Yunnan Traditional Minority Sports Games
In order to better promote the prosperity of traditional sports for ethnic minorities in China, the Chinese government organized the first Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities in Tianjin in September 1953, which was the highest level of traditional minority sports games in China and one of the large-scale comprehensive games in China. Traditional minority sports game is a practical initiative to implement the Party and State’s ethnic policy, and have played a positive and important role in promoting ethnic unity, equality and building a harmonious society. Yunnan is a province with a large number of ethnic minorities and its traditional minority sports account for more than 40% ofthe total number of sports in the country, which makes it a “major province ofminority sports resources”. In the process ofbuilding Yunnan as an important province of ethnic culture, the development ofminority sports in Yunnan cannot be ignored.
In May 1955, during the Bai March Street Festival in Dali, Yunnan organized the“Sports Performance Conference for the Ethnic Groups in Western Yunnan”, which was later recognized as the First Traditional Minority Sports Games in Yunnan. The Conference featured performances in horse racing, equestrianism and other traditional ethnic sports,with athletes from various prefectures in western Yunnan as well as students from provincial school ofphysical training, actors from provincial art troupes and acrobats. The significance of this conference lies in the initial determination of the competition system for ethnic minority sports, which marks the traditional minority sports in Yunnan Province enter a new period.
In October 1956, young people from all ethnic groups in Yunnan launched a sports performance at the People’s Stadium in Kunming, where more than 300 people performed a variety of ethnic sports and performances, including horse racing, swinging, and horsemanship and so on.
In 1960, during the March Street Festival in Dali, a provincial sports game was held in which 250 people from different regions, prefectures and cities took part in horse racing,basketball and other minority sports. It was a small game, but all the basketball players were from ethnic minorities.
During the Cultural Revolution, the traditional games ofethnic minorities throughout the nation were stopped and Yunnan began a 20-year-long stagnation in ethnic sports activities.In 1978, the decision made in Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee set things right and made China rejuvenated. The reform and opening up accelerated the development of the national economy and enriched the cultural life of the people. Against this backdrop, the Second Yunnan Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities was held from 8 to 12 April 1982, during the March Street Festival in Dali, with events and performances in wrestling, crossbow-shooting, ethnic martial arts and so on. This was more formal province-wide traditional games of ethnic minorities held in Yunnan, and laid an important foundation for further exploration. Since then, Yunnan has held the province’s traditional games of ethnic minorities once every four years for eleven years now. It has gone through a period of recovery in the 1980s, a period of development in the 1990s and a period of prosperity in the 21st century. The number of competition events, performance events,participating ethnic groups and athletes in the traditional games for ethnic minorities in Yunnan has been on a steady rise.
Basic Information Sheet ofthe 1st-12th Yunnan Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities
The Yunnan Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities is an important part of Yunnan's ethnic sports undertakings. It has a close relationship with Yunnan's various ethnic affairs committees at all levels, the Sports Bureau and the local government, and is the result of mutual integration, support and cooperation between the three parties. The organization and management of traditional games of ethnic minorities in Yunnan is in principle the same as for other types of games, which are run by the local government. In practice, they are guided by the Yunnan Provincial Ethnic Affairs Committee and the Yunnan Provincial Sports Bureau, and are organized and managed by the local ones. There are many different ethnic groups in Yunnan Province, each with its own unique history and culture, and sports activities can take on various forms as a result. In order to organize this Games in a scientific, rigorous and efficient manner, it is necessary to conduct scientific research to clarify a number of conditions for running a good traditional games of ethnic minorities,and then make full use of practical experience to develop specific steps and methods,followed by operational guidance from the Ethnic Affairs Committee and the Sports Bureau at the higher level. The organizers need to carefully implement the above requirements in order to achieve the best results.
The Yunnan Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities is a carrier for the heritage and development of ethnic sports in the province, which makes various ethnic sports events more formal, scientific and available to the mass. Today we promote and develop traditional ethnic sports culture, fully reflecting the Communist Party of China’s ethnic policy of “equality, unity, mutual assistance and harmony”. The policy of national sports is a microcosm of the CPC’s policy of governing and promoting the country, reflecting the Party’s governing ideas of promoting ethnic equality, safeguarding ethnic unity and promoting the common development of all ethnic groups. To organize traditional games of ethnic minorities also reflects the Communist Party’s policy of developing minority sports, improving the health ofthe people, strengthening ethnic unity and promoting ethnic culture. The Yunnan Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities is an innovative initiative to integrate mass games and minority cultures. The Games have evolved from spontaneous to organized, from small to large scale, from single to diversified, and have gradually become standardized. After nearly 70 years ofeffort, the Games have basically been held once every four years, alternating between the different prefectures of the province. This has not only raised the sports standards of traditional minority sports in China, promoted ethnic unity and a sense of national self-confidence and pride, but also improved the economic, social,cultural, and sports development and infrastructure of the site of the Games, which has led to the all-round development of this region. In addition to the Yunnan Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities, regional minority games such as the Kunming Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities have been held for eleven years, as well as intra-ethnic games such as the Mongolian Naadam, which is a popular ethnic sporting event for the masses. All these events provide a broad platform for the development oftraditional sports and the integration ofall ethnic groups.
However, there have been some deviations in the development of traditional games of ethnic minorities, with more emphasis on the results of the competitions, which turns the grand event of ethnic sports into a battleground for medals from all over the Yunnan.Secondly, some traditional ethnic sports have lost their original characteristics in the transformation of traditional games of ethnic minorities. Although the Games in Yunnan Province have been successful and fruitful, we should be aware of the problems that exist at this stage: there is an unclear division of labor in the organizational management; it lacks ofspecific competition management bodies; there is insufficient funding during noncompetition periods, which is not good for the daily training of ethnic minority athletes;there is too long an interval between comprehensive ethnic minority traditional sports events, which weakens the sustainable development ofethnic minority traditional sports; the definition of “gymnastics and dance” is still unclear; it is difficult to identify and examine athletes’ qualifications; there is a lack of strategic ideas for international promotion and theoretical results on traditional sports events in Yunnan; some participants have misplaced objectives in the competition, which leads to deviations. In this critical situation, the stable development and globalization oftraditional minority sports have become a priority task for us.
Yunnan should scale up the Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities so as to increase its social impact and make the sports of Yunnan’s ethnic minorities acceptable to society.At the same time, a contribution should be made to promote the prosperity of traditional minority sports in Yunnan through the good platform of the Yunnan Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities. Specific measures are: to clarify the division oflabour so as to strengthen the development ofthe Games ; to improve the competition management of the Games; to raise funds for non-competition periods and increase funding for traditional ethnic minority sports; to improve the way of the competition system at all levels for the sustainable development of the Games; to integrate with school sports; to highlight the characteristics of ethnic sports themselves in performance events; to strictly implement the qualification system for athletes; to promote the development ofcultural diversity in sports; to strengthen theoretical research on traditional sports of ethnic minorities; and drive the scientific and sustainable development of the Games under the guidance of the Scientific Outlook on Development.