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.

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.^[1] This changed with the 1981 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup where the Chinese team won the gold medal amid enormous public attention.^[1]

Prior to the 1990s, sports were entirely funded by the government.^[2][3][4] 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.^[5]

In September 2007, the Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian basketball matchup drew China's largest audience ever for a single sports game as 100–200 million Chinese watched live.^[6] China Daily reported that Virtually the whole nation stands glued to their television sets, amid parties and wild celebrations.^[7]

China led the gold medal count (48) at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.^[8] China hosted the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics from August 16 to 28, 2014.

In 2017, a football match in the Tianhe Stadium in Guangzhou drew the largest audience for a single sporting event within the boundaries of mainland China.^[9] The average attendance of the Chinese Super League games in 2017 was 23,766 spectators.

Beijing was the host of the 2022 Winter Olympics.