On June 6th of 2017, 204 contestants from 34 teams participated in the preliminary match of Health Qigong mass tournament during the 13th National Games being held in Zibo city of Shandong province, China. These teams came from 30 provinces, regions, municipalities, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, two industrial sports associations and Hong Kong SAR of China. The enthusiasm of the contestants echoed the remarks made by Mr. CHANG Jianping, the Director of Health Qigong Administrative Centre of GASC and President of Chinese Health Qigong Association. He said that, in the past, few people consider Qigong as a sport. Now things have changed. Health Qigong has become a competition programme in National Games; it’s really a milestone event for the development of Health Qigong.
In 2016, the State Council of China released The "Healthy China 2030" Blueprint and The National Fitness Program(2016-2020). It was mentioned especially in these two documents that, the government will give support to the promotions of Health Qigong, in order to improve the wellness of the general public and carry forward the traditional Chinese culture. As of 2016, the number of Health Qigong stations in China was more than 30,000, with the number of practitioners in these stations exceeding 1.2 million, the total amount of Health Qigong practitioners in China was above 4.36 million, the amount of Health Qigong instructors was more than 200,000, the amount of countries and regions where Health Qigong has been developed reached 56, and the amount of Health Qigong practitioners abroad exceeded 2 million.
For the first time, Health Qigong becomes a competition programme in China National Games. Meanwhile, Health Qigong· Qiwu Dance is a new form of competition, which breaks through the limitations of the original Health Qigong forms, showcasing the aesthetics of Health Qigong through the combination of audio and visual effects, Health Qigong forms and health preservation culture, highlighting the unique cultural background of Health Qigong. The participating teams can choose movements from the 9 Health Qigong regular forms and 4 competition forms, re-compiling these movements into their own 5-minutes routines with the Qigong elements from at least 6 existing Health Qigong forms accompanied by their own music, LED dynamic background and attires. The performance should highlight the characteristics of the Health Qigong nature, while the movements should be smooth and coherent, with distinctive artistic features and aesthetic appeal.
There will be a total of six gold medals for Health Qigong mass tournament in the 13th National Games: four for group competitions of Health Qigong·YiJinJing, Health Qigong·WuQinXi, Health Qigong·LiuZiJue and Health Qigong·BaDuanJin, one for Health Qigong·Qiwu Dance, and one for team competition with athletes competing in three individual competitions of Health Qigong·YiJinJing, Health Qigong·WuQinXi and Health Qigong·BaDuanJin and graded by their aggregate score. The Health Qigong forms for both group competitions and individual competitions are the six-minute version compiled by Health Qigong Administrative Centre of GASC. The top 14 teams in the preliminary match and the host team of Tianjin will compete for championship during July 9-11 in the Binhai New Area of Tianjin, the host city of the 13th National Games.
This news was translated from the excerpts of the original reports
published on the CHINA SPORTS DAILY.
