A go competition in mass participation[Photo/JIN Magazine]

Beijing's 2008 Opening Ceremony was simply the most amazing Olympics' history had ever seen. Event results almost played a second fiddle to the awe inspiring impression China made upon the rest of the world with its flawless coordination and presentation of the games. Fast forward almost ten years and Tianjin hosting the China National games seems like small news. Undoubtedly World Cups, Olympics and large scale international competitions eclipse everything else, but for China and especially Tianjin this event will still stir excitement and command attention. With some of China's finest athletes competing, it's a great opportunity for a preview of the talent that has been sweeping up medals in international competition.

What are the National Games?

Originally coined, "Chinese National Games," the nationwide competitions started in 1909 under the Qing Dynasty and at a national level has been China's premier sporting event. There was a brief hiatus starting in 1948, but after the formation of The People's Republic of China, competition resumed in 1959 and the event is now known as the "National Games of China." Generally occurring once every four years, since 1959 the event originally was hosted mostly by Beijing but in recent years has branched out to other cities like Jinan, Nanjing, and Shenyang.

This year in Tianjin there will be 341 competitions across 31 different sports, and over 10,000 athletes are expected to participate. In efforts to realize the goal of "mass participation," China has worked to expand the footprint from where athletes are drawn from. It has opened participation to Chinese living abroad, and is working to include participants from outer regions of China as well. Chen Zhemin, deputy director of the organizing committee for China's 13th national games stated in a press conference, "About 7,000 ordinary people will participate in 19 sports items in the games. Mass participation is a big innovation in this year's National Games. Grassroots athletes will show off their skills in a total of 126 competitions such as badminton, table tennis, and rock climbing."

Changes in Tianjin

Mascot-Baby Jin[Photo/JIN Magazine]

For a city that permanently undergoes dramatic amounts of construction all around, it's still not hard to notice there has been an uptick in the projects around Tianjin. In a culture where face is so important, it comes as no surprise that all efforts are being made to present the city of Tianjin in the best possible light. Starting months ago the outer facade of street facing buildings began to undergo a facelift of sorts. New plaster, fresh paint and various cosmetic additions such as covering external AC units have beautified buildings from the street's vantage. Long standing eyesores dotting various parts of the city have suddenly been made to look new, clean, and modern (at least from the front.)

Streets are being repaved and white center barriers have been added between the opposite facing traffic lanes. New paint and guides on the street surfaces have been updated and added everywhere. It's hard not to assume this new found attention to control the chaos of Tianjin's intersections is a proactive step to create a positive impression before the games arrive. A quick look at the three-way intersection with new fencing and fresh white lines in front of the Water Park's East gate, and one would never know what a traffic circus this place was before.

Sidewalks have been reblocked in mass. Places with free growing shrubbery and lack of design have suddenly found themselves neatly landscaped. The subway station at Yinkoudao is undergoing renovations and the line running adjacent to Aocheng and the Olympic stadium is finally finished. Even tall buildings in the area have quickly transformed from being skeletons to having the outward facing walls and windows erected and installed particularly fast. Was this already scheduled for these buildings as part of their construction plan, and the timing just a coincidence? Having witnessed the rate of progress for the past few years, I have my suspicion the arrival of the games was a catalyst for the final aesthetic step's expediency.

Ancient History of Sports and Athletics in China

For expats living in China, there is some familiarity with Dragon boat racing because of the holiday, and the tradition of racing boats dates back to over 2000 years ago. There are also indications that in 200 BC, China was playing a sport similar to football. Go back even further and China still has a history of sports and athletics. Just like the martial arts, many of the athletic activities were based upon training for military. The Chinese were involved with wrestling, pugilism, fencing, tripod lifting, horse racing, stone throwing, hunting, and swimming. Some experts even argue that stone balls dating back to 100,000 years ago were used in a sport similar to the modern day shot put.

There is a cave painting in the Xinjiang province that depicts hunters skiing down a mountain following a heard of ibex. The rudimentary equipment used for sliding down snowy slopes is still used today, and it is claimed by some Chinese archeologists that the tradition is 10,000 years old (2,000 more than the next ski artifact in record). Thought this claim is still yet to be substantiated with carbon dating technology. Even Golf dates back over a thousand years in China. A painting from the Ming era depicts a man with a club trying to hit a small ball into a small hole. This sport called chuiwan (hit ball) predates the previous know origins of Scotland where the sport was thought to have been invented in the 15th century. There are many signs of China's history in athletics, and many grew independent of Western influence.