Public sports rank Quanzhou the first nationally: As of today, 5 counties (cities or districts) of the total 12 counties (cities or districts) in Quanzhou have been awarded "National Advanced County for Sports", 6 counties (cities or districts) the tit le of "National Hometown of Martial Arts", 2 counties (cities or districts) the national "Fitness Activity Week: Advanced County", and 10 towns (communities) "National Advanced Town for Rural Sports".

　　A total of 276 fitness routes, one national fitness activity center, one national community sports club, one national adolescent club, one national adolescent outdoors camp and 9 national adolescent sports clubs have been built in the city.

　　National fitness festival, fitness festival for elderly people and plaza basketball contests with a hundred teams are held every year. Urban community sports meeting and "Civil Servants Cup" basketball contest are held every two years. Municipal sports meeting and government sports meeting are held every four years. Large public sports activities such as women's sports meeting, farmers' sports meeting, workers sports meeting are held irregularly. These sports activities have greatly enriched the content of the fitness activities. In addition, various special mass sports activities are held according to actual situation. 40% of the city population is regular participants in various sports activities.

　　Sports associations for elderly people cover each county (city or district), township (town) and village (community committee). Sports activities for elderly people are held from time to time with participants accounting for 70% of the total elderly population. School physical education has been greatly enhanced. Sports meetings for middle and primary school students are held every year. Contests of basketball, volleyball, ping pong, track and field for middle and primary school students are held once a year.

　　Preparations for the 2008 6th National Farmers' Games are in full swing. The construction of the main venue for the event, Strait Sports Center, with an area of 700 mu and an investment of 1.1 billion yuan has been yet to complete. The reconstruction and maintenance of the municipal sports center has been basically completed. The construction and reconstruction of other venues are undergoing.

　　Breakthroughs in competitive sports: In the 11th Fujian Provincial Sports Meeting in 1998, the 12th in 2002 and the 13th in 2006, Quanzhou delegation ranked 3rd in terms of total gold medals and total team scores. The layout of competitive events has been effectively adjusted and new breakthroughs have been achieved in weak fields such as badminton, swimming and archery. Quanzhou is the first city in the province to initiate the program of 'supporting the provincial team through municipal efforts' by offering assistance to five provincial teams. Outstanding achievements have been realized through re-investment, attracting excellent coaches and the enhancement of scientific training approach.

　　Active communications in sports with overseas countries: Quanzhou has vigorously promoted communications in sports with foreign countries by taking advantage of its geographic location and human resources. Over the past decade, 150 sports organizations or delegation have been invited to Quanzhou for sports exchange and communication, meanwhile Quanzhou has organized 60 delegations for overseas sports communication. A number of major contests such as international football championship and basketball championship have been held successfully. Communications in Southern Shaolin martial arts are held from time to time, attracting martial arts fans and lovers from around the world. Quanzhou martial arts association has established friendly relations with more than 40 martial arts organizations abroad. Besides, Quanzhou's sports infrastructural projects have been funded by overseas Chinese with a total of 300 million Yuan donation since the initiation of the refor and opening-up drive.

　　Sports facilities are improving daily. As of today, Quanzhou has had 4141 standard sports venues with an area of 8,356,624.8 m2 and 2187 non-standard with an area of 391,552 m2, with a total investment of 1.448 billion yuan. Quanzhou ranks 1st in terms of standard sports venues in the province.

　　Rapid development in sports industry: Sports industry, particularly the sports equipment industry has developed rapidly. Now there are more than 3,000 enterprises that manufacture various sports equipment. A great number of Chinese brands and well-known trademarks such as Anta, Athletic, Xtep and Peak have emerged. In 2007 Jinjiang City was awarded with the title of "National Industrial Base for Sportswear" by Chinese National Sports Bureau. These sports equipment enterprises also actively provide support for the development of sports undertakings by setting up amateur ball and sports teams and providing financial aid for the training of professional sports teams at various levels and sponsoring various sports competitions, highlighting Quanzhou's harmonious coexistence between sports industry and sports undertakings.

　　（Editor:ShenJiaju）