ABSTRACT
Self-evidently, 1 October 1949 was a watershed in Chinese history. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) acceded to power and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) came into being. China changed from a semi-feudal and semi-colonial country to a socialist independent state. However, this new regime inherited a legacy of poverty and ineffective control over provinces impoverished for over half a century-a consequence of both natural and man-made disasters. At the same time, it had to deal with threats from the United States, whose army actually intruded into Korea and came close to the border of China in the early 1950s.2 Thus, the immediate and obvious needs for the CCP were to build newly centralised ideological, political and economic systems, develop its economy and strengthen its national defence. Sport was utilised and emphasised to serve all these ends.3 With a stable political climate, an improved economic situation and a favourable ideology, mass sport developed quickly.4 It generated the first wave of the sports ‘craze’ of the New China,5 which provided a solid base for the development of elite sport. Following the establishment of national sports administration and training systems, systematic elite sport was born.
