Current location:sport >>
Volleyball Ignites Latest Rural Sports Passion on China's Tropical Island
sport68959People have gathered around
IntroductionContact Us HomeNewsHighlightACWF NewsSocietyWom ...
- Home
- News
- People
- In-depth
- ACWF
Volleyball Ignites Latest Rural Sports Passion on China's Tropical Island
August 15, 2023This aerial photo taken on Aug. 6, 2023 shows a volleyball match held in Wenchang, south China's Hainan Province. [Xinhua/Guo Cheng] |
HAIKOU, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) — Following China's Village Basketball Competition and Village Super League, "CunVA," or village volleyball, has become the latest sports fever arising from China's vast countryside.
Concluding Sunday night in Wenchang in the island province of Hainan, the one-and-half-month volleyball league has taken the city — a rising tourist boomtown famous for its space launch center — by storm.
The event has brought together 20 teams from towns and villages, whose players include farmers, fishermen, migrant workers, teachers and middle school students.
"Everyone here can play volleyball," said Fu Chuanxin, 73, the oldest member of the cheering squad of the Dongjiao Town team.
"I've loved playing volleyball since I was very young, and now I'm glad to be a cheerleader since I'm too old to play," he said.
Xu Feng, 43, a player with the Dongjiao Town team, works fulltime at a coconut processing plant. He started playing volleyball when he was eight.
"When I was a child, I watched adults play volleyball every day, so I got to love it," he said, adding that he often plays volleyball after a day's work.
Wenchang, known as the "city of volleyball," has a thriving volleyball culture and a huge fanbase for the sport, which was introduced to the city in the early 20th century by Chinese returning from Southeast Asia.
Fu recalled that in his childhood, there were neither volleyballs nor professional volleyball courts, so villagers would weave coconut leaves into a volleyball, twist coconut palms into a rope and tie it between two coconut trees to form a court.
"It seems to me that the locals see it not just as a competitive sport, but also a source of happiness. They really enjoy the process of playing volleyball," said Xue Ming, a former player of the national women's volleyball team and a guest commentator at one of the CunVA matches.
The latest volleyball fervor has benefited from Wenchang's decades-long drive to improve sports facilities in rural areas. The city with a population of 600,000 now houses nearly 600 volleyball courts and at least one court in every village.
It also builds on the resounding successes of rural basketball and football games, which have brought legions of sports enthusiasts and tourist booms to many otherwise anonymous villages and towns.
Yang Ting, a visitor from the provincial capital Haikou, came to watch the game with her four friends even though she was not a big fan of the sport.
"It's very hot on social media, so we came to enjoy the atmosphere. People here are very welcoming, and they are really passionate about volleyball," Yang said.
Outside the venue of the CunVA matches, several big screens were erected for enthusiasts who failed to get into the packed court to watch the game, while local farmers sell snacks to the influx of tourists and sports enthusiasts.
"We can sell more than 200 roasted chickens on a weekend. Demand always exceeds supply," said Chen Zheng, one stall owner.
Bao Guangyu, director of Wenchang's bureau of tourism, culture, radio, television and sports, said that rural volleyball games have become a new engine of rural revitalization by boosting demand for accommodation, catering and transportation.
The latest statistics show from June 30 to Aug. 13, the city received more than 485,800 visitors and earned about 280 million yuan (about 39 million U.S. dollars) in tourism revenue.
Wenchang is now planning to build an outdoor volleyball venue that can accommodate at least 8,000 visitors, said Bao, noting that in the future they will improve the supporting facilities to better drive sports-related consumption and put the event on the nationwide map.
People watch a volleyball match on a big screen outside a volleyball court in Wenchang, south China's Hainan Province, Aug. 5, 2023. [Xinhua/Guo Cheng] |
(Source: Xinhua)
32.3KPlease understand that womenofchina.cn,a non-profit, information-communication website, cannot reach every writer before using articles and images. For copyright issues, please contact us by emailing: [email protected]. The articles published and opinions expressed on this website represent the opinions of writers and are not necessarily shared by womenofchina.cn.
Comments
Magazines
Projects
- 2023 Women Science and Technology Innovation Pioneer...
Photos
- People Enjoy Blooming Tulips in Jinan, East...
- Flowers Bloom Across China in Spring
Special Coverage
Tags:
Reprint:Friends are welcome to share on the Internet, but please indicate the source of the article when reprinting it.“Culture Compass news portal”。http://afghanistan.carpetcleaningepping.com/content-20d799964.html
Related articles
College baseball notebook: Conference tournaments to decide NCAA automatic bids and many at
sportThe field for the NCAA baseball tournament will take shape this week with conference tournaments det ...
【sport】
Read moreWho is Robert Fico's wife? Meet the Slovakian Prime Minister's spouse Svetlana Ficova
sportThe Slovakian prime minister is no longer in a life-threatening condition and 'will survive' after h ...
【sport】
Read moreOregon man convicted of sexually abusing 2 teen girls he met online gets 12 1/2 years in prison
sportPORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon man who met two 15-year-old girls on Snapchat, sexually abused them ...
【sport】
Read more
Popular articles
- Amtrak train hits pickup truck in upstate New York, 3 dead including child
- Horror as one
- Britain's 'kindest' plumber damaged my home
- China rolls out new measures to fix its property crisis, spur growth
- Justin Timberlake set to bring his The Forget Tomorrow World Tour to Australia in 2025
- Putin focuses on trade and cultural exchanges in Harbin, China, after reaffirming ties with Xi
Latest articles
‘The Blue Angels,’ filmed for IMAX, puts viewers in the ‘box’ with the elite flying squad
Putin focuses on trade and cultural exchanges in Harbin, China, after reaffirming ties with Xi
Venezuela's barred opposition candidate is now the fiery surrogate of her lesser
I'm a therapist... here's why women are attracted to 'bad boys'
What a blast to work at NASA. Space agency is sky
Israel will respond to genocide charges at UN court after South Africa urgently requests cease
LINKS
- Ten 'Comfort Women' Still Living on Chinese Mainland
- China Announces Team for Hangzhou Asian Games
- Changshan Shows the Way to Boost Births
- Closing Ceremony of 19th Asian Games Held in Hangzhou
- Representatives from over 130 Countries to Attend 3rd Belt and Road Forum for Int'l Cooperation
- Virtual Technology Showcased at 2023 CIFTIS
- Young Chinese Adopt Intelligent Tech for Agricultural Production
- Calligraphy, Painting Industry Thrives in E China's County
- China Takes 5th Consecutive Women's Team Title in Asiad Table Tennis
- Handmade Dolls Bring Fortunes to Local Residents in SW China's County