Mass sports gets a boost

By the end of 2020, 20.78 million people in North China's Shanxi province participated in physical exercise once or more per week, while 13.46 million people regularly participated in some form of physical exercise. 

The total number of sports instructors reached 72,000, accounting for 2 per thousand of Shanxi's total population.

Every year, there are more than 3,000 national fitness activities at or above the county level, with more than 2.8 million participants. 

The construction of public sports facilities has been advanced, while the public service capacity for fitness has been significantly enhanced. 

In 2020, the total number of sports venues in Shanxi was 108,776, covering an area of 80.37 million square meters. A total of 632 million yuan ($97.95 million) was invested in the construction of public football venues in the province that year and a total of 582 public football venues were completed. 

There are currently 347 public stadiums, gymnasiums and national fitness centers open to the public in the province and 99 percent of them are open at no charge to the public, or at a small charge. 

Competitive sports yield fruitful results

While passing down traditional sports, Shanxi has continued to innovate in competitive sports in recent years, with its comprehensive strength having steadily improved.

Generally, the province's athletes have given excellent performances in several sports events at the national and international levels in recent years.

Shanxi's athletes won two silver medals, one fifth place and one eighth place at the 2016 Rio Olympics; seven gold medals, 11 silver medals and 11 bronze medals in the 13th National Games in 2017; as well as three gold medals, two silver medals and two bronze medals in the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games.

To strengthen the building up of its reserves of sporting talent, the province has rolled out a training plan for outstanding coaches. In 2020, 25 coaches in the province were assessed as "Shanxi Amateur Training Elite Coaches". In addition, 524 coaches and physical education teachers participated in provincial and national special professional training courses in the same year. 

Sports industry booms

Shanxi has been committed to building up sports brands with local features and to developing its sports industry.

A series of sports brand events with strong local characteristics – such as Dixian Yanmenguan China International Cycle Class, Yuncheng Yongji Wulaofeng Mountaineering Festival and Jinzhong Li-Ning International Ski Open Tournament – have been regularly held across Shanxi. 

Of these, the annual Taiyuan International Marathon has cumulatively attracted more than 250,000 marathon enthusiasts from nearly 38 countries and regions to register for the competition since 2010, which has greatly improved the city's reputation. 

The total annual output value of Shanxi's sports industry now has exceeded 32 billion yuan. The proportion of the sports services industry to the total added value of sports sector has reached an estimated 67.5 percent, which is much higher than the national average. 

The aviation sports industry has seen great development potential in the province. Shanxi has carried out mass aviation sports, aviation tourism, aviation entertainment and leisure, as well as aviation science education activities. Brand events – including Yaocheng (Taiyuan) International General Aviation Airshow, National Parachuting Championship and China International ANR Open & National Light-aircraft Championship – have been held in the province.