An "audacious strategy is unfolding in China," according to Matthew Syed of the LONDON TIMES. The world’s most populous nation is "trying to corner the world’s most popular sport." This is not only about the Chinese Super League recruiting elite players to "entertain the masses on TV." It is also about "driving participation to unprecedented levels." Football has become "a part of the ministry of education’s curriculum." It has hired Tom Byer, "a respected coach," to head the Chinese School Football Program. At present, there are about 6,000 "specifically designated football schools," but the plan is to have 20,000 by '17. What "is going on?" Some refer to the "passion" of President Xi Jinping, "who is driving this plan." The conventional wisdom says that "this is about improving public health and getting more people active." But this analysis "is quite wrong." The truth is "subtler and more Machiavellian," and it takes us "to the heart of the curious relationship between sport and China that has existed since the Long March." To see how, "let us rewind to 1953." It was in that year that Chairman Mao took what, at the time, "seemed to western observers to be a curious decision: he decreed that table tennis would become the national sport." Tables were "sent to schools, all-weather tables positioned in railway stations and makeshift tables constructed in the vast rural hinterland." Millions "started playing the game." Sympathetic observers "reached for the public health explanation, arguing that Mao was concerned about the wellbeing" of his "beloved proletariat." But this explanation "cuts no ice at all." Throughout his reign, Mao "demonstrated contempt for the countrymen he ruled over." No, table tennis "was not a public health policy" -- Mao did not "give a damn about the public" -- but something "more calculating." The chairman, "like all dictators, suffered from a crisis of legitimacy." He "restlessly looked for opportunities for propaganda." And "what better way to demonstrate the wisdom of the communist system, and his genius as leader, if China could defeat its capitalist rivals in open competition?" Table tennis, then, "was a vehicle not of public health, but of political indoctrination." But this politicization of top sportsmen "was no accident; it was an essential part of the dynamic that always exists between dictatorial power and sport." Erich Honecker, "the East German tyrant, surrounded himself with steroid-ridden athletes; Fidel Castro continually exploited the soft power of his world-beating boxers." Fast-forward a little and "the same analysis continues to assert itself in China." Football is "merely the latest device." Xi is "not interested in public health any more than Mao." With growth slowing, and "growing resentment about endemic corruption, the establishment is seeking new ways to bolster itself" (LONDON TIMES, 3/2).
