed out of military training. They still survive today in the form of the martial arts.
Modern western style sports were introduced by missionaries in the 19th and early 20th century and gradually gained in popularity. Since 1949, physical education and sport have been fostered by the government both as a means of improving the health of the population and for wider political purposes. Most major sports are represented by a national association, which comes under the guidance of the state Physical Culture and Sports Commission. The body charged with carrying out the work of the Commission is the All-China Sports Federation. In theory, there are no professional athletes in China, but in practice there are a large number of full-time athletes. Competitive sport, banned during the Cultural Revolution, is now allowed again.
China took little part in international sports meetings until the 1970s, apart from sending some teams to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in the 1950s. However, the benefits gained from "ping pong diplomacy” in opening up links to the United States and Japan in 1971-72 were quickly followed by moves to make the PRCs name on the international sporting scene. The PRC joined the international Olympic movement in 1979. China's athletes are among the world's best in sports such as archery, badminton, volleyball, table tennis, pistol shooting, weight-lifting, and diving. Boxing has recently been restored to favour.
Pastimes
The distorting effect of long working hours and political campaigns sometimes make it difficult to know what Chinese do in their "spare time". Reading is evidently popular, though at times the material available has been reduced to a limited number of political tracts. Radio and television, the latter probably watched in a communal setting, enjoy considerable popularity and an increasing variety of programmes. The martial arts, often reduced to a highly stylistic, almost dance-like exercise (known as Taijiquan), rather than anything notably military, are popular and can be seen performed, along with other traditional exercises all over China, especially in the early morning.
The keeping of pets has come under attack at various times since 1949. Dogs and cats, it was believed, consumed too much food and their possession was banned. Dogs remain under the ban, but cats are, occasionally, seen as pets. The keeping of caged birds has a long tradition in China and that too, though banned during the cultural revolution, is beginning to regain some of its former popularity. Gambling has always been popular with Chinese communities. It has been forbidden in the People's Republic, but card playing and other similar pursuits are reappearing on the streets of many Chinese cities.
But probably the favourite Chinese pastime whether of government official or humblest worker, is eating. The Chinese love food and the sociability of eating in restaurants.
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