National Games witnesses 54-year history of Chinese sports

As the country's most premier multi-sport event, China's national games has experienced ups and downs through 11 editions and witnessed 54-year evolution of Chinese sports.

The 12th National Games, which will officially open on Saturday and run through to September 12 in northeast China's Liaoning Province, is expected to attract some 9,500 athletes from 38 delegations.

Billed as mini-Olympics by Chinese, the quadrennial event features most Olympic sports and draws teams representing provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.

However, it's not until the fifth edition in 1983 that the national games turned into a pure competitive sport event.

The inaugural games, hosted by Beijing from Sept. 13-Oct. 3, followed the widely-received slogan of "Build Up A Good Physique, Guard Our Motherland", as the 10-year-old People's Republic of China just recovered its breath from prolonged wars.

A total of 7,707 athletes from 29 delegations competed in 36 medal sports and six demonstration events. four world records were surpassed in the men's 100 meters breaststroke swimming, women's small-bore pistol shooting, parachuting and radio-control air modeling.

Beijing went on to host the next three games, in 1965, 1975 and 1979. It was during this period that the games were made a four-yearly event.

At the 2nd National Games on Sept. 11-28, 1965, 7,395 athletes from 29 delegations competed in 22 sports and broke nine world records in weightlifting, shooting, archery and parachuting. Wushu, the Chinese martial arts, was the only demonstration event.

The catastrophic "Cultural Revolution" (1966-76) halted the games for 10 years before the 3rd National Games was held on Sept. 12-28, 1975. With a field of 7,302 athletes from 31 delegations, the games featured 28 medal sports, with speed skating, figure skating, ice hockey and skiing listed as medal events for the first time. Three world marks were surpassed.

A total of 3,824 athletes from 31 delegations participated in the 4th National Games from Sept. 15 to 30, 1979 in Beijing, which featured 34 sports. Five world records and three world youth records were bettered.

The 5th edition, held in Shanghai on September 18-October 1, 1983, was the first games held after China resumed its membership in the International Olympic Committee in 1979.

The program was set according to the Olympic Games. The Shanghai games drew 8,943 athletes from 31 delegations and saw two world records beaten and three leveled.

Guangzhou hosted the 6th National Games from Nov. 20 to Dec. 5, 1987. A total of 6,766 athletes of 37 delegations competed in the games that featured 44 medal sports and three exhibition events. A total of 15 world records were bettered.

The 7th National Games, originally scheduled for 1991, was postponed to Sept. 4-15, 1993, in order to allow Chinese athletes to focus on the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.

The 7th Games, co-hosted by Beijing and Chengdu, which are over 2,000 kilometers apart, saw 45 delegations compete for 334 gold medals over 45 official sports and four world records tumble.

It was the last time that military events like parachuting were contested at China's national games.

Shanghai hosted the 8th Games from Oct. 12-24, 1997, which gathered 7,600 athletes from 46 delegations to compete for 28 sports and witnessed a national games debut by the Hong Kong team.

For the first time, all non-Olympic sports but Wushu, were erased from the program. A total of 41 world records were bettered.

The 9th Games, held in Guangzhou from November 11 to 25, 2001, attracted 8,608 athletes over 345 events of 30 sports, where seven world records were beaten.

The 10th Games in 2005, the first national games won by bidding, drew 9,986 athletes to 32 sports, including all 28 summer Olympic sports and three winter Olympic events.

Three years later, Team China topped the Olympic gold tally with 51 gold medals.

The 2009 Games, held in Shandong on Oct. 16-28, saw five world records, 16 Asian records and 39 national records broken.

The Shandong Games was the biggest ever games, with the participation of 10,991 athletes from 46 delegations.