Communist China and the Asian Games 1951–1990: The Thirty–nine Year Struggle to Victory

Abstract

Modern sport has generated an enormous amount of politics in China, because of the nature of the government's control of sport. The Chinese Communists use sport to obtain power in the international sports world. However, during the power-control process there are clashes of values and interests which cause conflict and confrontation in the sports world. The interrelationships between politics and sport constitute a large element in international sport and the Asian Games. These are clearly demonstrated in the relationship between Communist China and the Asian Games. This contribution will examine some important landmark events in the history of China's participation in the Asian Games: the joining and breaking with the Asian Games Federation during the first six Asian Games in the 1950s and 1960s; the restoration of China as a superpower in the Asian Games in the 1970s and 1980s; and the hosting of the 11th Asian Games in Beijing in 1990. The whole political history of China's involvement in the Asian Games proves James Frey's claim that ‘Nothing else save the struggle for survival seems to be able to stimulate such emotion, attraction, interest, adulation and mania as does sport’ [1].