China Gold China’s Quest for Global Power and Olympic Glory 中国金 路漫漫：从辉煌奥运到世界强国 中国金 Edited by FAN Hong 凡红, Duncan Mackay, and Karen Christensen BERKSHIRE PUBLISHING GROUP Great Barrington, Massachusetts Copyright © 2008 by Berkshire Publishing Group LLC All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information Berkshire Publishing Group LLC 314 Main Street Great Barrington, Massachusetts 01230 www.berkshirepublishing.com Editorial Staff Elizabeth Steffey, Thomas Christensen, Marcy Ross, LU Zhouxiang (Paul) Copy Editors Francesca Forrest and Daniel Spinella Cover Designer Joseph DiStefano Interior Designer Martin Lubin Graphic Design Compositor Brad Walrod/High Text Graphics, Inc. Proofreader Mary Bagg Printed by Eurasia in China Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data China gold: China’s quest for global power and Olympic glory/edited by Fan Hong, Duncan Mackay, and Karen Christensen. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-933782-64-5 (alk. paper) 1. Olympic Games (29th: 2008: Beijing, China) 2. Sports — China — History. 3. Olympics — Economic aspects — China — Beijing. I. Hong, Fan. II. Mackay, Duncan. III. Christensen, Karen. GV7222008 .C45 2008 796.48 — dc22 2008017790 Contents Contents Acknowledgments vii Foreword viii Karen Christensen China’s Olympic Dream 中国奥运梦 ix FAN Hong 凡红 n PART ONE The Olympic Games, the Asian Games, and China’s National Games 奥运会、亚运会、全运会 How China Rose to Be a Sporting Giant 中国体育崛起之路 2 Bjoern Conrad China in the Olympic Games 中国与奥运会 9 FAN Hong 凡红 Asian Games 中国与亚运会 14 REN Hai 任海 China’s National Games 中国全运会 19 LUO Shiming 罗时铭 and CAO Shouhe 曹守和 v n PART TWO Olympic Sports 奥运体育 Athletics 田径 28 CHANG Sheng 常生 and LU Zhouxiang 吕洲翔 Badminton 羽毛球 32 FAN Wei 樊维 and LU Zhouxiang 吕洲翔 Basketball 篮球 37 ZHANG Ling 张玲 Diving 跳水 41 FAN Wei 樊维 and LU Zhouxiang 吕洲翔 Football/Soccer 足球 47 FAN Wei 樊维 and LU Zhouxiang 吕洲翔 Gymnastics 体操 52 ZHANG Ling 张玲 Martial Arts 武术 55 TAN Hua 谭华 Swimming 游泳 59 FAN Wei 樊维 and LU Zhouxiang 吕洲翔 Table Tennis 乒乓球 65 HU Xiaoming 胡小明 Volleyball 排球 71 Zhang Ling 张玲 Water Polo 水球 75 FAN Wei 樊维 and LU Zhouxiang 吕洲翔 Contents n PART THREE The World of Sports 体育大世界 Tai Chi in the Park: Is It a Sport? 这是什么体育项目 78 XIONG Huan 熊欢 New Sports in China 新兴体育项目在中国 81 XIONG Huan 熊欢 Extreme Sports Come to China 极限运动在中国 84 Holly Thorpe Sports Medicine in China 中国运动医学 87 GUO Hong 郭红 Doping and Sport in China 兴奋剂与中国体育 90 CUI Ying 崔颖 Women in Sports: Holding Up Half the Sky 中国妇女体育 93 XIONG Huan 熊欢 n PART FOUR Welcoming the World 奥运在中国 Where the Action Is 比赛场地 98 TAN Hua 谭华 Setting the Stage 筹备奥运 102 XIONG Xiaozheng 熊晓正 Sponsorship of the Beijing Olympics 北京奥运赞助商 106 Scott Eldridge II The Economic Impact of the Olympics 北京奥运与经济 109 Jörn-Carsten Gottwald n PART FIVE The Olympic Ideal and the Three Themes of the Beijing Olympic Games 奥林匹克理想与北京奥运三大理念 The Olympic Ideal 奥林匹克理想 114 Karen Christensen vi The Technological Olympics 科技奥运 116 JIN Yuanpu 金元浦 The Humanistic Olympics 人文奥运 118 JIN Yuanpu 金元浦 Green Olympics, Green World 绿色奥运, 绿色世界 120 Jörn-Carsten Gottwald After the Games: China Gold 奥运会以后中国金 122 Karen Christensen Further Reading 123 About the Editors 124 About the Authors 125 Index 127 Photo Credits 131 we were working on the night (and often weekends) to com- Acknowledgments International Encyclopedia of plete this ambitious project. Acknowledgments Women and Sports in 1999. It was no small challenge to name Other people who helped a book that is largely about, but not and inspired us include only about, the Olympics and sports. Susan Brownell, Yuan Stephen A. Orlins, president of the CREATING A BOOK DEPENDS ON THE Haiwang袁海旺, and LU Zhouxiang National Committee on U.S.-China contributions of far more people than (Paul) 吕洲翔 — with special thanks Relations, an unreformed jock who are evident in any acknowledgments. to Zhouxiang for his invaluable assis- dreamed of participating in the Olym- China Gold 中国金 is the result of a tance in providing the many Chinese pics as a young athlete, came up with close collaboration between more than translations for the book. We’re also the perfect title, China Gold. Both Eng- thirty sports experts and a publish- grateful to our designer, Joe DiStefano, lish speakers and our Chinese editor ing company that specializes in global who proved in the course of designing and authors immediately recognized perspectives. We are honored to be the cover that he has developed an in- it as capturing the larger significance working with editor FAN Hong 凡红 stinct for things Chinese. The first cover of a book that is not only an intro- and with scholars including REN Hai included a small Chinese building. A duction to China in the Olympics but 任海, XIONG Xiaozheng 熊晓正 of Chinese-speaking friend looked at it also to China and Chinese culture Beijing Sport University, TAN Hua 谭 and saw not a house but the character in general — and as reflecting the 华 and HU Xiaomin 胡小明 of South for “gold” — and indeed, it was remark- sense of aspiration that the Olympics China Normal University, LUO Shim- ably similar! What you now see is the symbolizes. ing 罗时铭 of Suzhou University, CAO Chinese character jin 金, which seems Shuohe 曹守和 of Hangzhou Normal to have come to Joe through cultural While the Olympics are a creation of University, FAN Wei 樊维 of Chengdu osmosis — something we’re hoping Western civilization, the 2008 Beijing Sport University, and JIN Yuanpu 金元 readers of China Gold will experience as Games give China a chance to integrate the Olympic ideals into its perspective 浦 of the Renmin University Human- they continue to get to know Chinese vii istic Olympics Studies Center. British culture and history and, most impor- on global leadership and an oppor- coeditor Duncan Mackay, a well-known tant, as they come to understand the tunity to influence an event that has Olympics journalist, proudly carried hopes and dreams that Chinese people unique meaning around the world. We the Olympic torch in London in April have for their country and for our world. dedicate this book to the organizations 2008. and individuals committed to building All the members of the editorial, international understanding, promot- Professor Allen Guttmann of Amherst design, and production team (listed ing respect for diverse perspectives, College, recipient of the International on the preceding copyright page) and solving social, environmental, and Olympic Committee’s first award for deserve gold medals for their high political challenges peacefully and sports history, has been a guide and professionalism, skill, dedication, cooperatively. inspiration for over ten years and and grace under pressure. Working was instrumental in enabling us to on three continents — in English and Note: To ensure that Western readers under- build the global networks that have Chinese — they, too, are champions. stand the correct order of Chinese names, we now produced three major reference Special thanks to Mary Bagg, Tom have followed a new international convention of works on sports around the world. Christensen, Martin Lubin, Marcy Ross, capitalizing family names. He introduced us to Fan Hong when and Brad Walrod, who labored day and publishing on international sports. human experience, an endeavor that, Beijing, 2001 China Gold is an inevitable alchemy, in perhaps more than anything else, con- Beijing, 2001 the sense of the word as defined by nects people worldwide. Basketball Hugh Page, professor at the Univer- and soccer (football) are more univer- sity of Notre Dame: “a way of thinking sally known, and loved, than any reli- about the relationship of humanity and gion or food or political system. Sports MY FIRST MEMORY OF CHINA includes nature that accentuates the importance tell us about who we are and who we the sight of thousands of fragile green of transformation in both.” want to be. They create a shared lan- and silver saplings bending in a strong And its aim is alchemy, in the broad- guage, shared passions; they highlight April wind. They had been planted est sense: not to find the philosopher’s our aspirations and values, our ways of along the airport freeway as part of ef- stone or to create a precious metal but, interacting with one another, and our forts to win the 2008 Olympic Games. as Page says, to “uncover those forces appreciation of competition, achieve- Only a few months later, in July 2001, governing unity, diversity, stasis, and ment, and adventure. the Games were awarded to Beijing. flux in the world.” In the West, alchemy Sports are about fame and fortune, I knew then that soil erosion and sand- is the quest for a substance that “has too; some are among the world’s big- storms were a significant problem, the power to perfect that which is in- gest businesses. Sports can also be and that China’s astonishing economic complete and make noble that which is an agent of social change. Title IX, the development of the past decade, while base.” In that sense, there is something U.S. law that opened college sports to welcome, had come at an environmen- alchemical about the Olympics them- women, also promoted greater partici- tal price. As my taxi sped by mile after selves, which, at their best, provide an pation by women in other aspects of mile of new trees, I thought of the last- opportunity for nations to strive for society, while the success of African ing benefits the Olympics could bring excellence not through economic or athletes in the Olympics has called to China and of the importance of a military domination, but through ath- attention to African achievement and Green Olympics in a developing coun- letic prowess.