Xi'an municipal government considers China National Games as opportunity to focus on wellness

With China's 14th National Games major events currently being held in Xi'an - China’s northwest Shaanxi province - the Xi'an municipal government considers the much-awaited major sports event as an opportunity to raise the visibility of the city as an ideal locale for hosting similar events, as well as being a city focussed on improving the wellbeing of its local community.

While once only hosting China’s elite professional athletes, the multisport event has now become a stage for amateurs too, as the leadership aim to make the country not only a sporting power in competitive sport but also one with a focus on the fitness of the general public.

As such, the Xi'an municipal government is taking measures to not only ensure the smooth running of National Games, but is also encouraging and accelerating the adoption of healthy lifestyle practices across the local community.

Outside the Xi'an Olympic Sports Centre, Xi'an - by relying on its abundant natural resources, in particular the nearby Qinling Mountains and three rivers that run through them - has built a 293-kilometer network of greenways within just one year connecting 103 ecological sites, 42 cultural and historical sites as well as 109 rest stops, all of which form an urban green ecosystem and recreation space for local residents. The aim is to create a green ecological corridor that fully leverages the city's wealth of natural resources and serves as a new venue where both residents and visitors can exercise.

Grass-roots enthusiasts have been invited to take part in 185 events across 19 sports in the 14th National Games, being held until 27th September, as professional athletes compete in more than 400 events similar to those held during the Summer Olympics.

Competitions for amateurs include traditional events such as table tennis and badminton, as well as recreational sports such as square dancing, a popular pastime among older women.

While China’s National Games have traditionally served as a scouting ground to discover potential Olympic medallists, the focus is being expanded to be more inclusive and is now promoted as sport for all.

Talking to South China Morning Post, Professor Chen Xiyao from Shanghai University of Sport notes “in the past, we focused on competitive sports only, but in recent years we started realising that grass-roots sports are the foundation, as suggested in a number of directives about sports rolled out in the past years.”

South China Morning Post highlight that according to a national plan issued in 2019, the central government pledged to build China into a sporting power by 2050, with at least 45% of its population participating in frequent exercise by 2035 – meaning those aged seven and above exercising at least three times a week, for at least 30 minutes a session.

Since the National Games were held in Tianjin in 2017, events for amateurs have been added to the games schedule, amid a mass fitness campaign initiated by China’s President Xi Jinping. It also dropped the medal count for provincial delegations to encourage local governments to attach more importance to the promotion of mass fitness rather than winning at all costs.

Professor Chen Xiyao explains “competitive sports were totally disconnected from public sports. Local officials were so obsessed with winning medals in the National Games that doping and match-fixing scandals overshadowed the event.”

Youfa Wang and Yuexin Yang writing in 2019 in the prestigious medical journal, The Lancet, reported  that while obesity has become a global public health crisis, China has the largest number of affected people worldwide, with about 46% of adults and 15% of children being obese or overweight. Increasingly Chinese society is making efforts to address the rising obesity and chronic disease epidemic.

According to China’s Ministry of Education, the percentage of overweight or obese students in China’s primary and high schools has kept increasing, while the overall fitness of college students has declined in the past decade.

The inclusion of amateur competitions in China’s National Games highlights not only the government’s support for grass-roots sport, but that the key to a healthier and stronger population lay in education.

A 2021 study released in The Lancet shows that much more needs to be done to address physical inactivity worldwide. The research, co-led by a University of Sydney academic and featuring University of Sydney authors, reveals that, since the 2016 Olympics, worldwide progress to improve physical activity has stalled with deaths associated with inactivity still at more than five million per year.

Associate Professor Melody Ding, from the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre, who co-led The Lancet series noted "instead of thinking only in terms of elite sports, we should see the Olympics as an opportunity to create a legacy of mass sports participation and promote physical activity at a population level. That’s especially important for those of us who are living sedentary lives in lockdown."

The Xi'an municipal government has created enough fitness facilities so that every person living there has a place to engage in physical fitness.

While the Xi'an Olympic Sports Centre has become a new urban landmark, other key sports facilities such as the Xi'an Sports Training Centre, the Xi'an International Football Centre (render above) and the Xi'an Water Sports Training and Competition Centre are also either in the planning stage or already under construction.

Between 2022 and 2025, more than 40 international and domestic sports events will be held in Xi'an every year. Two to three independent events tied to a single sports brand are expected to take place annually in the city by 2025, setting the wheels in motion for Xi'an to become a well-known, top-flight world sports capital by 2035.

With a population of nine million people, the Xi'an municipal government has created enough fitness facilities so that every person living there has a place to engage in physical fitness. Since 2019, the city has built over 10,000 exercise facilities across the city, meaning everyone resides no more than 15 minutes from one. As of March 2021, the city had installed 4,280 exercise machines in Xi'an's rural communities for use by the area's agricultural workers, as well as having paved 2,200 public use jogging and biking lanes while already having staged enough national fitness activities that the annual number of such events should reach some 600 by the end of the year.

Images from top: Xi'an Olympic Sports Centre; Xi'an greenway; Obesity in Chinese children increasing; Xi'an International Football Centre designed by Zaha Hadid Architects to be built in the Fengdong business district of Xi'an.The stadium will contain 60,000 seats and become a venue for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup. Render Credit: Negativ, Courtesy: Zaha Hadid Architects