Research On The National Games Of The Republic Of China

The National Games is the highest level and largest comprehensive sports games in domestic during the period of Republic of China. It represents the level of modern sports development of China for a certain period of time.However, unlike the smooth games of People's Republic of China and step-by-step games of today, the National Games during the period of Republic of China met lots of difficulties and moved slowly. The National Games grow out of nothing and expand from small to large and decline precipitously. According to sports circle of the Republic of China, the games were held seven sessions and the first session, also named "first national school team sports league "was held in1910. All sessions of games were followed by this game.In author's opinion, this view confused the boundaries of history. Since it is the National Games during the period of the Republic of China, it should not count in the games which were held in1910. That means, the Republic of China hosted total six sessions of national games from1912to1949. According to the games'hosting year and level, the author divides it to four stages.The National Games of the late Qing Dynasty was held at Nanjing on1910and the first session of the National Games of the Republic of China was held at Beijing on1914. This is the period of transition from late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China.The Revolution of1911overthrew the last feudal dynasty and ended thousands year of feudal absolute monarchy. Unfortunately, the fruits of revolution were stolen by Yuan Shih-kai and the northern regime. The National Games was prepared and organized by the Young Men's Christian Association in such turbulent background and all rights were owed by western controlled YMCA.All teams were student athletes from some domestic schools and there were only track and field events and ball games under competition without any female sports. It is still in the embryonic stage during this period of time. All systems and policies are in accordance with Britain and American's standards and the competition venues are not professional sports venue. The National Games is named as the National Games, but only a few students from some big cities participated in the games, and also only a few enthusiastic sports people know this. The games have no influence in the society. The modern National Games is still in the embryonic stage at this moment, because most people have no idea of sports and the school sports are still in the stage of military gymnastics. They are not familiar with track and field events and ball games. Therefore, this period is the embryonic period of the National Games of the Republic of China, the Games during this period has the following characteristics:first, the National Games were held in small scale and low level; Second, the range of influence is small without any public attention; third, only foreigners has the rights to host the game and all standards must in accordance with the foreign rule. Although the so-called National Games during this period were unworthy of the name, they did not come out of thin air and they were established on the basis of promotion of modern sports in China. The National Games of the late Qing Dynasty and the first session of the National Games of the Republic of China only ignited sparks of fire of the national games on the basis of weak foundation of school sports during the late Qing Dynasty and the early stage of the Republic of China.The second session of National Games was held at Wuchang in1924and China is under control of Beiyang government during that time. The Northern Warlords are busy conflicting for power and money and pay less attention to the modern sports. So the modern sports developed very slowly during that period. The Republic of China never hosted another session of the National Games for the following whole10years after1914.The outbreak of the May4th Movement in1919and poor performance of the Chinese team at Far Eastern Championship Games led all people enhances the national consciousness. The sports circle also raised the campaign of withdraw the host rights and develop national sports. The second session of national games was held in this background. Chinese withdraw the right to host the games for the first time and competition teams also register in province. The scale is bigger than the games in late Qing Dynasty and the contestants reach to hundreds of people. Women's sports debuted on the stage for the first time. Although it is only demonstrated as exhibition match, not included in the official results, it is enough to prove that the national sports made certain achievements and popularize and expand lager range than late Qing Dynasty. The National Games during this time have the following characteristics:first, the scale is expand, the level start to rise; second, the National Games have great influence on the hosting and surrounding areas and have a positive role in promoting the development of local modern sports; third, Chinese start to host the game for the first time and also symbolize the withdraw of sports rights.The National Games start to attract a considerable number of people's attention since this period. The second session of the games was held on the basis of gradually popularized modern sports at school. And the May4th Movement and the failure of Far East Games could be the major factor of this game. The National Games start to develop slowly and get on the right track.The heyday of the National Games of Republic of China including the third, fourth and fifth games respectively in1930,1933and1935at Hangzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai. China id under the reign of Nanjing National Government during that period and these three sessions of games were held in these "Golden Ten Years ". The Nanjing National Government realizes the unification of China territory at the end of1929(only in form). Although a series of large events happened during that time such as nine one eight incident, one two eight incident, China reached its highest level in politics, economy, culture, education, diplomacy and other fields since1840. A relatively stable political environment, economic foundation and good cultural atmosphere also create the best conditions for the National Games during this period.The central Government of China starts to prepare and organize the games since this period. The Nanjing National Government allocates funds specifically to the games including construction of stadiums and other related facilities since the third session of games. The government allocates funds to build a large sports stadium for assembly and various games for each session of games during this period. The National Games were held frequently and the scale is also growing. The competition team began to participate in groups of province and more and more province joined in. From the fourth session of games to fifth session, delegate teams from all provinces including border provinces such as Tibet, Qinghai, Yunnan joined in, and some athletes from ethnic minorities such as Hui, Uygur, Tibetan. These athletes are not mainly from school, but from all circles of society. What's more, Women's sports start to count in the official score and achieved equality with men sports. The Games in this period began to enter the track systematically and the modern China sports also achieved the best results in the old Chinese history in this period. The highest score of all sports in old Chinese are recorded during this period.Therefore, the National Games during this period has the following characteristics:first, the scale reached the maximum size in China's modern history and the level also reached the highest in old China; second, the Games have a great role in promoting the development of all modern sports, especially with the catalytic active role in the development of modern sports in border areas; third, the custom of planning and organizing of Games by central government become fixed system and Games gradually enter into standardized and institutionalized track. The Games began to enter into the vision of all people. The revitalization of sports is not only the spiritual power of the sports sector, but also the inner needs of all Chinese people in the background of Japanese's invasion. The games inspired all Chinese people. And the fifth session of games even becomes the mobilization meeting of Anti-Japanese War. The Games during this period is based on the leading role of sports administrative system set up in the period of Nanjing national government in national sports development and gradually developed school sports system since the end of the Qing Dynasty.The last session of National Games, also the sixth session was held at Shanghai in1948. China was soon lost in the fire of civil war after8years Anti-Japanese war. Jiang Jieshi, as the representative of the national government, refused to perform the Double Tenth agreement signed at Chongqing negotiations and establishment of a new China by peaceful means. Disregarding of the vital interests of all Chinese people, they flagrantly declared all-out civil war. In exchange for USA military aid, the national government signed the treaty which humiliating the country and forfeiting its sovereignty, resulting in the collapse of domestic economy. A lot of manpower and financial resources were used in the war and the modern sports missed the opportunity to restore the development after8years.The National government organized the games only to placate the sound of anti-civil war and distract attention and strengthen internal unity during that time. The last session of National Games reached its peak in the games history both from the scale and numbers of participants. But it is also the most hasty and chaotic games in the games history from planning and level angle.Beating of athletes and stampede of audience happened several times during this session and resulted in injury of some audience. Ironically, the National Government tried to win people's support, but actually they lost public's support within this kind of chaos. Compared the results of Games with previous sessions, you'll find that most athletic achievements lagged behind. This also reflects the negative influence of Anti-Japanese War and Civil War to the development of modern sports.During this period, the National Games has the following characteristics:first, the size and the number of participants reached the highest record in the National history; second, it is the most chaotic one; third, destabilizing public mind is the actual theme of this game. This session of National Games is held on the basis of following factor:sports human resources were accumulated after transferred to the rear area due to anti-Japanese war; the modern sports of northwest region obtained relatively stable development and better performance on the games because this region has never been invaded by Japanese. The subjective motivation of the National Government is to strengthen internal unity through holding the National Games.