Fitness is all the rage, in case you haven’t noticed. And China is intent on capitalising on the movement to bring further impetus to a national-fitness program aimed at creating a healthier populace, fit for satisfying the productivity demands of the latter 21st century.
Nanjing is no exception. On 9 March was held a press conference to reveal plans for the continued implementation of fitness provision in Nanjing for 2023.
The press conference was held to supposedly interpret the recently-issued “Implementation Opinions on Building a Higher Level Public Service System for Fitness for All” (关于构建更高水平的全民健身公共服务体系的实施意见).
Therein, it was revealed that Nanjing will this year rebuild five sports parks, and realise 100 kilometres of fitness trails, 15 public gyms and 40 sports grounds equipped with illumination for night-time use.
To put further numbers on that, by 2025, there shall be 4.2 square metres of sports venues per-capita area in Nanjing, and the proportion of people who regularly participate in physical exercise will reach 44 percent, as Jiangsu Now has reported.
But how are we going to get to such public fitness levels?
The “Opinions” emphasise the building of a so-called, “10-minute community fitness circle”. That means new residential communities should come equipped with public-fitness facilities amounting to no less than 0.1 square metres of indoor, and 0.3 square meters of outdoor, per-capita land use devoted to fitness.
Away from residential communities, Nanjing shall utilise spaces nearby bodies of water and mountains, and combine them with resources such as parks, public open spaces and villages, to build a network of sports and fitness trails.
Su Ling, Director of the Detailed Planning Division of Nanjing Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau, was quoted as saying that appropriate and convenient supporting services shall also be laid on.
At present, Nanjing has three municipal sports centres; the Olympic Sports Centre, Wutai Shan and the Nanjing Youth Olympic Sports Park. These are fed from three sub-municipal sports centres; those in Jiangning, Lishui and Gaochun.
