‘Fitness for all’ taking strides ahead – Chinadaily.com.cn
‘Fitness for all’ taking strides ahead
Five-year plan aims to build nation of regular exercisers
By JI HAISHENG in Beijing and YUAN HUI in Hohhot |
China Daily |
Updated: 2026-08-27 08:55
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China’s national push for “fitness for all” is reshaping everyday life across the country, driven by high-level government policy, ambitious infrastructure goals and a surging public appetite for sports
The strategy takes shape under the State Council’s latest five-year plan for public fitness released in July, which outlines key targets, including increasing per capita sports venue space to about 4 square meters, supplying 3.3 social sports instructors per 1,000 people, and raising the proportion of regular exercisers to roughly 40 percent
Increasing the number of people who regularly exercise is expected to reduce cases of long-term hospitalization and chronic disease management costs, as well as maintain mobility among China’s aging population, and reduce health issues caused by sedentary lifestyles among young people
Recent data from the General Administration of Sport highlights rapid expansion. By the end of 2025, the country boasted over 5 million sports venues totaling 4.37 billion square meters, largely establishing a”15-minute fitness circle” in urban and rural communities. Physical fitness monitoring shows 84.9 percent of survey respondents met basic fitness criteria — up 0.8 percentage points from 2020
Policy experts point out that this momentum is the product of sustained top-down planning. China designated Aug 8 as National Fitness Day in 2009, a nod to the date of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games held in 2008. Fitness for all was elevated to a national strategy in 2014, and four consecutive five-year plans have been rolled out since 2011
The national fitness plan acts as preventive infrastructure, shifting public health policy from reactive treatment to proactive wellness
Ma Liang, a professor at Peking University’s School of Government, said, “High-level emphasis on public fitness, reinforced by specific targets written into successive five-year plans, has mobilized coordinated efforts and full support from government departments at all levels, creating a favorable environment and strong momentum for the cause.”
Chen Yuanxin, dean of Wuhan Sports University’s Economy and Management School, said, “China’s national fitness initiative has entered a new development phase — shifting from a focus on ensuring the supply of basic, safety-net public fitness services toward a more sustainable, high-quality model that values both universal access and targeted services, while balancing scale with quality and efficiency.”
Steps taken in line with these goals will “expand access to public fitness services, improve the quality of professional fitness guidance, diversify service offerings and standardize industry operations”, he said in an article for China Sports Daily published in July. “This will in turn raise the public’s sense of fulfillment and overall well-being.”
To meet evolving demand, the newest plan emphasizes repurposing underused spaces, such as industrial plants, warehouses, commercial rooftops and space under overpasses, to construct accessible sports facilities. Other priorities include leveraging artificial intelligence, providing scientific guidance and expanding public-service systems into rural regions
He Zhonghui, director of the Center for Sports and Health Research at Peking University, emphasized the necessity of differentiated fitness services that cater to people across all stages of life. This endeavor would build physical literacy in early childhood, support youth sports, deliver workplace fitness programs, and roll out wellness interventions for the elderly
Rather than grouping people merely by occupation, she said in an interview with China Education Television that services should adopt finer-grained segmentation based on life cycles, gender, family units and new-form employment groups
Feng Qiang, deputy director of the China Institute of Sport Science’s National Physical Fitness and Scientific Exercise Research Center, said that in recent years, he has witnessed “growing public enthusiasm for sporting events and fitness activities, as people seek to improve physical fitness, refresh their minds and enhance their health through exercise”
To reach the 2030 targets, Feng explained that boosting policy support and promotional campaigns will help raise people’s awareness of fitness. “The key is to change their lifestyles and habits and enable people to take the initiative to embrace exercise as a way of life,” he said
He also underscored the value of scientific guidance over unvetted online rumors, using technology to map activity zones, and ensuring equal resource access for remote areas. This macro-level policy structure directly reflects how sports are integrated into daily routines nationwide. Across China, public participation is evident in overflowing weekend hiking trails, packed gyms during lunch breaks, dawn and dusk square dancing, urban marathon crazes, the Northeast Super League soccer competition, and the wildly popular “Village BA” basketball tournaments.
Regional sporting events are increasingly building their rosters around ordinary people. The 16th Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Games showcased this transition by featuring 11 mass participation sports, including soccer, basketball, volleyball, table tennis, tennis and badminton
It is on these local courts that the human impact of China’s national fitness strategy is felt most clearly
Wu Kun, a 41-year-old Baotou native and longtime tennis enthusiast, signed up for the regional games’ mass participation division. Some 20 years earlier, he had competed in the 11th games, in an era that, as he recalled, was all about winning medals
“Getting good results matters less now. What stays with me is the process and the simple joy of sports, as a way to stay fit,” Wu said
During the recent games, Wu was paired purely by age with a physical education teacher in the men’s doubles 35–45 bracket. In the round of 16, they were knocked out by a public security bureau team — fellow Baotou locals Wu frequently plays alongside in his free time
“The popularity of mass participation events in the games shows that sport isn’t just for professionals anymore,” Wu said. “It brings sport back into the lives of ordinary people.”
Today, Wu continues playing tennis three times a week, passing his passion for staying active down to the next generation. “Every Friday afternoon, I coach my 10-year-old son. I’ve also taught him how to swim. I hope that he will grow to love sports from an early age,” he said
Contact the writers at jihaisheng@chinadaily.com.cn
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