The city of Hangzhou, located in East China’s Zhejiang Province, has inaugurated two sports culture exhibitions to honor the imminent Hangzhou Asian Games and to educate the public about the rich history of sports in China. This event, set to transpire from September 23 to October 8, will welcome a total of 12,417 athletes representing 45 Asian countries and regions, marking it as the third Asian multi-sport event hosted by China, following the Beijing Asian Games in 1990 and the Guangzhou Asian Games in 2010.
The first exhibition, situated at the Hangzhou Asian Games Museum, is meticulously curated to provide visitors with a comprehensive understanding of China’s sports history, spanning 3,000 years from the Spring and Autumn Period (770BC-476BC) to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). A total of 138 cultural relics are showcased, emphasizing traditional Chinese sports such as hunting, archery, equestrian, dragon boat race, fishing, Weiqi (also widely known as Go), and Chinese chess. Interestingly, Weiqi, a mental sport, will be reintroduced at the Hangzhou Games after a 13-year absence since its previous participation in the 2010 Guangzhou Games.
Concurrently, the Hangzhou National Fitness Center is hosting another exhibition featuring over 300 artifacts and 100 cultural relics that illustrate the contemporary history of Chinese sports. A representative from the Hangzhou Sports Development Center, the organizing entity behind both exhibitions, expressed that the exhibitions are designed to complement the Asian Games and provide a historical narrative of Chinese sports. The representative, identified only by the surname Wang, explained that the latter exhibition includes artifacts loaned from the Beijing-based China Sports Museum, spotlighting China’s distinctive position in Asian sports and the progression of Chinese sports over time. Additionally, various calligraphy works, paintings, sculptures, and other artworks sourced from across the nation are also exhibited. Wang further noted that both exhibitions are accessible to the public without any entrance fee and will remain open until October 8.
The opening ceremony of the exhibition was graced by the presence of Huang Jin, curator of the China Sports Museum (CSM), who articulated that the exhibition aims to bolster cultural confidence, facilitate an un
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