Sport, Maoism and the Beijing Olympics

Abstract

The development of sports in China since the nineteenth century has been influenced to varying degrees by imperialism, nationalism, Maoism, and postcolonial thinking. This paper explores these ideologies from three angles: (i) Mao's early thinking regarding physical culture and sport; (ii) the development of sports under Mao's socialism and the Cultural Revolution; and (iii) China's breakthrough in the post-Mao era. In sum, sport remains connected over time with the idea of "imagined Olympians" and of a response to the "Sick Man complex." The advent of postcolonial thought has opened the possibility of more diverse understandings of sports in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]