Zhejiang shaping as center of excellence

Community reach

The growing number of sports enthusiasts in Zhejiang can be traced to the National Fitness Program for 2016-20, aimed at encouraging 700 million Chinese to exercise at least once a week.

Mobilizing urbanites is one thing, but spreading the fitness bug to rural areas is a more challenging task.

One of Zhejiang's major successes has been the town of Yaozhuang - population 70,000 - in Jiaxing city. An investment of 145 million yuan built a 60,000 square meter sports park, which includes a multipurpose 4,500-seat arena, with 600 parking spots.

Opened in 2014, the arena has held numerous national and international competitions in basketball, volleyball and table tennis. When there's no competition in town, the arena is open to locals, free of charge.

"We always come to the arena to play ball, dance or do tai chi, and we also organize sports competitions for retired people," said 67-year-old Yaozhuang native Hu Jinfang.

"It's all free. And the arena is big enough, so it's never crowded. There's not only retired people like us - young people also use it after work and on weekends."

Seeing constant activity at the complex is rewarding for Ge Feng, director of Yaozhuang Culture Station, which manages the arena.

"Over the past four to five years, the arena has become a local landmark," said Ge. "We have held many top-level international tournaments, which have attracted more and more local people to the facilities.

"We have also facilitated the development of grassroots sports organizations, including basketball, table tennis, badminton and even dragon boat racing.

"We are focusing on the health of local people, making sure they can enjoy sports every day, join activities every week and have competitions every month."

Zhejiang's fitness push is also reaching smaller communities than Yaozhuang.

Last year, Xijingtang village of Ningbo spent around 2 million yuan on building a 3,500 square meter sports complex that includes a basketball court, a table tennis room and badminton courts.

Most of the village's 1,668 residents make regular use of the facilities.

"Before we had the sports complex, villagers would just sit at home or play cards for a whole night after dinner," said Weng Libin, head of the village.

"Now, both young and old are willing to come out and exercise every day."

Lottery help

Fitness for all doesn't come cheap, and that's where the sports lottery comes in.

Since 2002, around 2 billion of the 7 billion yuan raised by Hangzhou's sports lottery public welfare fund has been invested in the city's sports scene.

Sanyang village, with a population of around 2,000, is one of the beneficiaries and now boasts a new 8,000 square meter sports center that includes a soccer pitch, basketball courts and a fitness park.

The total investment was 1.8 million yuan - with 200,000 yuan from the lottery fund.

"The sports lottery has been an important way of supporting the national fitness program in our city," said Wang Li, deputy director of Hangzhou Sports Bureau.

"The money is from the people and it will be spent on the people - that's always been our principle.

"The money from the sports lottery has been used to upgrade venues and facilities, organize fitness activities and fund grassroots sports organizations."

Hangzhou's sports lottery has also helped fund the 2022 Asian Games, including venue construction and promotion.

One of those venues is Hangzhou's Public Body-Building Center - an 88,000 square meter complex to be opened in 2020 that cost 486 million yuan to build. About 150 million yuan of that outlay came from the sports lottery.

The center will be able to host competitions for swimming, badminton, basketball, table tennis and several other sports. After the Asiad, it will be open for public use.

"The sports lottery greatly helped the preparations for the 2022 Asian Games," Wang added.

"With the help of the lottery, we have also held many Asiad-themed sports, charity and promotional activities to create a great atmosphere to welcome the Games."