{"id":2034,"date":"2015-04-23T16:37:36","date_gmt":"2015-04-23T20:37:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danwashburn.com\/forbiddengame\/?p=2034"},"modified":"2016-05-16T11:58:00","modified_gmt":"2016-05-16T15:58:00","slug":"the-new-york-times-china-cracks-down-on-golf-the-sport-for-millionaires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/danwashburn.com\/forbiddengame\/the-new-york-times-china-cracks-down-on-golf-the-sport-for-millionaires\/","title":{"rendered":"The New York Times<\/em>: China Cracks Down on Golf, the \u2018Sport for Millionaires\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Austin Ramzy writes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

HONG KONG \u2014 President Xi Jinping\u2019s crackdown on vice and corruption in China has gone after drugs, gambling, prostitution, ill-gotten wealth and overflowing banquet tables. Now it has turned to a less obvious target: golf.
\n 
\nIn a flurry of recent reports, state-run news outlets have depicted the sport as yet another temptation that has led Communist Party officials astray. A top official at the Commerce Ministry is under investigation on suspicion of allowing an unidentified company to pay his golf expenses. The government has shut down dozens of courses across the country built in violation of a ban intended to protect China\u2019s limited supplies of water and arable land.
\n 
\nAnd in the southern province of Guangdong, home to the world\u2019s largest golf facility, the 12-course Mission Hills Golf Club, party officials have been forbidden to golf during work hours \u201cto prevent unclean behavior and disciplinary or illegal conduct.\u201d
\n 
\nThe provincial anticorruption agency has set up a hotline for reporting civil servants who violate nine specific regulations, including prohibitions on betting on golf, playing with people connected to one\u2019s job, traveling on golf-related junkets or holding positions on the boards of golf clubs.
\n 
\n\u201cLike fine liquor and tobacco, fancy cars and mansions, golf is a public relations tool that businessmen use to hook officials,\u201d the newspaper of the party\u2019s antigraft agency declared on April 9. \u201cThe golf course is gradually changing into a muddy field where they trade money for power.\u201d
\n 
\nDan Washburn, author of \u201cThe Forbidden Game: Golf and the Chinese Dream,\u201d said the crackdown was not surprising given the game\u2019s reputation in China as a capitalist pastime and the extent of Mr. Xi\u2019s prolonged campaign against corruption, which has toppled senior party and military leaders.
\n 
\n\u201cThis is Xi Jinping\u2019s China, and it\u2019s clear he\u2019s intent on making his mark,\u201d Mr. Washburn said. \u201cEveryone\u2019s a potential target in this ongoing crackdown on corruption, and golf is a particularly easy and obvious one.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the rest here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Austin Ramzy writes: HONG KONG \u2014 President Xi Jinping\u2019s crackdown on vice and corruption in China has gone after drugs, gambling, prostitution, ill-gotten wealth and overflowing banquet tables. Now it has turned to a less obvious target: golf.   In a flurry of recent reports, … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2035,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,24],"tags":[4,336,7,85,21,360],"class_list":["post-2034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-featured","tag-china","tag-crackdowns","tag-golf","tag-new-york-times","tag-press","tag-quoted"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/danwashburn.com\/forbiddengame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/danwashburn.com\/forbiddengame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/danwashburn.com\/forbiddengame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danwashburn.com\/forbiddengame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danwashburn.com\/forbiddengame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2034"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/danwashburn.com\/forbiddengame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2036,"href":"http:\/\/danwashburn.com\/forbiddengame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2034\/revisions\/2036"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danwashburn.com\/forbiddengame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/danwashburn.com\/forbiddengame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danwashburn.com\/forbiddengame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danwashburn.com\/forbiddengame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}