Government providing impetus for a fitter society
Despite a biting breeze, runners at north Beijing's Olympic Forest Park were soaked with sweat and beaming with vigor as they jostled for position on a recent Saturday afternoon.
A legacy of the 2008 Olympics, the park features a 10km plastic track that has become a focal point for running enthusiasts since the nation shifted its sporting focus from winning medals to promoting mass fitness in the post-Games era.
"It has become part of my weekend routine; if I miss my running session on Saturday morning for something else, I feel uncomfortable all day," said Lin Kunyi, an amateur marathoner who has been a regular at the park since 2013.
The running craze in Beijing underlines the country's ever-increasing fascination with fitness, inspired by the central government's call to stimulate mass participation in exercise while boosting the sports industry as China aims to build a fitter society by 2030.
President Xi Jinping, in his holistic report at the opening session of the Communist Party of China's 19th National Congress on Oct 18, urged the country's athletic sector to extensively promote mass fitness activities and accelerate development of a strong sporting nation.
Thanks to more accessible facilities, the proportion of Chinese who exercise at least three times a week with medium intensity rose to 33.9 percent of the national population by the end of 2015 - an increase of 5.7 percentage points from 2007, according to the latest national fitness survey released by the General Administration of Sport of China in early 2016.
By the end of 2015, the government had built 573,580 exercise stations for free use, encompassing more than half of the country's cities and villages, and had trained nearly 2 million community sports instructors.
Gou Zhongwen, minister of the GASC, said sport's role in the country's journey to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020 should be further emphasized.
"The administration will call up sports authorities, organizations and relevant units at all levels to carry out the mass fitness campaign to the next level as a national strategy to improve the health of the people and to build a stronger nation," Gou told China Sports Daily recently.
Mass promotion and the development of the sports industry will be given the same priority as developing medal-winning athletes at international events, Gou added.
