In order to implement the national strategy of public fitness, carry out extensive public fitness activities, promote the development of traditional public sports, and facilitate the exchange and improvement of Chinese jianqiu sports, on November 9, the 2024 China Jianqiu Open (Hunan Station) and the 4th Hunan Province Jianqiu Sports Competition was held in our city. A total of more than 400 people from 21 teams from Hunan Province, Beijing, Guangdong, Chongqing, Hubei, Inner Mongolia and other provinces and cities participated in the competition, setting a new high for the number of participants in the history of Chinese jianqiu sports competitions held in Hunan Province.

At the venue of the youth group’s ten-person mixed team jianqiu sports competition, athletes take turns to compete, with timing and counting conducted over one minute. The jianqiu, under the athletes’ manipulation, assumes versatile and flexible movements: left, right, up and down, tapping... each with its own characteristics. The jianqiu, under the manipulation of the players, soars up and down on the court, tracing beautiful arcs.

This competition is jointly organized by the Social Sports Guidance Center of the General Administration of Sport of China, the Chinese jianqiu Sports Association, and the Hunan Provincial Sports Bureau, with the Hunan jianqiu Sports Association and the Huaihua Municipal Bureau of Culture, Tourism, Radio, Film and Sports co-hosting it. The competition features two categories: youth and adult, covering 32 sub-events including flower jianqiu (a traditional Chinese kicking game) and net jianqiu (a variation played over a net), making it one of the most comprehensive national jianqiu sports competitions in terms of the variety of events covered. Its competition items are also in line with those of the National Games.

Jianqiu sports is a traditional Chinese sport with a long history and wide popularity. It is highly technical and entertaining, requiring athletes to have speed and agility. Due to its wholesomeness, fun, and deep rootedness in Chinese folk culture, it is a popular fitness activity among the people, known as the ‘butterfly of life’.

(Translated by Yang Sigui)