The Olympic Games, the Asian Games, and China's National Games

From the book China Gold: China’s Quest for Global Power and Olympic Glory (Great Barrington, MA: Berkshire Publishing Group) P a r t O n e

The Olympic Games, the Asian Games, and China’s National Games 奥运会、亚运会、全运会

eijing lost its first bid for the Olympics to Sydney, but in 2001 the International Olympic Committee voted to award B the Games to China. At last, said a student to a BBC re- porter, “The world is embracing us.” As the Games approached, controversies broke out and that embrace seemed at times to change into crossed arms and mutual recriminations. Bringing the Olympics Games to Beijing was first discussed in China one hundred years ago, and Part One of China Gold tells the story of a century of development and challenge, of war and revolution, and of an enduring commitment to build (and rebuild) a nation that could participate on the global stage with stunning athleticism, as well as politically and economically. The Olympics of 2008 have great symbolic importance, and to understand this, we look at China’s participation in the Asian Games, as well as the Olympics, and at the National Games which have been an essential proving ground for Chinese athletes.

Seconds later — 11.1 seconds, to be devastating to China’s self-image. Fi- How China Rose to Be a Sporting Giant exact — the first chapter of Chinese nally, only a month before the Olympic How China Olympic history was over. Liu Chang- Games in Los Angeles, the Japanese chun had been eliminated in the first had overrun a helpless Chinese army 中Rose to Be a preliminary heat, finishing well behind in Manchuria. Liu Changchun’s failure most of his competitors. in the preliminary heats seemed just Sporting Giant Liu’s failure became yet another open another sign of Chinese backwardness wound in the long history of defeats and weakness. and humiliation that China had suf- More than seventy years later, another 中国 fered at the hands of foreign powers. young Chinese man, again named Liu, 国 Humiliation had been a constant of moved into his starting position for an Chinese history for almost a century, Olympic sprinting competition, the 110- 体中国体育崛 starting with the defeats during the meter hurdles. Again the expectations Opium Wars of the mid-1800s at the of a whole nation weighed on a young 育金起之路 hands of a technologically superior man’s shoulders. However, this time, 崛 Western power. The 1895 Sino- Japanese when the starting shot was fired, the War, lost to an up-to-then inconse- hopes of his people did not drag the 起 quential neighbor, was even more young man down. Indeed, he seemed A journey of a thousand miles, 之 the Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu 老子 said, begins with a single step. And so 路 does a race of 100 meters and a na- ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● tion’s journey to the Olympic spotlight. In 1932 a young man named Liu took 2 that step when he moved into his starting position for the Olympic 100-meter race. As he did, he must have felt the great burden of the moment’s histori- cal significance; he must have withered under the weight of the expectations of a whole nation. LIU Changchun 刘长春 was at that moment the first Chi- nese ever to participate in the Olympic Games, and he was th single represen- tative of the young Chinese Republic at the Olympics in Los Angeles.

Chinese children learn sports such as table tennis at a very young age.

Part One tHe Olympic Ga mes, the Asian Ga mes, and China’s National Ga mes From the book China Gold: China’s Quest for Global Power and Olympic Glory (Great Barrington, MA: Berkshire Publishing Group)

to be buoyed by those hopes. He flew over the hurdles. Exactly 12.91 seconds XU Haifeng How China Rose to Be a Sporting Giant later, equaling the world record time, LIU Xiang 刘翔 had won China’s first n taking the first gold medal of the 1984 The absence of strong contenders from Olympic gold medal in a track-and-field ISummer Olympics in Los Angeles with a Eastern Europe due to the Soviet and competition and was about to become steely performance, sharpshooter Xu Hai- Eastern bloc boycott of the Los Angeles one of China’s greatest sports heroes. feng also became a Chinese icon — he was Games certainly worked to the advantage not simply a winner, but the first winner of of unknowns like Xu, but his win was no Liu’s gold medal was China’s crowning gold for his country since its return to the fluke, and he went on to prove his mettle achievement at the 2004 Athens Olym- Olympic Games after a thirty-two-year ab- in subsequent world competitions. In 1988, 中 pics, placing the Chinese team second sence due to controversy over the recogni- he won a bronze medal at the Summer only to the U.S. team in the gold medal tion of Taiwan. Olympics in Seoul. Other wins accumulated 国 count. The special significance of Liu’s Xu was an unlikely Olympic hero; he’d over the years included three golds at the victory, however, was the fact that he been training in the sport for just two years, Asian Games in Seoul in 1986, four golds at 体 won in a sport in which the Chinese the Asian Games in Beijing in 1990, and five becoming a champion sharpshooter in 育 were traditionally not considered to be Anhui Province in 1982 and winning his first golds at the 7th Asian Championships in 1991 as well as the World Air Pistol Champi- serious competitors because of their national title in 1983. His previous formal ex- 崛 smaller and less-muscular physique. perience at shooting consisted of a week of onship that year. Liu Xiang’s victory marked the begin- military training in high school — although Xu Haifeng’s Los Angeles feat was commem- 起 ning of the end of the assumption that he reputedly was a crack shot with a sling- orated in a Chinese television play, “Shots Chinese athletes are able to excel in shot during his childhood in Fujian Province. over Prada” — a reference to the name of the 之 city’s Olympic shooting range. He donated only a narrow field of sports. Liu, in- Before joining the national shooting team, 路 terviewed after his victory, said before which was coached by a former high school that first Olympic gold medal to China’s Na- ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● tional Museum. Retiring from competition bursting into tears: “I proved that Chi- teacher and would set him on the path to in 1994, Xu became the coach of the gold- nese people, Asian people, and yellow - the Olympics, Xu had been farming and sell- ing chemical fertilizer in rural Anhui Prov- medals teams in the 1996, 2000, and 2004 skinned people are able to do well in Olympics. In anticipation of the 2008 Beijing 3 track events.” ince. Xu went to Los Angeles as the rookie on a team of six — expecting merely “to take Summer Games, Xu took over supervision of These words expressed not only Liu part,” he later said. In the pistol events, at- China’s modern pentathlon team. A quarter Xiang’s pride and happiness over tention gradually shifted from the Swedish century since the event that catapulted him his victory, but also the frustrations world champion, Ragnar Skanaker, to the to fame, Xu Haifeng remains a household name in China. that past generations of Chinese had focused young man from China. Xu’s victory endured. His emotional statement in the 50-meter free pistol shooting final, at ■■ Judy Polumbaum echoed a feeling that remains impor- age twenty-seven, changed his life. tant today: the joy, and the relief, that China feels at finally having overcome an era of weakness and isolation. the question that is asked so fre- country in the world, China obviously China, during a short period of time, quently: How did the Chinese do it? has the advantage of a vast number of has risen from being in athletic terms a people from which to extract athletic developing country to being one of the Ingredients of Success talent. However, this extraction of tal- foremost sports powers in the world. The foundation of athletic success is, ent requires a sophisticated and highly This rise, mirroring China’s overall rise in China as in every other country, organized sports system that identifies to new economic and political power, athletic talent embedded within the and fosters talent. The development of has left many experts baffled and begs population. Being the most populous the Chinese elite sports system, which

奥运会、亚运会、全运会 From the book China Gold: China’s Quest for Global Power and Olympic Glory (Great Barrington, MA: Berkshire Publishing Group)

Organizational How China Rose to Be a Sporting Giant Infrastructure The Chinese elite sports system, adopted during the period of reform and opening up during the 1980s, is based on the Juguo tizhi 举国体制 approach — the support of the whole country for the elite sports system. This approach, which gives priority to 中 the task of elite sports development, 国 assures that all available sports resources are channeled into elite sports. 体 The organizational infrastructure of 育 Chinese elite sports follows many of the principles of the old Soviet sports 崛 system. It features a state-led and tightly controlled, highly centralized, 起 and strictly hierarchical system that 之 relies almost entirely on state fund- ing. Efforts to transform the organiza- 路 tional system established during the ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● 1950s into a more decentralized system promoting self-supporting and less- government-dependent sports devel- 4 opment have largely failed to produce significant results so far. One core element of the organizational infrastructure of elite sports in China The Chinese Ping-Pong team is the far-reaching, effective system in front of the of talent scouting and advancement, Statue of Liberty frequently called the “pagoda system.” in New York during the 1970s. The basis of this system is manda- tory physical education in the regular schools and in spare-time sports made an unprecedented leap forward provide adequate sports facilities and schools. during the last two decades, required training technology. the carefully managed interplay of Only through an extensive scouting In order to provide these two ingre- system on this basic level can the po- two largely different ingredients: the dients, China developed a distinctive organizational infrastructure to detect tential of the large Chinese gene pool elite sports system that combines be used and athletic talent identified and accommodate athletic talents, and potent characteristics of the Western- the financial and human resources to across the country. Sports scouts travel style approach with the old Soviet-style the country, visiting regular schools in approach. their search for students with athletic

potential. They discover talented ath- during competitions against their dinary rise of Chinese sports. For letes who sometimes are as young as peers, they will be promoted to the up- many decades the Chinese sports How China Rose to Be a Sporting Giant five or six years of age. If children show per levels of the pagoda system at the system suffered from a lack of mate- exceptional talent, they might be of- municipal- and provincial-level sports rial resources — hardly surprising in a fered entry to the multilevel elite sports schools, where they will be in full resi- developing country — which translated education system, consisting of a net- dency and extensively trained. From into inadequate training facilities and work of specialized sports schools. De- there they will have the chance of be- backward training technology. The pending on their age, such children will ing called to the national teams and to organizational system to detect and be sent to one of almost five hundred compete in international competitions. accommodate athletic talent might elite sports primary schools or more China trains about three thousand have been in place, but China did not 中 than two hundred elite sports middle world-class athletes on the national have the monetary means to trans- schools and high schools. level — almost three times as many as form talented children into world-class 国 Currently, approximately 400,000 young the United States. athletes. 体 athletes are being trained in these China’s astonishing economic improve- schools. Their potential for different Financial and Human ment after the reform of its economy 育 Resources sports will be examined, and their during the 1980s provided the neces- 崛 training will be individualized accord- However, organizational infrastructure sary second ingredient for athletic suc- ingly. If they distinguish themselves alone does not explain the extraor- cess: financial and human resources. 起之路 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Ratomir Dujkovic, a famous Serbian footballer and coach, was brought to train China’s team for the Olympics.

奥运会、亚运会、全运会 From the book China Gold: China’s Quest for Global Power and Olympic Glory (Great Barrington, MA: Berkshire Publishing Group)

After the initiation of economic reform, in Chinese training methodology, but combines the most potent features How China Rose to Be a Sporting Giant sports facilities and equipment for elite it has been complemented by more of two different worlds: the strictness sports education in China experienced scientific coaching, sports psychology, and meticulousness of the Soviet-style a massive upgrade. Since then, more and sports medicine techniques. To sports system and the sophistication money has been channeled into the facilitate this transformation, China has and innovativeness of Western-style improvement of sports facilities and imported foreign expertise in train- training, technology, and methodology. into the introduction of foreign, state- ing methodology by hiring successful By the mid-1980s all the ingredients for of-the-art training technology. foreign sports coaches from all over China’s ascent as a global sports power Also, training methodology has be- the world. were present. 中 come more scientific.T he traditional Legendary Yugoslavian soccer coach Driving Force, and 国 training method based on the “three Bora Milutinovic, who led the Chinese unafraids” 三不怕 (unafraid of hard- national team into the 2002 World Cup Political Dividends 体 ship, difficulty, and injury) and the “five finals and enjoyed enormous popu- However, ingredients alone do not bake toughnesses” 五过硬, (toughness of larity in China, is only one of many the cake. Important as they are, an 育 spirit, body, skill, training, and com- examples. With this flow of material organizational infrastructure as well as 崛 petition) still plays an important role resources into its sports system, China financial and human resources do not produce a highly successful sports sys- 起 tem by themselves: it takes an intense The Scholarly Stereotype interest in athletic accomplishments on 之 the part of people in power to channel resources into elite sports. In China’s 路 hy has hosting the Olympic Games tion of the “old society.” Also bolstering the ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● case the prerequisite is the political been so important to China for the last stereotype of the sickly Chinese was the W will of the Communist Party of China hundred years? The answer to this ques- publication in 1911 of The Changing Chinese by tion begins with label “sick man of East Edward Ross, a prominent U.S. sociologist. (CPC). The enthusiasm and determina- 6 Asia” (dongya bingfu). This label seems to In that book, Ross complained that young tion that the party displays for the ad- have had its roots in the port city of Tianjin, men imitated the stooped shoulders of the vancement of Chinese athletes suggest where the North American YMCA was par- scholar and wore broad-rimmed glasses that the political benefits deriving from ticularly active. YMCA educators seem to even when they didn’t need them, so they athletic success is particularly high for have held a stereotype of sickly, effeminate, could look like scholars. He decried what he China’s political leadership. In particu- overly intellectual Chinese men. A popular perceived as a lack of admiration for martial lar athletic success yields three forms story circulated among Western physical virtues. And perhaps most damning of all, of political dividends: the strengthen- educators about a British consul in Tianjin he said that the young men played tennis ing of international esteem, the inten- who invited a high Chinese official — the like girls. sification of national unity, and the Daotai — to dinner and afterward personally Of course the notion of the effeminate, intel- demonstration of systemic strength. demonstrated for him the game of tennis. lectual Chinese is strongly contradicted by When he asked the Daotai what he thought, the martial arts tradition. Indeed, one can A significant factor in China’s unparal- the Daotai responded that the consul was argue that kung fu films, more than anything leled economic development, which covered in sweat, and it would be better to else, have erased the perception of the to an extent is based on foreign direct hire someone to play in his place. This story effeminate Chinese among young Western- investment, is the Western image of made its way from the Western educators to ers, who admire Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and China as a land of limitless economic their Chinese pupils and is still widely cited Jet Li. growth and opportunity. However, in China today as an example of the corrup- ■■ Susan Brownell most investors are nervous by nature, and capital is increasingly mobile, even

中国体育 Under protest, the Taiwan delegation 崛 to the 1948 Olympic Games had to accept 起 being renamed as Formosa to 之 avoid diplomatic disagreements. 路 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● in China. Therefore, the narrative of heroes of our time. The rise of Chi- men from Guangdong, veterans of the China’s ascent needs to be fed con- nese sports has created many national Communists’ Long March of 1934–35 7 stantly with new successes, and win- sports heroes, such as Liu Xiang in or their grandchildren who spend their ning Olympic gold medals is one way track and field, YAO Ming 姚明 in bas- days online gaming in an Internet cafe, to do this. Achievements of Chinese ketball, and GUO Jingjing 郭晶晶 in Mongols from Hohhot or Han Chinese athletes in international sports, espe- Olympic women’s diving. These heroes from Beijing. cially in events that are the focus of have become a focal point of national When such spectators witness Chinese intense public attention, are a compel- sentiment that bridges the deep so- athletes outclassing their competitors, ling way of asserting China’s power and cioeconomic, ethnic, and cultural rifts these unbridgeable differences are for- earning international esteem. Interna- that divide today’s China. In a coun- gotten, and all of these people are, at tional esteem is also a prerequisite for try as vulnerable to fragmentation least for the moment, mainly one thing: claiming a more influential position as China, whose national coherence Chinese. Sports have an extraordinary within the international political sys- is constantly threatened by deeply ability to create a feeling of national tem. Therefore, the success of Chinese entrenched divisions running through connectedness that overcomes the athletes does indeed yield a great society, all-embracing symbols of na- divisions of class, age, and ethnicity. political dividend on the international tional unity are of great political value. Success in sports is a powerful source stage. When Chinese spectators watch a of national pride and unity. For China’s The athletic arenas of the modern Chinese athlete achieve victory, it does political leadership, whose power is world are the cradles of the national not matter if those spectators are poor directly connected to the susceptible farmers from Guizhou or rich business-

奥运会、亚运会、全运会 From the book China Gold: China’s Quest for Global Power and Olympic Glory (Great Barrington, MA: Berkshire Publishing Group)

unity and coherence of the People’s the performance of the Chinese politi- From the beginning of the period How China Rose to Be a Sporting Giant Republic of China, this effect of sports cal elite. And most Chinese athletes of reform in the 1980s, the political obviously yields an enormous politi- are indeed well versed in stressing that dividends of sports success have been cal dividend, creating a strong political their success is owed to the Chinese high. The organizational structure incentive to allocate resources to the state and the party. During a time necessary for the creation of a su- elite sports system. when the Chinese Communist Party perlative sports power was already in A third important political dividend faces enormous political challenges to place, and the material means began lies in the power of association. Inter- its power, when its legitimacy is no lon- to be readily available. Subsequently, national competitiveness in sports is ger measured by revolutionary heritage virtually all the stars were aligned for 中 the privilege of wealthy and power- but rather by tangible political perfor- the ascent of China as a global sports mance and success, the party looks power — and that is why five equally 国 ful nations. China’s rise in the athletic arena can therefore be utilized as a for new ways to prove its capability. aligned stars, in bright yellow on red 体 symbol of the strength of the Chinese Producing successful athletes is one ground, will certainly be seen many political system and its leadership, as a way for the political leadership to dem- times as the national flags are raised 育 symbol of the competence of the Chi- onstrate its capacity and to strengthen at the medal ceremonies of the 2008 nese Communist Party. The glow of the its assertion that the current political Beijing Olympics. 崛 leadership can successfully lead China gold medals around Chinese athletes’ ■■ Bjoern Conrad 起 necks also shines a positive light on into a future full of challenges. 之路 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Part One tHe Olympic Ga mes, the Asian Ga mes, and China’s National Ga mes