National Peasants' Games
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The National Peasants' Games are a quadrennial multi-sport event in China in which competitors from among the country's 750 million rural residents take part in sports, both conventional - including basketball, athletics, table tennis, shooting, Xiangqi (Chinese chess) and tai chi, and traditional rural and Chinese activities, such as wushu, dragon boat racing, lion dancing[1], tyre pushing, food-carrying, kite flying, jianzi (kick shuttlecock) and tug of war. All of China's 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, as well as Taiwan, are represented. Hong Kong and Macau usually send observer delegations.
The games emphasise recreation more than results, according to the official Xinhua news agency, and the event is claimed to be the world's only regular sports meeting for peasants.[2]
The first National Peasants' Games were held in 1988.
The fifth National Peasants' Games were held in October, 2004 in Yichun, in Jiangxi province, where 2,560 athletes took part.[3]
[edit] 2008 Games
The sixth games, held in Quanzhou, in eastern Fujian province, began on 26 October 2008 with around 3,500 competitors taking part in 15 sports and over 180 events. Entrance to all events was free to spectators.
The event involved the construction or renovation of 15 stadiums at a cost of nearly $1 billion, including a new 32,000-seat venue, the Haixia (Straits) Stadium, used for the opening and closing ceremonies.
A new event in 2008 was Yangko dance, a traditional folk dance popular in China's northern provinces.[4]
[edit] Notes
- ^ Lion Dance Match at the Sixth Peasants' Games Jongo News, 27 Oct 08
- ^ Sixth Chinese National Peasants' Games Open in Quanzhou CRI English.com
- ^ Chinese peasants take the field Xinhua, 18 Oct 2004
- ^ Sixth Chinese National Peasants' Games open in Quanzhou Sina.com
