China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Region’s sporting initiatives inspire local residents to get fit
In recent years, Chengdu has aimed to build a world-famous city for sports events, provide more abundant and advanced supplies to improve residents’ fitness and boost its industries, urban development and international reputation.
Chengdu has carried out a variety of initiatives to benefit local residents two months ahead of the Chengdu 2022 World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals.
Locals have free access to 49 sports venues and facilities. They can also participate in more than 100 table tennis events and learn table tennis culture and fitness skills through a combination of online and offline activities.
Chengdu has vigorously promoted the construction of sports infrastructure such as stadiums, parks, Tianfu greenways and community sports sites, making the entire city a paradise for national sports and fitness. “The sports venues around us are very beautiful,” said Li Le, a fitness enthusiast in Chengdu.
“There are more sports facilities in parks and greenways as well as lots of sports spaces on your doorstep.
“There are so many places for exercise in Chengdu,” Li added. “I used to work out in indoor gyms, but now I prefer to go to outdoor parks and greenways.”
On weekends and holidays, Li likes to invite friends to Jincheng Lake, go for a run in the park, or go for a bike ride around the city’s greenways.
Every evening, Li Lechang and his family go to the Chaoyin Waterfront Plaza near his home to exercise.
He said that since the completion of the Chaoyin Waterfront Plaza, the elderly and children in the family have ventured out to exercise more often. The Chaoyin Waterfront Plaza has a total area of about 54,000 square meters.
By expanding the functions of leisure and sightseeing, children’s play, sports and fitness, and adding green facilities such as green roofs, ecological grass trenches, and rain gardens, different themed activities have been set up for people of all ages.
Adhering to the concept of creating a park city, Chengdu has planned a Tianfu Greenway system with a total length of 16,900 kilometers.
A variety of sports facilities are set up on Tianfu Greenway, incorporating various scenes such as mountains, forests, lakes and pastoral areas in different areas of the city.
They aim to provide services for daily walking, jogging, cycling and more professional outdoor events such as marathon running, hiking and orienteering.
Tianfu Greenway hosts more than 4,000 fitness activities every year. One of them is the China Chengdu Tianfu Greenway International
Bicycle Fan Fitness Festival, the city’s own cycling brand event with the longest running cycle in the country.
For the past 12 years, the event has attracted more than 200,000 participants and some 5 million spectators.
Chengdu has also built and renovated a large number of sports sites in communities and set up the “15-minute fitness circle” for local residents.
In Shaocheng Street, the WePark Wanpai Community Football Park covers an area of 900 sq m and has 24-hour smart football classrooms, football practice fields, community smart sports spaces as well as sports cultural and creative gatherings.
Another example is the Shenghua Community in the Chengdu Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone. It provides residents with fitness and sports facilities and launches more than 20 international brand projects such as community sports festivals as well as international soccer and basketball games.
Data show that more than 70 community sports sites were built in various districts and counties in Chengdu in 2021 and 203 Tianfu Greenway Fitness Spaces were constructed. A total of 1,500 sports facilities have been added to the Tianfu Greenway.
This year, Chengdu will build five sports parks, add 200 Tianfu greenway fitness spaces and 100 community sports sites and launch a number of smart fitness demonstration projects.
According to the latest survey report from the Chengdu sports bureau, the population of the city who regularly participate in physical exercise exceeded 9 million and the proportion of the local population participating in sports reached 48.6 percent in 2021.