BEIJING, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Five years after plans were announced to accelerate the development of its sports industry, the Chinese government is going to focus its efforts on quality development.
China's State Council on Tuesday unveiled a document entitled "Opinions on Promoting Mass Sports, Sports Consumption and High Quality Development of Sports Industry," laying out measures in 10 aspects in a bid to turn the industry into one of the pillars of the national economy.
According to the plan, national sport associations will undergo a deepening reform while management of the public stadiums will also be reformed to better serve various sporting events.
Sports industry-related financial policies will be refined and improved, said the document, and more exercise sites will be made available to the public.
The government is also studying the creation of a Chinese sports industry investment fund, to be drawn from the private sector.
The document also called for the promotion of interscholastic tournaments and winter sports as well as introducing professional sports training into schools.
In 2014, the Chinese government announced plans to develop the country's sports industry and raise the sector's annual output to 5 trillion yuan (813.87 billion U.S. dollars) by 2025, while promoting fitness became one of the government's national priorities.
