Published on: 2026-08-08
Source: People’s Republic of China — Translation
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Beijing, August 8 /Xinhua/ — Your idea of the weekend probably looks something like this: waking up without an alarm clock, ordering delivery of delicious food, flopping onto a cozy sofa, endlessly scrolling through your internet feed in an attempt to recover from the workweek.
However, today in many Chinese cities you can observe a completely different picture: in gyms, everyone is fiercely lifting weights, in squash courts, players dash from wall to wall, and in swimming pools, real water battles take place… Nationwide health-strengthening activities in China today are not just a modern lifestyle, but also a real driving force in building a “Healthy China.”
The National Health Improvement Day /August 8/ has been celebrated in China since 2009, and since then the principle “sport is the best medicine” has become firmly established in people’s minds. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, by the end of 2025, the proportion of the population regularly engaging in physical exercise and sports is expected to approach 40 percent.
31-year-old Van Kai, who works in the financial sector, goes not home after work, but first of all to the gym for his daily two-hour workout. “I used to go home after work, sit on my phone or watch series. But now I come here almost every day,” he says.
Young people like Wang Kai are becoming the most active part of China’s urban sports consumer market today. Their real “addiction” is caused by a competition called Hyrox. Simply put, this is a race consisting of eight 1-kilometer running segments, after each of which you must perform one functional exercise at a station: sled pushing, sled pulling towards yourself using a rope, ball throws at a wall target, and more. The whole process is like an “exciting endurance game,” where each stage is a new challenge.
The official Hyrox coach, Xia Yu, noted that the age of most participants ranges from 25 to 40 years old, and they mostly work under high stress conditions, for example, in the financial sector, in the field of AI, or in entrepreneurship. “The higher the workload at work, the more you want to blow off steam through sports.”
In his view, participants are attracted not so much by the competition results, but by the sense of emotional release that intense training provides, and the pride after completing the entire challenge. Interaction with like-minded people is also an important plus.
Hyrox is not the only example. To date, new types of sports that are simultaneously competitive, social, and experience-oriented are very popular among the youth of China. Preparing for competitions after work has become a daily routine for an increasing number of young Chinese people who may not aim to become champions but strive to be healthy and improve through training and competitions.
The director of the endocrinology and metabolic diseases department at the First People’s Hospital of Shenyang city /Liaoning Province, Northeast China/ Liu Wei noted that in the past, it was primarily elderly people who paid more attention to fitness and health, but now the circle of fitness enthusiasts has expanded to include young and middle-aged individuals, many of whom combine strength training with aerobics to scientifically build muscle mass, burn fat, and improve their physique.
As nationwide activities to promote health develop, more and more residents of China are beginning to practice exercises from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for health care, including the traditional Chinese breathing exercise “Baduanjin.”
Academic of the Chinese Engineering Academy and head of the National Center for Sports Medicine within TCM, Zhu Ligo, noted that in the face of challenges such as rapid population aging and the heavy burden of chronic diseases, traditional wellness practices offer an inexpensive and widely accessible public health option that helps improve the overall health of the population and reduce the strain on the healthcare system.
According to data from the 6th nationwide monitoring of the physical condition of China’s population, in 2025 the proportion of citizens whose health indicators were within the normal range or higher reached 84.9%, which is 0.8 percentage points higher than in 2020. At the same time, the proportion of residents aged 7 and older who regularly engage in physical exercise reached 38.52%, which is about 1.3 percentage points higher compared to 2020.
Furthermore, in recent years, the construction of public stadiums in China and the level of services they provide have continued to improve. By the end of 2025, there were about 5 million sports venues in China, with a total area exceeding 4.3 billion square meters, and per capita area of 3.11 square meters. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), more than 1,500 sports parks were built and put into operation.
It is worth noting that over the past few years, sports have increasingly intertwined with culture, tourism, commerce, and the wellness sector, playing an ever more important role in boosting domestic demand and stimulating consumption.
According to data, the total volume of the sports industry in China grew from 2.73 trillion yuan in 2020 to 3.84 trillion yuan in 2024, with an average annual growth rate exceeding 10 percent over the past 5 years. By 2030, the total volume of China’s sports industry will exceed 7 trillion yuan.
The State Council of the PRC recently published the “Plan for Nationwide Activities to Promote Health,” which states that by 2030, a higher-level public service system will be improved as part of nationwide health promotion activities, the number of sports grounds and facilities will increase, and sports will become a way of life with active participation from the broad masses of people.
The General Administration of Sport of China noted that in the next five years, more sports events, venues, and services will be available to the masses, and achievements in sports development will become a tangible and accessible joy for the people.
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