The 88 million members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) can now play golf, a sport that was banned in the 1940s under Mao Zedong because it was considered a sport for millionaires.
Last year the CCP banned its affiliates from playing golf, considering the sport’s image as a crucible for illegal business. The measure was part of an anti-corruption campaign launched by President Xi Jinping, which among other prohibited activities included succumbing to gluttony and engaging in “improper sexual relations”.
This week however, the official journal of China’s anti-corruption agency has revoked the golf ban under the following argument: “There is no impropriety in playing golf,” as it is “just a sport.”
While CCP cadres are still prohibited from accepting golf memberships and other golf-related benefits as gifts, members roughing it out with their own funds would no longer be in violation of party rules.
“Playing golf is not a crime,” reports China Daily.
The golf ban caused a large number of “victims”. In September, 60 state employees were punished for spending public funds on golf courses. A month later, the vice mayor of a southern Chinese city was fired for playing golf often paying suspiciously low membership fees.
China’s relationship with golf has been stormy. Although golf was banned in 1949 in the wake of China’s communist revolution, the sport began to flourish in the 1980s following economic and social reforms initiated by then-leader Deng Xiaoping.
In 2004, China announced that the construction of new golf facilities was banned. Even so, the number of courses eventually doubled to 600 in 2015.
Increasingly, it is the environmental impact rather than the perceived venality that many Chinese railroads make Following the sport’s acceptance at this summer’s Rio Olympics, public interest and investment has sparked a new generation of stars. Jin Cheng, 18, was playing in the Augusta Masters this month, following his victory at the 2015 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship.
China has the two golf resorts with the most courses in the world, Mission Hills Shenzhen, with twelve courses, and Mission Hills Haikou, with ten. The former is therefore in the Guinness Book of Records.
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