Wansheng develops sports as pillar industry

Chongqing's Wansheng district has been revitalized since it decided to develop its sports industry as a pillar industry for transformation in May 2016.

In 2017, Wansheng's industrial output value reached 750 million yuan ($109.21 million), a year-on-year increase of 33 percent. The sports industry has formed a scale and strongly promoting economic growth.

Among the 69 resource-exhausted cities in China, Wansheng is the only region that has adopted the sports industry as a pillar industry for industrial transformation.

A greenway for fitness is seen in Chongqing's Wansheng. [Photo/cqnews.net]

It has since established a mixed-ownership enterprise, the Sports Industry Development Co, as a platform for the development of sports industry to connect to the market.

It also set up the city's first sports industry research institute and sports industry platforms like a sports industry innovation space, industrial park and sports mall, and a sports goods production base in Chongqing.

Last year, Wansheng promoted the construction of sports tourism attractions such as Qingshan Lake International Running Center, Nantianmen Wind and Snow World, Fishing Center of Liangfeng Mengxiang Fishing Village and Banliao Lake Aquatic Sports Center. With sports options like badminton, hiking and fishing available all year round, Wanghseng attracted 18.06 million people visitors last year, an increase of 41.4% from 2016. The total tourism revenue last year reached 9.12 billion yuan with an increase of 40.1 percent.

Wansheng has also built a number of fitness facilities for residents, including thousand miles of trails, a national fitness center and Heishangu badminton hall. Nearly 60 percent of residents participate in physical exercise regularly and the physical fitness qualified rate reached 94.3 percent, which are both higher than the national average level.

Young girls practice synchronized swimming in Chongqing's Wansheng district. [Photo/cqnews.net]

This is due to the district's efforts on promoting national fitness. Wansheng has implemented the medical insurance fitness card, which combines social security with physical fitness. The balance of residents' medical insurance card can be used for fitness purposes, with the district insisting all major sports venues and sports stadiums either free or at low costs to the public.

In addition, The National Fitness Center serves more than 20,000 people per day and the Cultural and Sports Center has provided free services for more than 1.37 million people.

Wansheng also promoted "good sports person" activity with more than 600 registered members participating on 78 teams last year. The district built 128 fitness guidance service stations, trained more than 100 new social sports instructors and carried out over 80 fitness training activities throughout the year, serving nearly 95,000 people.

Wansheng's national fitness initiative aims for the strong development of sports and to grow the sports industry. It is accelerating the construction of the National Fitness Model City and creating an "upgraded version" of the national fitness strategy.

Residents participate in the Color Run in Chongqing's Wansheng district. [Photo/cqnews.net]