China's Government Tightens Its Grip On Golf, Shuts Down Courses
By 2004, many of China's hundreds of golf courses were found to be built on valuable farmland through corrupt land deals.
All Mapped Out: How China’s Charting Its Course as a Superpower
In February, the French daily Le Monde published a map reportedly circulated by the Chinese military. It showed the People’s Republic in the center of the globe with all else shrinking away toward the edges: “The world turned upside down for...
China Swings back at Golf, Shutting down 111 Courses
China has launched a renewed crackdown on golf, closing 111 courses in an effort to conserve water and land, and telling members of the ruling Communist Party to stay off the links.
What It’s Like Playing Golf in China
As if the land of 1.4 billion people wasn’t already exerting influence on enough global markets, China is now a big part of golf’s future
China Golf: Communist Party Bans Club Membership
Extravagant eating and drinking, and abuse of power, are also formally banned.
China Seeks Businessman Said to Have Fled to U.S., Further Straining Ties
Ling Wancheng is the younger brother of Ling Jihua, who for years held a post akin to that of the White House chief of staff.
China Cracks Down on Golf, the ‘Sport for Millionaires’
Party officials in Guangdong, home to the 12-course Mission Hills Golf Club, are now forbidden to golf during work hours.
Sinica Podcast
11.22.14
Banned but Booming: Golf in China
from Sinica PodcastDespite China's legal moratorium on the development of the golf industry, a policy driven by concerns over illegal farmland seizures and the potential misallocation of agricultural land and water resources, the golf industry has experienced an...
Dan Washburn on ‘The Forbidden Game’
In an interview, Dan Washburn discussed how a nongolfer came to write about the sport, the future prospects of golf in China and how something that is technically banned has been able to expand so quickly.
Books
07.15.14
The Forbidden Game
In China, just because something is banned, doesn't mean it can't boom. Statistically, zero percent of the Chinese population plays golf, still known as the "rich man’s game" and considered taboo. Yet China is in the midst of a golf boom—hundreds of new courses have opened in the past decade, despite it being illegal for anyone to build them. Award-winning journalist Dan Washburn charts a vivid path through this contradictory country by following the lives of three men intimately involved in China's bizarre golf scene.
Golf in China Is Younger Than Tiger Woods, but Growing Up Fast
China is producing some of the world’s best young golfers because wealthy families who have profited from the nation’s market reforms are replicating, in miniature, the formula of the socialist state sports system.
Guan Tianlang: China’s Golf Phenom To Tee It Up At The Masters
Spare a moment to consider 14-year-old Guan Tianlang. The Chinese amateur golfing phenom will make history Thursday, becoming the youngest player ever to compete at the Masters.