Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Overview — Social Undertakings (VI)
Section 6: Sports. Traditional sports in Xiangxi have a long history and are rich and varied. Modern competitive sports were introduced and developed in the early 20th century. As a formal undertaking, it gradually took shape only after the founding of the People's Republic of China. After 1949, sports in Xiangxi grew from early beginnings to development and then to prominence, from popularization to improvement.
This article has been compiled from historical materials in the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com · City Overview section). Some administrative divisions, population, socioeconomic data, and policy information may be outdated and are for reference only; for the latest situation, please refer to official releases by the local government and scenic areas.
Section 6 Sports
Traditional sports in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture have a long history and are rich and colorful. Modern competitive sports were introduced and developed in the early 20th century. As an undertaking, it gradually took shape only after the founding of the People's Republic of China. After 1949, sports in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture went from initial rise to development to emergence, and from popularization to improvement. Especially after the 1990s, implementing the "four focuses" work policy of "taking competitive sports as the guide, training work as the focus, school sports as the foundation, and ethnic sports as the feature," sports in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture entered a new period of comprehensive, coordinated, and healthy development.
I. Traditional Sports
After the founding of New China, the Party and the people's government attached great importance to ethnic and folk sports activities, and the ethnic and folk traditional sports of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture gained vitality. In 1954, the Xiangxi Miao Autonomous Region held its first ethnic sports performance symposium. From 1982 to 1984, manpower was organized to excavate and sort out ethnic and folk sports, and these were compiled into "Xiangxi Sports Elegance." In March 1982, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture held a grand ethnic minority traditional sports games, and in May 1986 it hosted Hunan Province's first ethnic minority games. Thereafter, athletes were selected as scheduled to participate in Hunan Province and national ethnic minority games. In successive provincial ethnic minority games, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture ranked among the top in total medals. In 1991, at the Fourth National Ethnic Minority Traditional Sports Games, it won 1 gold medal, and in 1995, at the Fifth National Ethnic Minority Games, it won another 1 gold medal, 2 bronze medals, and two 5th places. The uniquely distinctive Youshui "blue and white tail dragon boats"; the Fenghuang Tuojiang "conjoined dragon boats"; and the Huayuan Border Town "giant dragon," 199.9 meters long and waved by 160 people on stage and listed in the Guinness Book of Records, all occupied a place in Chinese ethnic traditional sports with their unique charm. Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture's high-foot racing, high-foot athletics, and high-foot collision have been promoted nationwide and have become official competition events of the National Ethnic Minority Traditional Sports Games. The prefecture, counties, and cities all established sports bases for ethnic sports events to raise the level of ethnic traditional sports events. Huayuan County was twice rated as a national advanced unit in ethnic sports.
To protect the ethnic group and the family and to strengthen the body, the folk custom of valuing martial arts and self-strengthening prevailed in Xiangxi, and those practicing boxing and martial arts were found throughout Tujia villages and Miao stockades. In 1953, the Xiangxi Miao Autonomous Region held a regional martial arts selection competition in Yongshun, and in 1978 it held a prefecture-wide martial arts observation and performance competition in Jishou City. In 1982, the Prefecture Sports Commission organized personnel to conduct in-depth investigations, excavate and sort out Tujia and Miao martial arts, and published two monographs, "Chinese Tujia Martial Arts" and "Miao Martial Arts." In 1983, the first martial arts sanda platform competition was held in Jishou, and the Prefecture Martial Arts Association was established. Thereafter, a prefecture-wide martial arts competition was held every 2-3 years. In 1988, the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Martial Arts Hall was established, recruiting young people for martial arts training. In 1983, Qin Keguo of the Prefecture Sports Commission was rated by the National Martial Arts Association and the Chinese Martial Arts Center as one of the "Hundred Outstanding Contemporary Chinese Martial Artists."
Intellectual sports in the prefecture are rich in content and full of strong local flavor, and they play a very good role in developing the intelligence of children and adolescents. There are more than 30 kinds of board games, such as Luosi Dingqi, Wowoqi, Chinese chess, Dasanqi, Wuxingqi, Zhengwangqi, Zhuniangqi, Zhuanzhuanqi, Niujiaoqi, Kudangqi, Jiaziqi, and Tianziqi. Card games include Shangdaren cards, dominoes, Kan cards, mahjong, Diandianhong, Chuohe, and Jiushiliu.
There are many kinds of traditional sports games. According to a 1984 survey, there were mainly more than 120 kinds. Some expressed production and life, some reflected military technology and commemorated ethnic heroes, and some expressed ethnic customs and sacrificial activities. These sports games not only met the cultural and entertainment needs of all ethnic groups, but also had the effect of strengthening physical fitness and improving production skills, and were deeply loved by all ethnic groups. On ethnic festivals such as Spring Festival, March 3, April 8, June 6, and Dragon Boat Festival, the masses actively participated in these activities. In 1994, Hunan Province designated the "Dragon Boat Festival" as Farmers' Sports Festival. That year, dragon boat races were held across the prefecture, with 99 dragon boat teams participating in 7 competition zones, 3,800 athletes, and 480,000 spectators. Some events originally belonged exclusively to one ethnic group. With the development of production and cultural exchange, some activity events have been shared by Tujia, Miao, Han, and other ethnic groups. Among them, the most distinctive ethnic features include the Tujia hand-waving dance and Maogusi, and the Miao drum dance and climbing the knife ladder. In the 1980s, Yongshun and Longshan once held large hand-waving activities with more than 10,000 participants. Drum dancing became a mass entertainment and fitness activity in Miao villages.
II. Mass Sports
From the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China period, the region's economy was backward and society was unstable, and workers and peasants had no opportunity to participate in officially organized sports activities. After the founding of New China, with the development of the national economy and the improvement of people's living standards, social sports gradually developed, and the people became the main participants in sports activities. In 2005, the number of people participating in sports activities across the prefecture reached 400,000.
Sports for the elderly gradually emerged in the late 1970s. Entering the 1980s, with economic development, scientific and technological progress, increased average life expectancy, and an increase in the number of retired workers, the enthusiasm of the elderly to participate in physical exercise grew stronger day by day. In April 1983, Liu Yuqian, an elderly athlete from the prefecture, participated in the national elderly long-distance running competition and won 4th place in the 5000 meters. In May 1984, the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Elderly Sports Association was established. Under the organization and leadership of the Elderly Sports Association, elderly sports gradually developed, and activity content increased day by day. In addition to more than 30 fitness items such as gateball, health exercises, mountain climbing, martial arts, qigong, and disco, there were also more than 10 recreational activities such as cockfighting, bird keeping, fish keeping, and bonsai.
In the early 1980s, the prefecture began to organize disabled people to participate in sports activities under leadership. In 1982, the first prefecture-wide games for blind, deaf, and mute people were held. In 1985, the Prefecture Disabled Persons Sports Association was established, and the first prefecture-wide disabled persons games were held. Thereafter, they were held once every 4 years, greatly promoting the development of sports for disabled persons, and disabled persons sports in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture achieved gratifying results. In September 2004, at the 12th World Disabled Persons Sports Games held in Athens, Tian Rong of Yongshun County won the gold medal in the S7 50-meter butterfly in swimming and broke the world record for the event with a time of 31"32; in addition, he also achieved a silver medal in the 400-meter freestyle and good results of one 5th place and one 8th place. On October 13, on Tian Rong's 17th birthday, the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Party Committee, Prefecture People's Congress, Prefecture Government, and Prefecture CPPCC held a grand and enthusiastic commendation meeting for him in Jishou. Long Songjiang, Deputy Secretary of the Prefecture Party Committee and Director of the Standing Committee of the Prefecture People's Congress, awarded him a bonus of 60,000 yuan.
III. Competitive Sports
In 1964, the prefecture and counties successively established 11 amateur sports schools to conduct specialized technical training in various competitive sports. After entering the 1990s, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture implemented the "Four Strongs" strategy for competitive sports—"build a group of strong counties, form a group of strong events, establish a group of strong schools, and cultivate a group of strong athletes"—and, based on the characteristics of athletes having good strength and good endurance, determined the "Four Characters" policy of "strength, long-distance, water, and women's events" as the focus. Thereafter, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture's sports undertakings flourished, showing a momentum of prosperity and vitality. By the end of 2005, athletes of prefecture origin had won 1 gold medal at the Olympic Games, 1 gold and 2 silver medals at the World Championships, 1 gold medal at the Asian Games, 9 gold and 3 silver medals at the Asian Championships, and 3 gold and 2 silver medals at the National Games, and had broken world records dozens of times. Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture was awarded the Outstanding Contribution Award for Participation in the Asian Games and Olympic Games by the People's Government of Hunan Province.
Weightlifting, especially women's weightlifting, is the most dazzling part of competitive sports in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture. People of all ethnic groups in the prefecture love lifting stone locks and stone barbells, giving weightlifting a good foundation. In 1964, Cao Wenfu of Guzhang County won first place in the men's light heavyweight class at the Hunan Provincial Weightlifting Competition. In 1974, at the Second Provincial Games, he again won first place in the middle heavyweight class in weightlifting. In 1980, the prefecture amateur sports school formed a weightlifting team. In 1986, Chen Aimin won first place in the snatch in the 77.5 kg class at the First National Women's Weightlifting Championships and broke the world records in both the snatch and the clean and jerk in that class. In 1991, Long Yuling of Guzhang County won 3 gold medals in the 52 kg class at the Fourth Asian Women's Weightlifting Championships and set one world record. In 1993, Long Yuling and Luo Weihong won 5 gold medals at the Asian Women's Weightlifting Championships, and the two exceeded 4 world records 7 times. In 1994, Chen Chufu of Guzhang County won 1 gold and 2 silver medals at the National Youth Weightlifting Competition. In 1995, the National Youth Weightlifting Competition was held in Guzhang.
Yang Xia, a native of Baojing County, is of Tujia ethnicity. She is the pride of the people of all ethnic groups in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, and it was weightlifting that created the brilliance of her life. From childhood she endured hardship and worked hard, and she trained diligently and seriously. In 1997, at the Eighth National Games held in Shanghai, Yang Xia and Long Yuling, a Miao athlete from Guzhang County, fought side by side and bravely won the gold and silver medals in the women's 54 kg class in weightlifting, and broke the national record for that class. This was the first gold medal won by an athlete from Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture at the National Games. On December 8, 1998, at the 13th Asian Games held in Bangkok, Thailand, Yang Xia won the gold medal in the 53 kg class in weightlifting and, with results of 120.5 kg and 212.5 kg, broke the world records in the clean and jerk and total for that class respectively, achieving the zero breakthrough for athletes from Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture in Asian Games gold medals. On September 18, 2000, at the 27th Sydney Olympic Games, Yang Xia made only 5 attempts and easily defeated all her opponents, thus ascending to the highest Olympic podium in the women's 53 kg class in weightlifting, and with results of 100 kg in the snatch, 125 kg in the clean and jerk, and 225 kg in total, she broke three world records, becoming China's first athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in women's weightlifting, ending the history of no one from Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture participating in the Olympic Games, and fulfilling the Olympic gold medal dream of several generations of sports workers in Xiangxi.
Water sports. Rivers crisscross the prefecture, and water sports are another strong point of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, among which canoeing and kayaking are the most prominent. In 1987, the prefecture amateur sports school newly opened a canoeing and kayaking class and enrolled 12 students. The following year, this event expanded to 4 amateur sports schools in Jishou, Luxi, Fenghuang, and Baojing. In 1992, at the Second Hunan Provincial Youth Games, the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture representative team won an excellent result of 8 gold, 12 silver, and 9 bronze medals in canoeing and kayaking, and took first place in the group total score for this event.
Gymnastics. Traditional gymnastics such as "duanmian" and "stacking arhats" existed in the prefecture very early, providing a good gymnastics foundation. In 1972, the Jishou Children's Amateur Sports School opened a gymnastics class, and that year, when it participated in the provincial children's gymnastics competition, it achieved excellent results: first place in the men's A group team, third place in the men's B group team, and second place in the women's B group team. In 1974, amateur sports schools in the counties successively opened gymnastics classes, and at the Third Provincial Games, the men's and women's gymnastics teams of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture won first and second place in the group total scores respectively. In 1995, Ma Jiyou of Yongshun County participated in an international gymnastics competition held in Hong Kong, China, and won 4 gold medals and 1 silver medal.
Track and field, basketball, and table tennis have the broadest mass base within the prefecture, and in provincial games they have all achieved relatively good results. In 2002, at the Ninth Hunan Provincial Games, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture won 51.5 gold medals, ranking fifth among the province's 14 cities and prefectures in total gold medals. IV. Venue Construction
In 1950, the 417th Regiment of the 47th Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army took the lead in building a simple sports ground in Fenghuang; Yongshun County converted the former Jiaochang Ping into a small sports field containing a 250-meter circular track. In 1953, Jiaochang Ping in Jishou was converted into Jishou Square; in 1957, when the Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture was established, Jishou Square was expanded into a track-and-field ground with a 400-meter, 5-lane track; in 1964, fixed stands with a capacity of 5,000 spectators were added. In 1970, in order to welcome the Hunan Provincial Table Tennis Competition, the prefecture revolutionary committee invested in building the prefecture gymnasium, which could accommodate 3,000 spectators. In 1975, Fenghuang County built a simple gymnasium that could accommodate 600 spectators. In 1977, Baojing County built an open-air swimming pool. In 1978, the prefecture amateur sports school built a gymnastics room covering an area of 1,299 square meters. In 1979, implementing the National Sports Commission's "Outline for the Development of National Sports Undertakings (Draft)," the construction of sports venues in county towns was incorporated into urban construction planning. In 1982, there were 52 sports fields of various sizes and 1,486 basketball courts in the prefecture, covering a total area of 1.29 million square meters, about 0.4 square meters per capita. In 1986, Longshan County built a 400-meter, 6-lane sports field and a gymnasium with 3,000 seats. In 1987, Fenghuang County No. 1 Middle School built a standard 400-meter, 8-lane sports field. In 1992, Jishou City built a 50-meter, 8-lane swimming pool; Jishou Minzhong built a standard 400-meter track-and-field ground and a shooting range with 40 target positions. In 1994, Guzhang County, despite having little arable land and extremely difficult finances, requisitioned 50 mu of land and built a standard track-and-field ground with a 400-meter track and a weightlifting hall that could accommodate 700 spectators. To welcome the 40th anniversary of the prefecture, the prefecture government decided to prepare for the construction of the Prefecture Ethnic Sports Center in Shaziao, Jishou City, capable of accommodating 15,000 people. Ground was broken in 1993, and it was completed and put into use in 1997. Afterward it was continuously improved. By 2005, the Prefecture Ethnic Sports Center had a main stadium, a public fitness square, a children's paddling pool, an amusement park, tennis courts, a roller-skating rink, a comprehensive training hall, and a national physical fitness monitoring building. Project funds from the General Administration of Sport's "Snow Charcoal Project" and "People's Health Project" gave great support to the comprehensive training hall and the national physical fitness monitoring building respectively. The Hunan Provincial Sports Bureau supported Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture in building a national fitness square, tennis courts, and a children's fitness area, and laid a plastic track for the Prefecture Ethnic Sports Center. In order to further effectively alleviate the shortage of sports venue facilities, according to the preferences of the masses, counties and cities built fitness paths on hillsides in the suburbs; in Jishou City alone, the fitness path on Fitness Slope was more than 10 kilometers long. By 2005, the sports system of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture had built 6 track-and-field grounds with stands, 5 gymnasiums (2 of which were under construction), 5 swimming pools (halls), 6 training rooms for gymnastics, trampoline, weightlifting, badminton, and martial arts, 40 rooms for table tennis and billiards, 21,700 square meters of fitness squares, 22,000 meters of fitness paths, and 7,100 square meters of fitness gardens. National fitness facilities were gradually being improved. With economic and social development, the sports undertakings of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture are advancing with gratifying steps, playing a positive role in enriching and enlivening people's lives and strengthening people's physiques.