China’s strategies to host the sports mega events

Sports mega events (SMEs), particularly the Olympics, are one of the major elements in Chinese sport. China’s Olympic ‘fever’ and its ambition to host the FIFA Men’s World Cup demonstrate the importance of this topic, which therefore warrants some discussion in this book. Various cities in China are increasingly using SMEs to promote urban development, stimulate economic growth and re-brand their city images. The recent change in the sport policy in order to accelerate the developing the sports industry has certainly reflected the government’s desire to further open the SMEs market and to adopt a more decentralised decision-making approach. This chapter first introduces the history and policy trajectory of SMEs since China hosted the very first large-scale sports event, the 11th Asian Games in Beijing in 1990. It then looks closely at the political, cultural and economic role SMEs have played, by paying specific attention to the bidding and hosting of the Olympics (the 2008 Summer Olympics, the 2014 Youth Olympics and the 2022 Winter Olympics). It examines how the Olympics has been used in contemporary China, and evaluates its relevant policies and strategies. This chapter also incorporates discussion of other notable SMEs hosted in China, and concludes with a summary of the general trend and the impacts of the SMEs and an analysis of the utility of various policy theories and concepts.