Joel Beall writes in Golf Digest: Given the school’s location, the move may raise an eyebrow. Communist China has held an adversarial relationship with golf; just last fall, the country banned party members from joining clubs. This icy rapport stems from the party’s view of golf …
Read MoreQuartz: Golf is now mandatory at a Chinese elementary school
Josh Horowitz writes in Quartz: A state-linked school’s embrace of the sport shouldn’t bee seen as a sign China’s government is softening Dan Washburn, author of The Forbidden Game: Golf and the Chinese Dream told Quartz. “I certainly don’t think this hints to any kind …
Read MoreVoice of America Features The Forbidden Game
Ye Yuan reports: 高尔夫球在中国是一个充满争议的运动项目。十年前,中国政府以保护耕地为理由禁止在任何地方修建球场,但过去十年里,中国的高尔夫球场数量却增长了五倍多。作为一项富人的运动,似乎没有其他项目可以像高尔夫那样折射出中国巨大的贫富差距。但与此同时,高尔夫产业的兴起也让一部分中国人受益,实现了他们的中国梦。一位美国作家在他最近出版的新书中记录了中国高尔夫球背后的故事。 2004年,中国国务院下发了暂停新建高尔夫球场的通知。当时,中国大约有170多个高尔夫球场。这项禁令执行了十年后,中国的高尔夫球场已经增加到一千个左右。 那段时间里,美国人丹尼尔-沃什伯恩一直居住在中国,为多家国际媒体担任自由撰稿人。沃什波恩在他的新书《被禁止的游戏:高尔夫与中国梦》当中记录了高尔夫在中国越禁越兴旺的矛盾现象。 Read the whole story (in Chinese).
Read MoreIBT: Amid Chinese Crackdown On Golf, Communist Ban Leaves Future Of Sport In China Uncertain
Tim Marcin writes in the International Business Times: China has stepped up efforts in 2015 to close the gap between the technical laws of the land and reality. “China has always seemed to be very good about compartmentalizing its attitudes toward golf,” Washburn said. “You …
Read MoreListen: China has seen the enemy, and it is golf
Listen to my interview with PRI on China’s ongoing crackdown on golf: Yes. Golf. That seemingly most Western of sports is a unique prism on modern China. Many Chinese want to play, but the Communist Party doesn’t like the game. And today, Communist Party officials …
Read MoreFT: Chinese players battle political attacks against ‘green opium’
Mark Wembridge writes in the The Financial Times: “Building golf courses may be illegal in China, but no other country has come close to building more than China over the past decade,” says Dan Washburn, author of The Forbidden Game: Golf and the Chinese Dream. …
Read MoreUSA Today: How an LPGA player emerged from China’s anti-golf tactics
Rachel Axon writes in an enterprise piece for USA Today: Despite restrictions imposed by the government and the sport holding virtually no space in the culture of China’s more than 1.3 billion population, golf is enjoying tremendous growth in China. Course construction has been booming …
Read MoreWSJ: In China, the Legal Status of Many Golf Courses Is Full of Holes
Alyssa Abkowitz writes in a Wall Street Journal front-page story: Lately, President Xi Jinping’s austerity campaign has sent the sport into a sand trap: More than 60 courses have been closed and several Communist Party officials are under investigation for hitting the links. Since …
Read MoreVICE: China Clamps Down on Golf Courses
Zach Bergson writes for VICE: As economic development spread rapidly in the country at the turn of the century, local and provincial governments—who own a significant portion of the nation’s land—saw golf as a way to increase their tax bases and make money, according to …
Read MoreThe Guardian: Golf loses its gloss for China’s privileged elite
Harold Thibault writes in The Guardian: The sport is getting a bad reputation in other ways. To be maintained properly, golf courses have to be watered regularly – this, at a time when northern China is suffering from chronic water shortages. And building new ones …
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