How 'fitness for all' is helping build a healthier, more vibrant China

On a spring day in 1984, Zhengding County in north China's Hebei Province came alive with cheers as thousands of residents took part in a mass sports meeting. At the time, some questioned whether holding such an event made sense when economic development was the overriding priority across the nation. 

Xi Jinping, then a young county official, saw it differently.

"The people's wallets must grow fuller, their minds richer, and their bodies healthier. Happiness means more than income – organizing a mass sports meet carries profound meaning," Xi insisted.

More than four decades later, that belief has evolved into a national vision. Under President Xi's leadership, nationwide fitness has been elevated to an overarching national strategy, serving as a pillar of the Healthy China initiative and a defining feature of the country's vision for modernization.

That inaugural sports day in Zhengding brought together over 1,300 athletes and residents for everything from track-and-field to public gymnastics. It did more than offer a day of recreation; it set Zhengding on a transformative path. Exercise venues multiplied, neighborhood sports clubs sprouted and the county eventually emerged as a national model for community sports.

Zhang Wupu, a local official who helped Xi organize the event, recalled that the meeting had given Zhengding's grassroots sports development "a good start," saying Xi had shown foresight in promoting fitness at such an early stage.

The commitment continued during Xi's work in Fujian Province. He promoted public fitness facilities and pushed the "National Fitness Path" project into government programs serving local communities. As honorary president of the Fujian Mountaineering Association, he encouraged hiking and outdoor exercise, linking physical fitness with people's enjoyment of nature.

After ascending to national leadership, Xi has led efforts to host the 2008 Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Nanjing Youth Olympics in 2014, and the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics in 2022. For Xi, these major events were catalysts for broader public participation. The 2022 Winter Games, for instance, sparked an unprecedented winter sports boom, bringing 346 million Chinese people onto ice and snow.

Xi's concern has also extended to younger generations. During inspection tours across the country, he has consistently highlighted youth fitness, explicitly tying physical vitality to healthy development while voicing deep concern over modern challenges like childhood obesity and myopia.

The momentum that began with the 2008 Beijing Olympics helped spark an enduring nationwide passion for athletics, formalizing August 8 as China's annual National Fitness Day, starting in 2009.

After the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, Xi placed greater emphasis on integrating national fitness with the country's broader health agenda. Heeding Xi's call, China elevated the "fitness-for-all" campaign to a national strategy in 2014. Subsequently, the Healthy China 2030 blueprint was issued in 2016, putting people's health more firmly at the center of national development.

"Chinese modernization is fundamentally linked with public health," Xi has noted, emphasizing that a healthy nation relies on widespread participation in sports and that elite athletic performance rests on a solid foundation of public fitness.

Today, that vision is tangible. Urban and rural areas alike are now built around "15-minute fitness circles," ensuring residents can reach exercise facilities within a short walk from their front doors. Sports parks, leafy jogging trails, public football pitches and smart outdoor gym equipment have reshaped the urban landscape.

This infrastructure has unleashed a wave of public enthusiasm. Millions run city marathons every year; winter sports thrive far beyond the chilly north; and rural phenomena like the "Village BA" for basketball and the "Village Super League" for football have turned grassroots sports into vibrant cultural festivals. Meanwhile, more than 5,500 medical institutions nationwide have opened dedicated weight-management clinics that blend clinical care with active lifestyles.

Looking ahead, the National Fitness Plan (2026–2030), launched this July, sets an ambitious goal: raising the proportion of people who exercise regularly to around 40% by 2030 while leveraging artificial intelligence and smart technologies to deliver tailor-made fitness services.

From a county sports meeting in Hebei more than four decades ago to fitness facilities within easy reach of millions of Chinese homes today, the evolution reflects a vision Xi has articulated: "The most important indicator of modernization is people's health, which underpins a happy life."