State Sports General Administration (Sports Bureau)

In 1952 the State Physical Culture and Sports Commission (Guojia tiyu yundong weiyuanhui) was established as the ministry-level organ responsible for sports and physical education, following the Soviet model. In 2000, its status was changed to that of a bureau (zongju), although its functions have remained unchanged. The Sports Bureau system consists of a hierarchical structure of sports training centres: at the base of the pyramid are the local (county, township and city) sports commissions; above them are the provincial and municipal sports commissions; at the top is the State Sports Bureau, which is headquartered on Tiyuguan Road to the east of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, and which manages the National Team Training Centre there. The organs at each level control the training centres under their jurisdiction. The Sports Commission was a leading organ in the post-Mao economic reforms because the ‘mechanism of competition’, which had to be reinstated into other spheres of life, had remained an integral part of sports.

It was a leader in the practice of contracting projects to individual managers (chengbao), and China’s success in international competitions was heralded as an example of the benefits of competition, which should be studied by factories, the arts world, and others. As China emerged as a world sports power, the influence of the State Sports Bureau continued to increase, and Beijing’s hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games provided an even greater platform to exert influence over Chinese popular culture.

See also: Olympics; physical education; physical fitness and sports clubs; sports arenas; swimming and diving

Further reading

Riordan, James and Jones, Robin (eds) (1999). Sport and Physical Education in China. New York: E. and F.N.Spon.

Wu, Shaozu et al. (eds) (1999). Zhonghua renmin gongheguo tiyushi [History of Sport in the PRC]. Beijing: Zhongguo shuji.

SUSAN BROWNELL