ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how missionary educational institutions and the YMCA's physical education and sports programmes, in conjunction with the nation-building project of the Nationalist government, transformed and modernised physical education and sports in modern China between 1840 to 1937. In the face of domestic strife and foreign aggression, some Chinese government officials and scholars initiated the ‘Self-Strengthening Movement and Hundred Days’ Reform to salvage the sovereignty of the Qing government and the nation as a whole. Before the missionary educational institutions and the YMCA began promoting their physical education programmes in China, there was relatively little formal physical education and organised sport activities in China. However, during this period, the missionary educational institutions introduced a basic level reform in classroom curricula and teaching methodology as well as conducting regular sports, athletic, and extracurricular activities. After the New Culture Movement and the May Fourth Movement, nationalism continued to expand among the Chinese people, especially among the intellectuals.
