The State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China published a white paper titled 'China's Parasports: Progress and the Protection of Rights' on Thursday.
Following is the full text of the white paper:
China's Parasports:
Progress and the Protection of Rights
The State Council Information Office of
the People's Republic of China
March 2022
Contents
Preamble
I. Parasports Have Progressed Through National Development
II. Physical Activities for Persons with Disabilities Have Flourished
III. Performances in Parasports Are Improving Steadily
IV. Contributing to International Parasports
V. Achievements in Parasports Reflect Improvements in China's Human Rights
Conclusion
Preamble
Sports are important for all individuals, including those with a disability. Developing parasports is an effective way to help persons with disabilities to improve physical fitness, pursue physical and mental rehabilitation, participate in social activities, and achieve all-round development. It also provides a special opportunity for the public to better understand the potential and value of the disabled, and promote social harmony and progress. In addition, developing parasports is of great importance in ensuring that persons with disabilities can enjoy equal rights, integrate readily into society, and share the fruits of economic and social progress. Participation in sports is an important right of persons with disabilities as well as an integral component of human rights protection.
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) with Xi Jinping at the core attaches great importance to the cause of the disabled, and provides them with extensive care. Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, China has included this cause in the Five-sphere Integrated Plan and the Four-pronged Comprehensive Strategy, and taken concrete and effective measures to develop parasports. With the steady advance of parasports in China, many athletes with disabilities have worked hard and won honors for the country in the international arena, inspiring the public through their sporting prowess. Historic progress has been made in developing sports for persons with disabilities.
With the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games just around the corner, athletes with disabilities are once again drawing global attention. The Games will certainly provide an opportunity for the development of parasports in China; they will enable the international parasports movement to advance "together for a shared future".
I. Parasports Have Progressed Through National Development
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, in the cause of socialist revolution and reconstruction, reform and opening up, socialist modernization, and socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era, along with making progress in the cause of the disabled, parasports have steadily developed and prospered, embarking on a path that carries distinct Chinese features and respects the trends of the times.
1. Steady progress was made in parasports after the founding of the PRC. With the founding of the PRC, the people became masters of the country. Persons with disabilities were granted equal political status, enjoying the same lawful rights and obligations as other citizens. The 1954 Constitution of the People's Republic of China stipulated that they "have the right to material assistance". Welfare factories, welfare institutions, special education schools, specialized social organizations and a positive social environment have guaranteed the basic rights and interests of disabled people and improved their lives.
In the early years of the PRC, the CPC and the Chinese government attached great importance to sports for the people. Parasports made gradual progress in schools, factories and sanatoriums. Large numbers of disabled people actively participated in sports activities such as radio calisthenics, workplace exercises, table tennis, basketball, and tug of war, laying the foundations for more disabled people to participate in sports.
In 1957, the first national games for blind youth took place in Shanghai. Sports organizations for people with hearing impairments were established all over the country, and they organized regional sports events. In 1959, the first national men's basketball competition for those with hearing impairments was held. National sports competitions encouraged more disabled people to participate in sports, improved their physical fitness, and increased their enthusiasm for social integration.
2. Parasports progressed rapidly following the launch of reform and opening up.Following the introduction of reform and opening up in 1978, China achieved a historic transformation - raising the living standards of its people from bare subsistence to a basic level of moderate prosperity. This marked a tremendous step forward for the Chinese nation - from standing upright to becoming better-off.
The CPC and the Chinese government launched a host of major initiatives to champion the progress of parasports and improve the lives of disabled people. The state promulgated the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Persons with Disabilities, and ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. As reform and opening up progressed, promoting the interests of disabled people evolved from social welfare, provided mainly in the form of relief, into a comprehensive social undertaking. Greater efforts were made to increase opportunities for disabled people to participate in social activities, and to respect and protect their rights in all respects, laying the foundations for the development of parasports.
The Law of the People's Republic of China on Physical Culture and Sports stipulates that society as a whole should concern itself with and support the participation of the disabled in physical activities, and that governments at all levels shall take measures to provide conditions for disabled people to participate in physical activities. The law also prescribes that disabled people should have preferential access to public sports installations and facilities, and that schools shall create conditions for organizing sports activities suited to the particular conditions of students who are in poor health or disabled.
Parasports were included in the national development strategies and in development plans for the disabled. Relevant work mechanisms and public services were improved, enabling parasports to enter a stage of rapid development.
In 1983, a national sports invitational for persons with disabilities was held in Tianjin. In 1984, the First National Games for Persons with Disabilities took place in Hefei, Anhui Province. In the same year, Team China made its debut at the 7th Paralympic Summer Games in New York, and won its first ever Paralympic gold medal. In 1994, Beijing hosted the 6th Far East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled (FESPIC Games), the first international multi-sport event for disabled people held in China. In 2001, Beijing won the bid to host the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games. In 2004, Team China led both the gold medal count and the overall medal count for the first time at the Athens Paralympic Summer Games. In 2007, Shanghai hosted the Special Olympics World Summer Games. In 2008, the Paralympic Summer Games were held in Beijing. In 2010, Guangzhou hosted the Asian Para Games.
Over this period, China set up a number of sports organizations for disabled people, including the China Sports Association for the Disabled (later renamed the National Paralympic Committee of China), the China Sports Association for the Deaf, and the China Association for the Mentally Challenged (later renamed Special Olympics China). China also joined a number of international sports organizations for the disabled, including the International Paralympic Committee. Meanwhile, various local sports organizations for disabled people were set up across the country.
3. Historic progress has been made in parasports in the new era. Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era. China has built a moderately prosperous society in all respects as scheduled, and the Chinese nation has achieved a tremendous transformation - from standing upright to becoming prosperous and growing in strength.
Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and president of China, has a particular concern for people with disabilities. He emphasizes that disabled people are equal members of society, and an important force for the development of human civilization and for upholding and developing Chinese socialism. He notes that the disabled are just as capable of leading rewarding lives as able-bodied people. He also instructed that no individuals with disabilities should be left behind when moderate prosperity in all respects was to be realized in China in 2020. Xi has committed that China will develop further programs for the disabled, promote their all-round development and shared prosperity, and strive to ensure access to rehabilitation services for every disabled person. He pledged that China would deliver an excellent and extraordinary Winter Olympics and Paralympics at Beijing 2022. He has also emphasized that the country must be considerate in providing convenient, efficient, targeted and meticulous services for athletes, and in particular, in meeting the special needs of athletes with disabilities by building accessible facilities. These important observations have pointed the direction for the cause of disabled people in China.
Under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping at its core, China incorporates programs for disabled people into its overall plans for economic and social development and its human rights action plans. As a result, the rights and interests of people with disabilities have been better protected, and the goals of equality, participation and sharing have drawn closer. Disabled people have a stronger sense of fulfillment, happiness and security, and parasports have bright prospects for development.
Parasports have been included in China's national strategies of Fitness-for-All, Healthy China initiative, and Building China into a Country Strong in Sports. The Law of the People's Republic of China on Ensuring Public Cultural Services and the Regulations on Building an Accessible Environment provide that top priority shall be given to improving accessibility of public service facilities including sports facilities. China has built a National Ice Sports Arena for People with Impairments. More and more disabled people are engaging in rehabilitation and fitness activities, participating in parasports in their communities and homes, and taking part in outdoor sports activities. The Disability Support Project under the National Fitness Program has been implemented, and sports instructors for people with disabilities have been trained. People with severe disabilities have access to rehabilitation and fitness services in their homes.
Every effort has been made to prepare for the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games, and Chinese athletes will participate in all events. In the 2018 Pyeongchang Paralympic Winter Games, Chinese athletes won gold in Wheelchair Curling, China's first medal in Winter Paralympics. In the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Summer Games, Chinese athletes achieved extraordinary results, ranking top in the gold medal and medal tallies for the fifth time in a row. Chinese athletes have scaled new heights in the Deaflympics and the Special Olympics World Games.
Parasports have made enormous progress in China, demonstrating China's institutional strength in promoting programs for the disabled, and displaying its notable achievements in respecting and protecting the rights and interests of people with disabilities. Throughout the country, understanding, respect, care and help for the disabled are growing in strength. More and more disabled people are realizing their dreams and achieving remarkable improvements in their lives through sports. The courage, tenacity and resilience that disabled people show in pushing boundaries and forging ahead have inspired the whole nation and promoted social and cultural progress.
II. Physical Activities for Persons with Disabilities Have Flourished
China regards rehabilitation and fitness activities for persons with disabilities as one of the main components in implementing its national strategies of Fitness-for-All, Healthy China initiative, and Building China into a Country Strong in Sports. By carrying out parasports activities across the whole country, enriching the content of such activities, improving sports services, and intensifying scientific research and education, China has encouraged the disabled to become more active participants in rehabilitation and fitness activities.
1. Physical activities for persons with disabilities are flourishing. At community level, a variety of rehabilitation and fitness activities for persons with disabilities have been organized, adapted to local conditions in urban and rural China. To promote the participation of persons with disabilities in grassroots fitness activities and competitive sports, China has extended rehabilitation activities and fitness sports services to communities through government procurement. The participation rate in grassroots cultural and sports activities for persons with disabilities in China has spiraled, from 6.8 percent in 2015 to 23.9 percent in 2021.
Schools at all levels and of all types have organized specially designed regular physical activities for their disabled students, and have promoted line dancing, cheerleading, dryland curling, and other group-based sports. College students and those in primary and secondary schools have been encouraged to participate in projects such as the Special Olympics University Program and in Special Olympics Unified Sports. Medical workers have been mobilized to engage in activities such as sports rehabilitation, para-athletics classification, and the Special Olympics Healthy Athletes program, and physical educators have been encouraged to participate in professional services such as physical fitness and sports training for the disabled, and to provide voluntary services for parasports.
China's National Games for Persons with Disabilities have incorporated rehabilitation and fitness events. The National Football Games for Persons with Disabilities have been held with multiple categories for persons with visual or hearing impairments or intellectual disabilities. Teams participating in the National Line Dancing Open Tournament for Persons with Disabilities now come from around 20 provinces and equivalent administrative units. A growing number of special education schools have made line dancing a physical activity for their main recess.
2. Parasports events are carried out nationwide. Persons with disabilities regularly participate in national parasports events, such as the National Special Olympics Day, Fitness Week for Persons with Disabilities, and Winter Sports Season for Persons with Disabilities. Since 2007, China has been organizing activities to popularize National Special Olympics Day, which falls on July 20 every year. Participation in the Special Olympics has tapped into the potential of persons with intellectual disabilities, improved their self-esteem, and brought them into the community. Since 2011, around the National Fitness Day each year, China has been organizing nationwide parasports activities to mark the Fitness Week for Persons with Disabilities, during which events such as wheelchair Tai Chi, Tai Chi ball, and blind football games have been held.
Through participating in rehabilitation and fitness events and activities, persons with disabilities have become more familiar with parasports, begun to take part in sports activities, and learned to use rehabilitation and fitness equipment. They have had the opportunity to demonstrate and exchange rehabilitation and fitness skills. Greater fitness and a more positive mindset have inspired their passion for life, and they have become more confident about integrating into society. Events such as the Wheelchair Marathon for the Disabled, the Chess Challenge among Blind Players, and the National Tai Chi Ball Championships for Persons with Hearing Impairments have developed into national parasports events.
3. Winter sports for persons with disabilities are on the rise. Every year since 2016 China has hosted a Winter Sports Season for Persons with Disabilities, providing them with a platform to participate in winter sports, and fulfilling the Beijing 2022 bid commitment of engaging 300 million people in winter sports. The scale of participation has expanded from 14 provincial-level units in the first Winter Sports Season to 31 provinces and equivalent administrative units. Various winter parasports activities suited to local conditions have been held, allowing participants to experience Paralympic Winter Games events, and take part in mass-participation winter sports, winter rehabilitation and fitness training camps, and ice and snow festivals. A variety of winter sports for mass participation have been created and promoted, such as mini skiing, dryland skiing, dryland curling, ice Cuju (a traditional Chinese game of competing for a ball on the ice rink), skating, sledding, sleighing, ice bikes, snow football, ice dragon boating, snow tug-of-war, and ice fishing. These novel and fun sports have proved very popular among persons with disabilities. In addition, availability of winter sports and fitness services for persons with disabilities at community level, and technical support, have been improved with the promulgation of materials such as A Guidebook on Winter Sports and Fitness Programs for Persons with Disabilities.
