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AmoyMagic--Guide to Xiamen & Fujian
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Xiamen Martial Arts Young Mao Zedong's 1917 article on exercise
"Health, Wealth, or Both?" Xiamen YMCA/YWCA

Good Sports! Chinese ruffled feathers recently by claiming to have invented golf and soccer (a claim even the FIFA has lent credence to). But as far as I can tell, over the centuries most Chinese were not into physical “sports,” per se, with the exception perhaps of martial sports—archery, horsemanship, kung fu. Unlike us violent barbarians, cultured Chinese engaged in cultural pastimes—calligraphy, painting, poetry, tea. But then foreigners showed up with tennis, hunting, riding, basketball, swimming...

Eric Liddell, the Olympic gold medalist who became a missionary to China, wrote that Chinese scholars insisted on wearing their Confucian robes even as they played soccer (and tripped all over each other). But it wasn’t long before the Celestials doffed their elegant robes and gave barbarians a run for their money. And in modern sports, as well as modern education, medicine, music, arts and literature, Amoy led the nation.

The Brits introduced soccer to Amoy in 1898 and the locals have gotten a kick out of it ever since. Amoy was also a popular venue for tiger hunting, and even today Xiàmén sportsmen continue to set world records in shooting.

Gǔlàngyǔ was home to the “Father of Modern Chinese Sports,” John Ma （马约翰). He was New China's 1st professional coach (read more in “Discover Gǔlàngyǔ”), and Xiàmén athletes have been setting world records for decades. (Three Xiàmén athletes alone shared a total of 19 world championships.

Xiamen YMCA Leads Amoy Sports
Did you know that YMCA members invented basketball, volleyball, and racquetball, coined the term “bodybuilding,” and “softball,” and had the first professional American football players? And YMCA led modern sports in Xiamen, as well as in the rest of China.
Xiamen YMCA, one of China’s first, was started in April, 1912. Our “Y” (see Religion Chapter) set up Amoy’s first sports program, held Xiamen’s first sports meet (in Yanwu Ting on Nov. 27, 1915), Xiamen’s first swim meet (on a Gulangyu beach in 1913), and Xiamen’s first boat races (in the water, I suppose—in 1934). Andrew Morris wrote,

“By 1907, staff at the Tianjin YMCA were rallying their Chinese charges with the cry: When will China be able to send a winning athlete to the Olympic contests? When will China be able to invite all the world to Peking for an International Olympic contest? Nearly a century later, on the eve of China's first-ever Olympic games, this innovative book shows for the first time how sporting culture and ideology played a crucial role in the making of the modern nation-state in Republican China.”
“Marrow of the Nation—a History of Sport and Physical Culture in Republican China.”

So what to do on Amoy? Try your hand at windsurfing, kayaking or parasailing on Gǔlàngyǔ Islet. Race a go-kart on tracks have hosted international competitions (and Yuandang Lake has hosted international aquatic races). Jog, roller blade, cycle or play beach volleyball along our Island Ring Road (site of the annual Xiàmén International Marathon). Go rock climbing. Play tennis, badminton, or basketball. Play golf on some of the best courses in Asia (one designed by Greg Norman). Or try outdoor war games and paintball. And when you’re worn out and want something a little more sedate, stroll through our endless parks or along our beachfront boardwalk, which stretches for miles, then finish off your day with a fine meal in one of our thousands of restaurants—and help soul and sole with a nice Chinese foot massage. In other words…

Enjoy Amoy!