Infographic: Physical activities for persons with disabilities flourish in China

By Zhang Zhou

Physical activities for persons with disabilities have flourished in China, said a white paper, titled "China's Parasports: Progress and the Protection of Rights," on Mar. 3, 2022.

China regards rehabilitation and fitness activities for persons with disabilities as one of the main components in implementing its national strategies of Fitness-for-All, Healthy China initiative, and Building China into a Country Strong in Sports.

By carrying out parasports activities across the whole country, enriching the content of such activities, improving sports services, and intensifying scientific research and education, China has encouraged the disabled to become more active participants in rehabilitation and fitness activities.

Flourishing Physical activities

The participation rate in grassroots cultural and sports activities for persons with disabilities in China has spiraled, from 6.8 percent in 2015 to 23.9 percent in 2021.

Nationalwide Parasports events

Since 2007, China has been organizing activities to popularize National Special Olympics Day, which falls on July 20 every year. Since 2011, around the National Fitness Day each year, China has been organizing nationwide parasports activities to mark the Fitness Week for Persons with Disabilities, during which events such as wheelchair Tai Chi, Tai Chi ball, and blind football games have been held.

Winter sports for persons with disabilities

Every year since 2016 China has hosted a Winter Sports Season for Persons with Disabilities, providing them with a platform to participate in winter sports, and fulfilling the Beijing 2022 bid commitment of engaging 300 million people in winter sports.

Rehabilitation and fitness services

As of 2020, a total of 10,675 disabled-friendly sports venues had been built nationwide, a total of 125,000 instructors had been trained, and 434,000 households with severely disabled people had been provided with home-based rehabilitation and fitness services.

Parasports education and research

As of 2021, more than 20 parasports projects were being supported by the National Social Science Fund of China.

(Photo source: Xinhua)