ABSTRACT
Modern sport in China is not an indigenous product. It was a foreign import and developed in a hot-house of modernization. Modern sport came to China as an element of Western culture and accompanied by military force, which directly challenged Chinese traditional culture and patriotism. This provoked conflict and confrontation between radicals and conservatives in Chinese society between the 1840s and the 1930s. Consequently, an important debate (Tu yang zhi zheng1) occurred in the 1930s. The focus of the debate was on whether China should reject or accept Western sport-an alien culture. Many politicians, educationists and physical educationists took part in the debate. Thanks to the debate, modern physical education and sport was finally established in China as a part of Chinese modern culture. This chapter will analyse the process of the cultural diffusion of sport in modern China. The development of modern sport and the modernization of China proceeded side by side. The modernization of China provided a suitable climate for the growth of modern sport and the development of modern sport stimulated the process of modernization of Chinese society at the turn of the twentieth century. It was a reciprocal relationship.
