Research on the Coordinated Development of Sports in

Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area

- A case study of sports

Hao He

Bachelor’s Thesis Degree Programme in Sports Coaching and Management 2021 Author(s) Hao He Degree programme Degree Programme in sports coaching and management Report/thesis title Number of pages and app Research on the Coordinated Development of Sports in endix pages Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area - A case study of 27 fencing sports

Abstract As a common language, fencing sports plays a good role as a bridge in the process of building Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area for the three places to communicate with each other, strengthen exchanges, and improve the quality of sports life. With adopting literature research method, information research method, investigation method and other ones, this study aims to not only promote the development of fencing sports and industries, but also improve the quality of sports life of people. Furthermore, it can also provide new thoughts for the future strategy of coordinated development of fencing sports and create an international high-quality sports environment in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Greater Bay Area.

The study shows that with the introduction and implementation of all kinds of national and local polici es, the coordinated development trend of fencing sports in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Ba y Area is generally favorable. However, once affected by a serious global and national public health e vent such as the coVID-19,the “Training and Sales” mode which originally relied on fencing sports t raining, fencing competitions, fencing equipment sales and the “Sports and Tourism” operation mo de were badly devastated by the epidemic isolation.

For the coordinated development of fencing sports in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, one must accelerate the improvement of the ecological structure and strengthen the full integra tion of the industry, do more in-depth study on the cultural value orientation. The coordinated dev elopment of fencing sports in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is desirable in th e future.

2 Keywords Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area; coordinated development; fencing sports.

Table of contents

1. Introduction...... 5

1.1 Background...... 5

1.1.1 National and local relevant policies...... 5

1.1.2 Social needs and economic benefits...... 5

1.1.3 The history of the coordinated development of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Gr eater Bay Area...... 11

1.2 Purpose of the research...... 12

2. Theoretical framework...... 13

2.1 Definition of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area...... 13

2.2 Definition of coordinated development...... 13

2.3 Definition of fencing sports...... 14

3. Research methods...... 15

4. Research results...... 16

4.1 The coordinated development model...... 16

4.2 Acceleration of the improvement of the ecological structure of the industry...... 17

4.3 Needs for the full integration of the industry...... 19

4.4 Inter-cultural and value orientation towards the integration of fencing sports...... 21

3 5. Conclusions and Suggestions...... 22

Lists of references...... 22

4 1 Introduction

1.1 Background

1.1.1 National and local relevant policies

In 2014, Chinese government releases several documents on the promotion of sports industry a t the state level. (The General Office of the State Council 2014; 2016; 2019) It also proposes te n policies of deepening the reform of national individual sports associations and promoting the o pening of public resources to sports events. Moreover, it should firstly improve the system for ev aluating intangible assets of sports and increase financial support. Secondly, it should promote sports consumption and implement national fitness. Thirdly, it needs to optimize the land supply of sports industry, organize and implement the national fitness promotion project. In 2017, with Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macao as the core cities, the Chinese governme nt designated the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area as a special area, consistin g of 11 cities including Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Guangdong Province and the two Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macao, covering an area of 56,000 square kilometers. In February 2019, the Chinese government issued the document called “ Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area”, which clearly states that the thre e areas should jointly promote the development of sports industry, then to create a regional and even an international brand, and finally to improve the quality of people’s life in the area. Thus, with the introduction and implementation of relevant favorable national and local polic ies, fencing sports have ushered in an important opportunity in especially in the Guangdo ng-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

1.1.2 Social needs and economic benefits

With the introduction of policies, people's awareness of exercise has been increasing. Acco rding to the statistics of the number of people who regularly take part in physical exercise increa ses by 10 million every year. The number of people who regularly take part in physical exercise i n 2019 is 430 million, and in 2020, it reaches 440 million issued by the General Office of the Sta te Council (2019) no. 43

5 Figure 1. The number of people who often take part in physical exercise in China from 2015 to 2020 and its forecasts (Source: The General Office of the State Council 2019)

There is a big gap between the proportion of sports population in China and developed countrie s, which indicates that there is still a great room for the growth in the future. Statistics data show s (statistics, China Industry Information, 3 December 2019) that the scale of Chinese sports con sumption market reached 711.36 billion Yuan in 2017, rising to 1228.21 billion Yuan in 2019, Ac cording to the figure released by China Business Industry Research Institute (2019), and it is ex pected that the consumption market scale of sports industry would continuously rise to 1.5 trillio n. (China Business Industry Research Institute 2020)

6 Figure 2. Consumption market scale and forecast of sports industry from 2015 to 2020 ( Source: China Business Industry Research Institute)

In the future, with the continuous increase of the per capita consumption expenditure of Chi nese residents on the sports industry, the sports consumption market will also have a great roo m for improvement. In 2017, there were as many as 30 international and major domestic individ ual events and more than 100 professional tournaments held in Shenzhen, Guangdong, attracti ng more than 2 million viewers. High-end competitions greatly promote the development of sport s consumption and sports industry, and bring substantial economic benefits to the society. Acco rding to statistics in 2017,(statistics, China Industry Information, 3 December 2019) the per capit a sports consumption of Shenzhen residents was about 380 dollars, which taking the leading po sition in China and has reached the level of developed countries in Europe and the United State s. (Tencent sports 2018) At present, Chinese sports industry has undertaken a period of rapid development, and the proportion of the total output value of the sports industry in GDP has been increasing year by ye ar. According to the data from the total output value of Chinese sports industry in GDP has been increasing year by year in the past six years, rising slowly from 0.5% in 2012 to 0.64% in 2014, and rapidly from 0.8% in 2015 to 1% in 2019, showing an obvious trend of increase. It is expect ed that the total output value of the sports industry will be more than 1.2% of the GDP in 2020. T here is a huge space for the total output value of the national sports industry to be improved. (C hina Business Industry Research Institute 2019) 7 Figure 3. The proportion and forecast of China’s sports industry gross output value in GDP from 2012 to 2020 (Source: China Business Industry Research Institute)

According to report by the Bank of Sports Think-tank, from 2014 to 2019, the total scale of C hina's sports industry increased from 1.35 trillion to over 2 trillion in 2017, and the total scale of Chinese sports industry in 2018 was 2.4662 trillion, with a year-on-year growth of 12.1%. According to the China Industrial Research Institute (2020) 13th Five-Year Plan of China's natio nal sports plan, the total scale of Chinese sports industry will exceed 3 trillion Yuan by 2020, an d it is expected to exceed 5 trillion Yuan by 2025.

8 Figure 4. China sports industry development report 2020 (Source: China Business Industry Research Institute)

Fencing sports belong to urban sports projects, which are well developed in cities with social and economic development, and have a high return on investment. Moreover, the participating g roups are mostly from high net worth families, with strong sustainable consumption ability. It has the natural attributes of high plateau effect, high level of consumption, high loyalty and high cus tomer unit price, and has a strong commercial operation potential. According to the Sohu 2018. "Report on the Development of Chinese Public Fencing in 2018 ", The Chinese Fencing Club Le ague in 2018 had 5 stops in the whole year, with an average of about 2,950 athletes participatin g in each stop. In addition, 86 percent of the participants were amateur athletes under the age o f 16, and each youth athlete was accompanied by an average of 1.63 parents. Based on the ab ove data, it is estimated that an average of more than 5,500 people come to the host city at eac h stop. With the initial formation of the consumption model of "Sports and Tourism", the participants o f the above events directly drive the total economic consumption to around 24.2 million through t ransportation, accommodation, tourism, catering and shopping. ”According to the data released by the World Tourism Organization, the multiplier effect of sports tourism consumption will be no less than 5, which means, 1 Yuan of consumption will drive 5 Yuan of social consumption. Bas ed on this coefficient, the accumulative total of sports tourism consumption will be more than 12 0 million Yuan. And throughout the year, the total social consumption driven by Chinese Fencin

9 g Club League is close to 600 million Yuan in 2018." Xiao Aihua said. （China Fencing Associat ion 2019）

Figure 5． Report on the development of Chinese public fencing in 2018 (Source: SoHu)

According to the Report on the Development of Chinese Public Fencing in 2018, as of Decem ber 2018, there are 46 registered fencing sports clubs in the Guangdong- Hong Kong-Macao Gr eater Bay Area, including 31 in Guangdong, 13 in Hong Kong and 2 in Macao. These fencing cl ubs not only cultivate more fencing talents for the Greater Bay Area, but also boost social consu mption and create huge economic benefits through fencing training, fencing competition perform ances, fencing fitness, fencing equipment and so on, so as to improve the sports life quality of p eople in the Greater Bay Area. It can be seen that no matter from the perspective of social dem and or economic benefits, fencing sports has ushered in an important period of strategic opportu nity in China, especially in the Guangdong-Hong Kong- Macao Greater Bay Area. (Sohu 2018)

10 Figure 6. Report on the development of Chinese public fencing in 2018 (Source: Sohu)

1.1.3 The history of the coordinated development of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater B ay Area

Over the past two decades since Hong Kong and Macao return to China, Hong Kong, Macao and Guangdong have forged close friendship and cooperated closely in the areas of water suppl y, power supply and food supply. Surrounded by the sea on three sides, Hong Kong has always been short of fresh water resources. In 1963, Hong Kong citizens were deprived of water for fo ur hours every four days, leaving 3.5 million people living in difficulties and more than 200,000 fl eeing their home. In March 1965, Guangdong province and the Hong Kong government signed t he Agreement on Drawing Water from the Dongxiang River for Hong Kong and Kowloon. The w ater supply in the first year was twice the water capacity of all reservoirs in Hong Kong at that ti me. In the early 1980s, Macao relied on just two oil-fired power plants, which produced little cap acity and high electricity costs and prices. In June 1984, Guangdong began to supply power to Macao. By 2011, more than 90 percent of Guangdong's electricity was sent to Macao through th e Zhuhai grid at its peak. In 2012, the second 220KV transmission channel was completed, incr easing the transmission capacity by another 50%, and forming a power supply pattern from Gua ngdong province to the north and south of Macao. Now Guangdong is preparing to build the thir d 220KV power supply channel for Macao. Over the past 20 years, the Guangdong Inspection a nd Quarantine Bureau has inspected and quarantined nearly 4 million batches, more than 30 mil lion tons of food and agricultural products for Hong Kong. Guangdong also supplies more than 9

11 0 percent of the daily vegetables demand for about 550,000 Macao compatriots.（FengQu 2019）

The cooperation in economy between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao has a long history ov er the period of the last century. The close-tired economic relationship has accelerated since the economic reform took place in the late 1980’s of last century. More recently, when the process of reform gets deeper and broader, it has greatly beneficial in all aspects for Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao areas.

In sports, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has cooperated very closely in a verity forms. Except jointly hosting the numerous major international tournament, the greater b ay area also carefully build regional brand competition, promote the development of greater bay area sports industry. Evidently, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao have deepened exchanges, cooperation in economy, culture, science, technology, sports, and other aspects, forming a com prehensive and closely linked collaborative development trend.

1.2 Purpose of the research

The study aims to promote the development of fencing sports and industries in general and impr ove the quality of sports life of people in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao areas. Furthermor e, the study tries to put forward some new thoughts for the strategy of coordinated development of fencing sports in the future under the international high quality of sports environment in the Gr eater Bay Area.

12 2 Theoretical framework 2.1 Definition of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area

The Chinese government set up the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in 2017 in order to deepen the cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. In principle, it tries to promote the common development and construction of the three regions for enhancing the country's economic development and construction. As a result, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macao were selected as the core cities joined with Shenzhen, Foshan, Dongguan, Zhuhai, Huizhou, Jiangmen, Zhongshan, Zhao Qing in the Pearl River Estuary Bay Area and Hong Kon g and Macao special administrative region, with a total area of 5.6 square kilometers, population of nearly 70 million. It is the fourth largest bay area in the world after the New York Bay, the San Francisco Bay and the Tokyo Bay Area. It is an important space carrier for China to establish excellent city clusters and participate in global competition. There are four core advant ages: first, it has the geographical advantage of the largest hinterland among the four bay area s in the world; second, among the four major Bay areas in the world, it has the work force advan tage with the highest population density. Third, the shipping industry has developed, the system is complete, the innovation ability is strong, the headquarters effect is outstanding; Fourth, the in stitutional advantages of "one country, two systems, three customs territories". (Planning of sou thern Guangdong 2020)

2.2 Definition of coordinated development In general, coordinated development means coordinating two or more different resources or indi viduals to achieve a goal and achieve win-win results through mutual cooperation. Moreover, th e competition mechanism under the premise of coordinated development reflects three principle s: firstly, it promotes each other with the principle of diversity by the common competition in insti tution, system, science, education and moral norms and other contents, and then achieve the co ordinated development of society. The second is the principle of fairness in competition, that is, everyone is taking part of competitions under the same living conditions. Third, the principle of c oordination, competition is not to kill each other for the purpose, but to encourage both sides to play their own strengths, or continue to play their advantages, or reform and innovation in time, i n order to obtain the common development of both sides and the common prosperity of the soci ety. The theory of coordinated development had established as the basis of sustainable social

13 development in many countries and regions in the world. (Encyclopedia of MBA think tanks 2012)

2.3 Definition of fencing sports

Fencing sports refers to a sport developed from the ancient swordsmanship duels. It is known a s "gentlemanly combat, the ballet of sport". As early as in ancient times, the sword was a tool fo r man to fight and hunt wild animals for survival. Fencing scenes are depicted in relief at the Te mple of Madinath Hab, built in 1190 BC by The Egyptian pharaoh Ramses III. In the 11th centur y BC, fencing lessons appeared in ancient Greece, with swordsmen giving lectures. In the Middl e Ages, fencing guilds and schools were established in European countries, and a special class of knights appeared. In 1882, established the world's first fencing association. Fencing began at the first in 1896 and was the only sport in which professional athletes were allowed to compete. Modern fencing uses three kinds of weapons: foil, epee and sabre. The effective hitting points and competition rules are different. The foil is only effective when it is pricked by its point, the effective part is the body. The epee is only effective when hit by the point, and the effective part includes the whole body; the saber is a splitting and piercing weapo n that the effective part are the upper body, helmet and arm. The foil is more accurate, the epee is more athletic, and the sabre is the fastest. （Sports Information Tips 2018）

In terms of competitive types, although fencing is an armed fighting event, its safety and univer sality are very good. People wear masks, gloves and fencing suits to engage in attack and defe nse in a safe and equal manner, which is both exciting and elegant. People wear masks, gloves and fencing suits to engage in attack and defense in a safe and equal manner, which is both ex citing and elegant. Fencing is also known as "the movement of the wise and the moving chess", because the experimental results and image technology research shows that in order to defeat t he opponent, the fencer must constantly analyze the opponent in the movement, through observ ation and judgment, eliminate the illusion to capture the essence, and guide their own actions wi th rapid and accurate conclusions. As a result, the brains of fencers process information in a sig nificantly higher total activation capacity than average person’s, with a greater amount of inform ation processing and more ways of processing information.

14 The influence of fencing sports on psychological quality is obvious. There is a famous saying in the United States that "confidence, self-control and self-awareness can be achieved through fen cing practice". The famous French writer Musay thinks that "there is no sentimental fencing teac her". (Douban 2017) Particularly it can develop the” spirit of sword" of self-confidence, fearlessn ess and never giving up, which is a valuable mentality and quality that is scarce in today’s societ y. By participating in fencing sports, teenagers can develop the ability to deal with emergencies and the sense of independence that cannot be learned in school, and further contribute to the p erfection of personality.

3. Research methods

In order to facilitate the collaborative development of fencing sports in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, the research process had started about 1.5 years ago and completed in the end of 2020. As a common sports language, fencing plays a very good role in the construction of Guan gdong, Hong Kong and Macao in terms of communication, strengthening communication and im proving the quality of sports life.

Therefore, the research objects are the population of 10,000 registered fencing athletes in 2019, who comes from 50 fencing clubs within the Great Bay areas. The study adopted the literature r eview method to obtain relevant documents and materials from the public, local and state Burea u of Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao and Greater Bay Area. The comparative method had also used for the comparison with the different data collected from fencing clubs, schools that are off ering fencing courses. Lastly, the in-depth interviews had conducted for getting more insights fro m fencing athletes. Lastly, Observation method also utilized to observing the object of study with one’s own senses.

15 4. Research results

4.1 The coordinated development model

Fencing has always been a popular sport in Guangdong, especially in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other places where the sports for all is relatively extensive. On the one hand, the Guangdo ng Fencing Association currently has more than 10,000 registered athletes. One the other hand, a number of top athletes has even won several Olympic fencing champions. Therefore, this mo del provides the possibility for those teenagers and young adults who are interested and skilled i n fencing can receive professional fencing training. All of fencing clubs agree to implement the s o-called "all-people movement" policy. It refers to the active cooperation with educational and sp orts department together to carry out several projects, such as ”open lectures by masters", "fenc ing in the campus", "fencing charitable activity" and so on. Furthermore, it jointly held various su mmer camps, special training camps to classify fencing amateur and provide training and guida nce. Moreover, many amateur sports schools, children's palaces and ordinary primary and seco ndary schools in Guangdong have opened fencing classes. Sun Yat-sen University, Jinan Unive rsity and other universities have also opened fencing courses to recruit students with special fen cing skills. (Guangdong Sports Bureau 2018）

Since the establishment of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, fencing exchan ges among the three places have become more frequent and in-depth. In March 2018, the Ope n Invitational Tournament of Guangdong Fencing Association Cup (the first stop) kicked off in G uangzhou. 1,500 athletes and 280 teams from more than 50 fencing clubs, sports training cente rs and other organizations in Guangdong province, Hong Kong and Macao participated in the co mpetition. As a brand event to promote the exchange of fencing sports in the Greater Bay Area, "Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Fencing Open" has been successfully held for five times w ith increasing social influence. Now it has gradually become one of the most valuable sports eve nts in the Greater Bay Area.

In January 2019, organized by the Guangzhou Sports Bureau, Guangzhou Sports Federation, Guangzhou Fencing Association, the "Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macao Fencing Open" was held in Guangzhou Sports Vocational and Technical College, nearly more than 100 teams from

16 countries and regions, a total of about 1400 athletes competed in 84 events, provide a communi cation platform for the professional fence athletes and fence amateur from all over the world. In February 2019, the first "Peizheng Cup Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Fenci ng Invitational Tournament" was held in the time-honored Peizheng Middle School of Macao. M ore than 300 good fencers from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao gathered together, presenti ng an exchange and interactive fencing feast for fencers in the Greater Bay Area. In November 2019, the 1st Shenzhen Nan Shan fencing tournament in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao G reater Bay Area was held in the Nations Fencing Training Center of Shenzhen Bay Sports Cent er. The sports school of Guangdong province, Hong Kong and fencing club a total of more than 360 athletes to sign up to participate in actively, successfully built a large professional and amat eur fencing competition platform of the area , further expanded the influence of fencing in the Gr eater Bay Area.

In conclusion, under the inference of the establishment of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Gre ater Bay Area, fencing sports took the lead to adopt the coordinated model for the development. As a result, the model has played an important role as a mechanism for bring three places to co operate with each other in order to improve the quality of life. Therefore, the coordinated develo pment model is generally favourable as a whole.

4.2 Acceleration of the improvement of the ecological structure of the industry

The evidence shows that the extensive development of fencing sports in Guangdong, Hong K ong, Macao could not only cultivate more followers and reserve talents for competitive fencing, but also receive social attention and open up a broader space for the further development. It is t rue that the vigorous development of competitive fencing and public fencing and the further impr ovement of social awareness and reputation of the project will drive the continuous expansion of scale of the fencing industry. More importantly, the industrial structure of fencing sports more o ptimized and social capital constantly integrated which will promote the spread of fencing culture and promote fencing diplomacy to a deeper level, thus forming a virtuous circle of the whole ind ustry ecology.

Furthermore, fencing sports belong to urban sports events, which are well developed in cities with social and economic development, and have a high return on investment. At the same time, 17 the participating groups are mostly from high net worth families, with strong sustainable consu mption ability. It has the natural attributes of high plateau effect, high consumption, high loyalty and high customer unit price, and has a strong commercial operation potential. For example, according to the report on the Development of Fencing for the Chinese Public in 2018, the Fencing Club League of China in 2018 has 5 stops in a year, with an average of mor e than 5,500 people coming to the cities where the competitions are held. The social consumpti on of each stop has been more than 120 million Yuan, and the total social consumption of the fe ncing club League of China in 2018 is nearly 600 million Yuan.（SoHu 2018）Therefore, as a m echanism for accelerating the improvement of the ecological structure of the industry, it seems t hat there is only way for the coordinated development of fencing sports in Guangdong, Hong Ko ng and Macao Greater Bay Area.

However, "Internet and Sports" could make targeted marketing programs of fencing sports for different groups by so-called Big Data, such as designing various kinds of e-sports games abou t fencing sports. In addition, it can be promoted by such as Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao Gre ater Bay Area E-sports Competition" accustomed to the traditional fencing athletes in the virtual world could actually get more opportunities for learning, interactive, fight and experience value, t hus change fencing sports to a more interactive, more convenient, more fashionable sport. "Inte rnet and Sports" could also promote the production, dissemination and consumption of fencing s ports products to be digitized and networked. It can connect the audience through live broadcast and short videos, improve the popularity and audience of fencing sports, and expand the social influence. The Center stadium in Long gang, Shenzhen, which hosted the World Cu p Final of King of Glory in 2019, is also the first large stadium recommended by Tencent Exports in south China. In September 2020, king V5 e-sports club was founded by Mario Ho, the Presid ent of Macao E-sports Association, to work together to create a new sports e-sports industry ec ology, and it was announced that former professional fencer and now famous music singer and songwriter Jackson Wang was appointed as the partner of V5 e-sports club, which will open a n ew "way of e-sports entrepreneurship". （Baidu Sports 2019）

Nevertheless, with the help of cross-border forces such as e-sports, entertainment and popula r culture events, fencing sports could not only enhance the immunity and resistance in the face of serious public events, but also rapidly expand the audience group, as well as to promote soci al consumption more widely and strongly and create more social and economic benefits.

18 4.3 Needs for the full integration of the industry

In January 2018, China's General Administration of Sports emphasized that fencing sports ind ustry is an important part of the sports industry, therefore, by 2020, fencing sports industry syste m should gradually complete, for example, the formation of competition and performance syste m etc. in order to let the fencing market continue to grow. As expected, a number of fencing sports centers are going to build, and there are more than 7 00 fencing sports clubs are likely to be established supported by a number of influential leading enterprises, small and medium-sized enterprises and social organizations. As a result, By Dece mber 2018, there were 46 registered fencing sports clubs in the Greater Bay Area, including 31 i n Guangdong, 13 in Hong Kong and 2 in Macao. Within this circle, the business becomes relativ ely simple. The clubs mainly rely on membership dues and tuition fees. However, it is just a begi nning. One thing is for sure, a full integration absolutely needed between fencing sports and bus iness enterprises in the Bay Areas.

Taking fencing sports as an example, evidence shows that there is a need for supporting and developing, for example, the issues of training, events and equipment and supplies enterpri ses with their own brands. There is also a need for encouraging fencing sports market to innova te business models and expand products supply. Furthermore, there is a need to promote “fenci ng in campus” project, as well as to develop systematic fencing training products to expand the i nfluence of fencing among teenagers and their parents, constantly explore innovative training pr oducts. It is also a need to promote the development of adult fencing market represented by "pa rent-child fencing". In addition, there is a need to get center and lical governments’ support with the focus on the concentrated development of the sports industry, encourage all districts and en terprises to produce sports production. （General Office of Shenzhen Municipal People's Gover nment,12 July 2016）

At the same time, encourage the fencing market subjects to innovate and develop, and lead t he fencing enterprises with strength to develop in the direction of standardized management, lar ge-scale operation and diversified products, so as to continuously improve their core competitiv eness. In addition, the media industries such as film and television and variety shows in the Gre ater Bay Area can be integrated to launch innovative products with fencing sports elements, vig orously promote the fashion and high-end characteristics of fencing sports, strengthen the social awareness of fencing sports market, and broaden the fencing sports industry. It will enrich the c 19 ontent and extension of fencing sports industry, increase the development of industrial content s uch as exhibitions, forums, fencing festivals, carnivals and cultural derivatives, encourage small and medium-sized fencing enterprises and fencing clubs to give play to regional advantages an d characteristics, and strengthen the integrated development with the fitness and leisure industr y, education and training industry, tourism industry and cultural industry. (State Administration of Sports 2018)

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is a manufacturing cluster in China and is known as the "factory of the world". According to the 2019 Fortune Global 500 ranking, 129 e nterprises are from China, among which 20 are from the Greater Bay Area, whose industries inv olve finance, real estate, Internet and manufacturing. The fencing sports industry can integrate t he resources of enterprises and brands in the Greater Bay Area, make use of the mature marke ting strategies and popularity of enterprises and brands in the Greater Bay Area, and connect e nterprises with the fence sports with the effect of brand funds and public relations. Through succ essful operation, the two sides can become long-term strategic partners to achieve a win-win sit uation. On a big bay enterprise joint or fencing activities in the form of sponsorship , in the form of establishing named bonuses to attract even the international fencers came to participate in th e competition, not only improve enterprise's popularity and promote the growth of fencing sports, more can drive the host city, tourism and economic development. (Fortune 2019)

In recent years, Shenzhen, Guangdong province has been continuously cultivating and expan ding sports market subjects, encouraging the development of leading enterprises of various ind ustries, and establishing the release system of "Leading enterprises of Shenzhen sports Industr y". The government will support the concentrated development of the sports industry, encourage all districts and enterprises to cultivate and build sports production with the sports headquarters as the core, and promote the scale expansion of the industry. Coordinated and promoted outsta nding enterprises represented by Tencent Group, Wanda Sports, Adidas Asia Pacific Headquart ers (Hong Kong), Macau Tourism & Entertainment Co., Ltd. and CITS Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao Greater Bay Area Operation Headquarters (Macau) to upgrade their headquarters functi ons, take root in the Greater Bay Area, and promote the scale expansion of the sports industry c ontinuously in the Greater Bay Area. (Shenzhen News 2020)

20 4.4 Inter-cultural and value orientation towards the integration of fencing sports

Since the idea of integration in the Bay Areas implemented, the inter-cultural exchanges in fe ncing sports within the Great Bay Areas increased dramatically and achieving good results in ter ms of the inter-cultural integration. For example, in 2016, Lei Sheng, of The Olympic G ames and currently is the head coach of the Chinese national women's foil fencing team, was in vited to be the sports consultant of Futian District in Shenzhen, Guangdong province for the furt her enhancing the communication between fencing sports and the international community in th e Greater Bay Area.

However, due to various objective factors, neither inter-cultural communication, nor the value orientation of fencing sports within the Greater Bay Area are still unclear regardless the closer li nks in the business sector within Greater Bay Area. Then, the effect of fencing sports stars in th e Bay Area has not been fully explored, publicized and utilized, and so-called the" spirit of sword " has not been fully explored and utilized as well. Apparently, it also has something to do with int er-cultural communication and the understanding the different value orientation towards fencing sports in the Greater Bay Area. Therefore, it is necessary to pay more attention on the inter-cult ural communication and understanding the differences on the value orientation towards the fenc ing sports in the Greater Bay Area. It is also necessary to combine the gentleman culture of fenc ing sports with the extensive and profound Chinese culture, and then the culture of the Greater Bay Area of its own with the characteristics of the Greater Bay Area.

By deeply exploring and widely publicizing the struggle history and glory moments of Lei Shen g, Wang Jiaer and other fencing stars in the Greater Bay Area, we can make them become the i dols of new generation that inspire the progress of teenagers and inject positive energy into thei r growth and development. Making use of their star power effectively can expand the fencing mo vement in the influence of teenagers and even adults, make the slogan of "casting sword and te ach student", "the spirit of sward" become a kind of excellent character attributes, and promote t he cooperation between fencing sports and literature, film and television, media carriers. The fa shion and high-end characteristics of fencing are vigorously publicized to create a unique fencin g cultural atmosphere in the Greater Bay Area, so as to guide and inspire the public's willingnes s to spend more on fencing. (General Administration of Sport of China 2018)

21 5 Conclusions and Suggestions

In conclusion, fencing sports appears to serve as a good model in the process of building Gu angdong-HongKong-Macao Greater Bay Area for the three places. It is necessary to communic ate with each other, strengthen exchanges and improve the quality of life. With the introduction and implementation of all kinds of national and local policies, the coordinated development trend of fencing sports has generally been favorable. For the coordinated development of fencing spo rts in the Greater Bay Area, one must accelerate the improvement of the ecological structure of t he industry, strengthen the full integration of the industry, and dig deep into the inter-cultural co mmunication and cultural value orientation towards fencing sports. Looking into to the future, the coordinated development of fencing sports in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is desirable. The study would suggest that further study is greatly needed because the coordinated develo pment model of fencing sports needs to be defined more clearly and broader. Then, it should pu t more efforts on the attention on the awareness of inter-cultural communication within the Great er Bay Area. In addition, cultural aspect should be taken into the consideration when study the v alue orientation towards fencing sports in the process of coordination in the Greater Bay Area.

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