A discourse on China's sports system
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In China, sports is a good barometer of national change. In the 1970s, "ping pong diplomacy" was partly responsible for China's opening-up policy. In the 1980s, China's sports system was one of the first to implement economic reform with its incentive system. Therefore, it is interesting to see what is happening now in China's sports system as a measure of what kind of social and political changes could be seen in the country in the near future.
The reform of China's State-supported sports system should be on the agenda of the 12th Five Year Plan (2011-2015). For more than a decade, there has been a debate in China's sports circles about whether the pursuit of Olympic medals should be downgraded and more government effort and funding devoted to school sports and popular sports.
When Beijing won the bid to stage the 2008 Olympic Games it ensured that the pursuit of medals would continue to enable China to put up a good show as the Games' host, and a serious discussion over reform was postponed.
In the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games' soccer competition, the performance of the Chinese team was seen as a national embarrassment. In January 2010, a book, Behind the Scenes of Chinese Soccer, revealed rampant corruption in the country's professional soccer league. In this scandal, the media were able to play the role of watchdog, a new development in China. The media investigation resulted in the arrest of Nan Yong, who was simultaneously the Party secretary and deputy director of Chinese Football Association (CFA) and Chinese Football Management Center (CFMC). Currently, he is awaiting trial.
But perhaps more significant is that a new kind of public sentiment could be detected in the general opinion that Chinese soccer had "let down" Chinese people and must work to regain their "trust". As a result, the State-supported sports system is being held to higher standards of public transparency and accountability.
Chinese commentators have recognized that part marketization of soccer in China is one of the reasons for its problems. CFA is responsible for its administration and CFMC for managing corporate sponsorships and business affairs. But, in fact, they are one and the same, an example of "one office, two signs".
With the same person holding four different positions in what was essentially the same office, power and money both were concentrated in one pair of hands. This kind of system is open to corruption. In this way, Chinese soccer in particular - and the sports system in general - are microcosms of China's current position halfway between a State-planned and market economy.
The criticism of China's sports system as being too "elitist", because it only invests money in a very small number of talented athletes, needs to be put in perspective. China's State-subsidized system provides comparatively more support to women's sports, minor sports and new sports than a market-based system does. That's why China surpassed the United States in the gold tally in the Beijing Olympics, 51 to 36.
