The first traditional sports meeting of universities in Shaanxi province was held in the Siyuan student activity center of Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU) on June 14.

Teams from 14 universities, including Northwest University, Chang'an University, Northwestern Polytechnical University and Shaanxi Normal University displayed more than 10 traditional sports, such as martial arts, archery, pitch-pot, dragon dance, diabolo, shuttlecock kicking, tug of war and Tai-chi.

Leaders of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Commission of Shaanxi Province, heads of relevant departments of the Shaanxi Provincial Sports Bureau, the United Front Work Department, the Education Working Committee and the Education Department of the Shaanxi Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), as well as relevant leaders of XJTU and representatives from other universities attended the activity.

The opening ceremony was presided over by Liu Changjiang, director of the XJTU Sports Center.

Wang Aimin, director of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Commission of Shaanxi Province, said that national traditional sports are an important part of Chinese sports and a precious cultural heritage of the Chinese nation, with high fitness and artistic value.

Wang hoped that colleges and universities will take the event as an opportunity to explore and practice the new mode of cultural inheritance with traditional national sports as the carrier, enhance their cultural confidence, continuously improve the quality of education, and promote the overall growth of students even as they gain from physical exercise.

Zheng Qinghua, XJTU vice president, said that China has a long history of traditional sports culture resources. Compared with basic education, traditional sports culture has had promotional advantages. 

By holding the traditional sports event, XJTU hoped to build a platform for the exchange of traditional sports among universities, further improve the quality of university sports teaching and increase people’s confidence in traditional sports culture.

Zheng hoped that the activity will promote all ethnic groups to connect closely with each other and contribute to promoting the Chinese nation towards a more inclusive and cohesive community with a shared future.

At the meeting, teams from 14 universities presented wonderful performances, after which the organizing committee issued the best performance award, the best style award, the best innovation award and the most historical and cultural award to the winning teams.

This event made students feel the charm of traditional sports, showed the connotation and implication of traditional sports culture and helped students grasp the essence of Chinese sports culture and determine to maintain a distinctive personality and cultural confidence in their place in world sports.