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2021 National Games of China
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Hong Kong’s team arrives as the National Games opens in Xian. Photo: Xinhua

President Xi Jinping declares China’s National Games open at ceremony in Xian

  • High-profile test of China’s ability to stage a major sporting event during the pandemic, with the Beijing Winter Olympics to follow in 2022
  • Thousands of spectators pack the stadium, with tight travel restrictions to minimise the coronavirus risk
President Xi Jinping officially opened the National Games of China in the northwestern city of Xian, in a key test of the country’s Covid-19 defences in the countdown to next year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Held in their present form since 1959, the four-yearly games feature almost all the same sporting events as the Summer Olympics. China’s domestic version, in which athletes are competing for their provinces in 35 sports, is expected to continue until September 27.

Stadium full

The 60,000-seat Xian Olympic Centre appeared to be full in a video shared by Chinese nationalistic tabloid Global Times 45 minutes before the start of the opening ceremony.

As the ceremony began with an announcement by Zhao Yide, the governor of Shaanxi province, members of the crowd – invited by the government, with no tickets offered for sale – used their phones to add light to the operatic music.

Maskless athletes and the packed venue led some Weibo users to compare the ceremony favourably with that for the Tokyo Olympics, which was notably muted with social distancing measures in place.

Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong hailed

The provinces’ athletes filed into the newly constructed stadium, beginning with those of Beijing, who included Olympic table tennis champion Ma Long. The official games flag and the national flag also arrived, applauded by Xi, next to his wife, Peng Liyuan.

The delegation from Tibet was introduced with a reference to the region’s poverty alleviation programme, through which it was said to have achieved “moderate prosperity”. The announcer said this “showed Tibet’s steadfast resolve to follow the Communist Party”.
When Xinjiang’s athletes arrived, their region was described as being in “its most prosperous and developed stage”, while ethnic minority-heavy regions such as Yunnan featured athletes dressed in their traditional clothing.
Hong Kong was introduced with a reference to its “shared patriotic sentiment” with the rest of the country. The Hong Kong and Macau flag-bearers hoisted the flags of their special administrative regions, while the other provinces and regions held specially designed flags.
Throughout the parade, announcers made frequent references to the Communist Party’s key policies and slogans, from poverty alleviation to Xi Jinping Thought.

Some people on Weibo said they were disappointed that there was no delegation from Taiwan. “I really hope the next games will include not only Hong Kong and Macau but a Taiwan delegation,” one said.

Xi opens the games

Liu Guozhong, the party secretary for Shaanxi, gave a welcome address, saying the games were a key part of China’s efforts to become a major sporting power, to boost national fitness and achieve national rejuvenation. Other officials in attendance along with Xi were vice-premiers Liu He and Sun Chunlan.

Gou Zhongwen, director of the General Administration of Sport (GAS), said he hoped the games would “push forward the country’s sporting infrastructure”.

Xi then officially announced the start of the games, which was followed by a flag-raising ceremony.

The games are taking place for the first time in Shaanxi, the birthplace of Xi’s father. As part of his trip to the province, Xi on Monday and Tuesday inspected a chemical company and a revolutionary site in Yulin, where he stressed the importance of China’s green future and its red revolutionary past.

Revolutionary flavour

The ceremony included several large-scale performances, the first featuring 1,600 men hitting drums in an echo of a performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This time, many of the accompanying songs referenced party goals. A group of children sang a song titled The Roots of Our People, about China’s search for a multi-ethnic national identity.

The performances then took on a distinctly revolutionary note, with a re-enactment of the 1934-35 Long March, when Communist Party forces spent over a year walking 9,000km (5,600 miles) to escape enemy forces. Shaanxi, host province of the games, was where the Long March ended.

A performance by women in flowing light blue robes evoked Xian’s former glory as the capital of China during the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD). Present-day themes included symbols of China’s recent successes in space exploration and Covid-19 control, such as performers clad in personal protective equipment.

Patriotic song Ode to the Motherland, having played at the start of the ceremony, also brought it to an end.

While not overtly critical, some people joked online that the event was old-fashioned and unsophisticated, in the style of the Spring Festival Gala, the annual variety show featuring skits, singing and dancing. “It’s dated, lively and happy. It’s so good,” one said.

Weibo users said that the event had become more “red” and authoritarian. “This is an opening ceremony with socialist characteristics, but also the best performance in recent years,” one said.

High-profile Covid-19 test

The games is one of the first major sporting events to welcome spectators, with tens of thousands of fully vaccinated and tested fans expected to attend in addition to 20,000 athletes and officials from across the country.

03:05

Ancient city of Xian takes extensive measures to protect China’s National Games from Covid-19

Ancient city of Xian takes extensive measures to protect China’s National Games from Covid-19

In the months before the games, authorities imposed tight travel restrictions for Shaanxi to cut down on coronavirus risks, including mandatory quarantine and testing for arrivals from within China as well as from abroad.

This has prompted mixed feelings among Xian residents, who had hoped the event would bring a tourism boost to businesses still struggling from the pandemic’s economic fallout.

Centre of attention

Traffic controls were imposed hours earlier near the stadium to make way for officials, athletes and performers. Besides those invited by the government, residents were advised to stay at home.

Screens at the city’s tourist attractions and shopping malls were promoting the games, although the opening ceremony was not broadcast there. At the square of the Dayan Pagoda, Xian resident Li Bo watched on his phone and said everyone in the city was well aware of the event from advertisements and news of Xi’s visit.

Commenting on hopes of building China into a global sporting force, he said: “Chinese athletes did well in the Olympics. But only when the whole nation, especially our children, are strong and fit, can we call ourselves that. In this sense we have much to improve.”

A tourist surnamed Sun from nearby Weinan said she visited Xian specially for the event, despite the vaccination and testing requirements. “The National Games is a big thing for the entire province,” she said. “It’s a pity ordinary people don’t have the chance to go to the stadium tonight [but] I feel proud that we can hold such an event during the coronavirus. The measures are quite strict, but they make me feel at ease.”

HK and Macau to co-host next

Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and Macau’s leader Ho Iat-seng are expected to attend the closing ceremony, in a nod to Beijing’s decision that Hong Kong, Macau and neighbouring Guangdong province will jointly host the next games in 2025.

Lam is believed to be exempt from the 21-day quarantine that her city’s athletes at the games will face. Her office was forced to apologise on Tuesday after she discussed Hong Kong broadcaster RTHK’s coverage of the games at a press conference at which the Chinese name for the People’s Republic of China was misspelled.

Funding at stake

Under Xi, Beijing has ramped up policies aiming to turn the country into a global sporting power by 2050, including a national fitness campaign and building sporting venues and facilities.

Ma Yang, an expert in sports governance at Shanghai University, said the games served as a major indicator for national body the GAS of where resources were being allocated, with the budgets of provinces’ sporting bureaus set by provincial governments.

“The only resource the GAS can rely on is the National Games, because what each province cares about most is the number of medals – specifically gold medals – that it earns at the games,” Ma said. “The funds allocated by provinces to sports bureaus each year are measured by performance at the National Games.”

National prestige

Marcus Chu, an associate professor at Lingnan University in Hong Kong whose research focuses on Chinese politics and sport, said that alongside the Olympics, competing in the National Games was the most valued competition for Chinese athletes.

A budget of 20.2 billion yuan (US$3.1 billion) was allocated to build or improve 50-plus sporting venues, and three new subway lines were built in host city Xian.

“If you get a gold medal at the National Games, the place you are representing will reward you, just like for the Olympic Games,” Chu said. “But for the general public, for mass sports, we will have to see whether the sports venues that were built for the National Games can be used to spark sporting interest from the locals there.”

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: national games opened by xi in blaze of colour
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