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It seems quite paradoxical \u2013 like so many things that happen in this immense nation \u2013 that the country with the world\u2019s largest golf resort (Mission Hills Shenzhen, close to Hong Kong) is the same one that bans its 88 million civil servants from playing the sport.<\/span><\/p>\n The China\u2019s ruling Communist Party has listed golf and gluttony as violations for the first time as it tightens its rules to stop officials from engaging in corrupt practices, while also turning an even sterner eye on sexual impropriety.<\/p>\n Chinese President Xi Jinping has been driving a sweeping crackdown on deep-rooted graft since taking over the party\u2019s leadership in late 2012. Since then dozens of senior officials have been investigated or jailed. <\/p>\n Tales of corruption and officials\u2019 high living, including extravagant banquets and expensive rounds on golf courses, have stirred widespread public anger because bureaucrats are meant to live on modest sums and lead morally exemplary lives.<\/p>\n The new rules update existing regulations and are designed to codify more clearly what constitutes a violation of discipline, the official Xinhua news agency said. They apply to all 88 million party members for the first time, and also include a new ethical code. <\/p>\n \\Party members must separate public and private interests, put the public\u2019s interest first, and work selflessly,\u201d the Xinhua report said. Party members must also \u201cchampion simplicity and guard against extravagance\u201d. <\/p>\n \\The new discipline regulation explicitly lists extravagant eating and drinking and playing golf as violations, which were not included previously,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n Explaining the new rules and underscoring golf\u2019s negative image, the party\u2019s corruption watchdog said that golf was a game enjoyed by a former police chief who engaged in \u201cmassive\u201d bribery. A vice mayor in a southeastern Chinese city was sacked this month for belonging to a golf club and playing the game when he should have been working. <\/p>\n \n IN THE ROUGH<\/p>\n The new rules are a blow to China\u2019s nascent market for golf, which is often seen as providing an opportunity for officials to make shady deals and an extravagance for government employees.<\/p>\n \\In other countries golf is more about the sport, here it\u2019s about the social interaction. If a company boss can\u2019t play with a government official, there\u2019s little point in him spending his money,\u201d said the owner of a golf equipment store in Shanghai who only gave his surname as Huang. <\/p>\n Huang said his store\u2019s sales had dropped 30-40 percent last year. \\This year, things are even more dismal. With our regular revenues we can no longer make ends meet.<\/p>\n Party officials who play golf have already been targeted by Xi\u2019s crackdown. Last year, the government began more rigorously enforcing a decade-old ban on building new courses. In March this year, it shut down 66 golf courses. <\/p>\n There were more than 500 golf courses in China in 2013, according to state media reports, with up to 400,000 regular players. Clubs such as Wolong Lake and Nine Dragons host PGA Tour matches. <\/p>\n Golf in China has also been seen as a possible growth area for foreign firms.<\/p>\n \\We have started to look at the Asia Pacific region\u2026. China is a future, potential market, although some other markets there have higher priority,\\\u201d said Fredrik Brautigam, head of sales at privately owned Sweden-based golf apparel brand Galvin Green. <\/p>\n \\\u201dIf people in China are forbidden to play golf, if that\u2019s the case, then it (entry to the Chinese market) might be even later on our agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n The R&A, golf\u2019s ruling authority worldwide except for the United States and Mexico, had no comment. No one at the United States Golf Association was immediately available to comment, nor was an official with the PGA of America. <\/p>\n Golf industry insiders said the strict rules for officials would be a drag on the sport\u2019s wider development in China, with fewer courses open and people worried about being tainted by getting involved in the game. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It seems quite paradoxical \u2013 like so many things that happen in this immense nation \u2013 that the country with the world\u2019s largest golf resort (Mission Hills Shenzhen, close to Hong Kong) is the same one that bans its 88 million civil servants from playing the sport. The China\u2019s ruling Communist Party has listed golf […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-noticias-generales"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}