Sports and Recreation

Yangmingshan National Park, located just north of Taipei City, is renowned for its many tourist attractions, such as this nursery for calla lilies. (Courtesy of Yu Chia-jung, Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation & Communications)

Since entering the 21st century, the ROC government has actively encouraged the development of sports for the health and happiness of the Taiwanese people. In particular, the National Council on Physical Fitness and Sports (NCPFS) 體育委員會─Taiwan’s highest sports organization─continues to promote “sports for all people” to improve the people’s physical fitness, strengthen the environment for competitive sports, and elevate professional athlete’s preparedness for international competition.

Sports Facilities

In densely populated Taiwan, well-equipped sports facilities are highly sought after by people who take their physical health seriously. Therefore, from 1998 to 2001, the NCPFS provided more than NT$2 billion to renovate or build 1,183 sports facilities, including 43 county or city coliseums, 24 township or district stadiums, 27 township or district swimming pools, 18 sports parks, 692 community sports grounds, lighting facilities for 335 sports grounds, and 25 county sports and recreation centers. The Taiwan area also has 46 major public stadiums with artificial tracks, and every county and major city has numerous school playgrounds and a network of baseball parks.

In early November 2001, a groundbreaking ceremony was held at the site of the Taipei City Baseball Stadium for the multifunctional Taipei Sports Dome, which is scheduled for completion in 2004. The 15,000-seat stadium, which is being built at a cost of around US$1 billion, will be used for concerts, band performances, and art exhibitions in addition to athletic activities.

The ROC Sports Federation

The Republic of China Sports Federation is the main organization in charge of amateur sports in Taiwan and is under the auspices of the NCPFS.

The primary responsibilities of the Sports Federation are to provide member sports associations with technical and administrative assistance, raise their sports standards and administrative efficiency, increase participation in international competitions, and train athletes. The Sports Federation currently has 63 national sports associations as its members, representing a variety of sports ranging from archery, baseball, and basketball, to weightlifting, wrestling, and yacht sailing.

International Competition

Fishing is slowly increasing in popularity amongst the Taiwanese as a recreational activity for providing inner peace, tranquility, and an escape from Taiwan's fast-paced society. (Courtesy of Lai Jhao-yu)

Since the 1984 Olympics, the ROC has competed in international competitions under the name of “Chinese Taipei.” 

In 2002, 1,013 male and 583 female Taiwanese athletes participated in 125 international tournaments and competitions, bringing home a total of 135 gold, 131 silver, and 100 bronze medals.

The Chinese Taipei women’s softball team earned a spot in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games after placing third in the 2002 International Softball Federation Women’s World Softball Championship held July 26 to August 4, 2002, in Saskatoon, Canada.

The 14th Asian Games were held September 29 to October 14, 2002, in Busan, South Korea, with 6,714 athletes from 44 Asian countries and regions competing in 38 events. The Chinese Taipei delegation to the games placed eighth on the medal table, winning 10 gold, 17 silver, and 25 bronze medals in events such as archery, billiards, cycling, tae kwon do, and tennis.

From June 21 to June 29, 2003, some 7,000 athletes from 166 delegations competed in the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Dublin, Ireland. The 48-member delegation from Taiwan won 10 gold, 13 silver, and 13 bronze medals in events such as track and field, swimming, table tennis, badminton, bowling, roller-skating, bocce, and equestrian.

In the Summer Universiade Daegu 2003 held August 21-31 in South Korea, the Taiwanese delegation won a total of 11 medals─one gold and three bronzes in men’s tae kwon do; two silvers and one bronze in women’s tae kwon do; one bronze in women’s judo; two golds in tennis, and one silver in women’s volleyball─ placing it in 11th on the medal table out of 45 participating countries.

In the past, Taiwanese baseball players were usually only recognized domestically for their outstanding performances on the field. Recently, however, they have begun to catch the attention of international baseball recruiters, and several have launched careers on famous teams in Japan and the US, including Chang Chih-jia 張誌家 and Hsu Ming-chieh 許銘傑, pitchers for the Seibu Lions in Japan; Chen Chin-feng 陳金鋒, first baseman for the AAA Las Vegas 51s; Wang Chien-ming 王建民, pitcher for the AA Yankees Trenton Thunder; and Tsao Chin-hui 曹錦輝, who began pitching for the Colorado Rockies in July 2003.

Dragon Boat Racing

Every year, counties and cities around Taiwan hold dragon boat races and related activities during the Dragon Boat Festival. In 2002, the international dragon boat races held in Taipei attracted over a hundred teams, including six foreign teams from the UK, Japan, the US, Thailand, and South Africa. In addition, Taipei County hosted its first international dragon boat event, the International Formosa Dragon Boat Racing Invitation 2002, with foreign participants including teams from the US, Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Germany, Indonesia, and Portugal. Other counties and cities in Taiwan hosting large dragon boat races included Yilan County and Kaohsiung City and County.

World Sports Events in the ROC

In recent years, the ROC has played host to a growing number of international competitions in Taiwan in order to foster international exchanges and provide outstanding competition for local sports fans. Some of the major world sporting events held in Taiwan from 2002 to 2003 include the Asia-Pacific Junior Gold Championships, the Chinese Taipei International Athletic Meet, the Taroko Marathon, the 2002 International University Baseball Tournament, the Taiwan 49er Grand Prix 2002, the First CISS World Deaf Bowling Championship, and the Yilan International Collegiate Invitational Regatta. In addition, Taiwan was selected to host the Junior World Championships in 2004 and the World Games for the Deaf in 2009.

Youth World Baseball Championship 2003

In August 2003, Taiwan hosted the 11th Youth World Baseball Championship in Kaohsiung. This 10-day tournament featured teams from nine nations and helped to inject new life into the island’s baseball fans, reinvigorating the once popular sport. The championship was won by the US, which beat Taiwan 11-7. Cuba beat Australia 10-9 to clinch third place, while Japan placed fifth, South Korea sixth, the Czech Republic seventh, South Africa eighth, and the Dominican Republic ninth.

Guoshu (Kuoshu, Chinese Martial Arts)

Guoshu is a collection of more than 20 different styles of martial arts, including the well-known tai chi chuan, and has long been recognized as a competitive event in the Asian games. Reflective of Taiwan’s commitment to guoshu, the Chinese Taipei Kuoshu Federation receives funding directly from the NCPFS, and Taiwan is the headquarters of the International Chinese Kuoshu Federation.

In the 2002 Asian Games, Taiwan’s Chan Ming-shu 詹明樹 won a silver medal in men’s tai chi chuan, Li Hou-jheng 李後政 won a bronze medal in the men’s 52-kg division of san da 散打 (Chinese fighting), and Ye Jyun-chang 葉俊昌 won a bronze medal in the men’s 56-kg division of san da.

Training Amateur Athletes

To identify and train potential athletes and develop new sports with distinctive features, the central government continues to assist and guide county and city governments in establishing basic-level training centers, which are under sports and recreation centers. The Zuoying National Athletes’ Training Center operated by the NCPFS provides comprehensive training to national team members and prepares them for international competitions, such as the Olympics and Asian Games.

To encourage athletes, the ROC government gives special medals and monetary awards via the Guoguang award program to recognize and reward outstanding sports professionals for excellent performances in either national or international competitions. Since the start of the program in 1983 up until 2001, the government has awarded 8,831 Guoguang medals and US$59 million to coaches and athletes.

Indigenous Athletes

The most famous athlete in ROC history is Yang Chuan-kwang 楊傳廣 of the Amis indigenous people, who won the silver medal in the decathlon at the 1960 Rome Olympics. Since then, in recognition of Yang’s achievements and that of the Amis baseball team from Taitung County, which won the ROC’s first World Little League Baseball Championship, the ROC Sports Federation has organized special programs to cultivate the athletic talent of indigenous athletes. One of these programs is the Pacific League, which was started in 1993 with the aid of the Chinese Taipei Amateur Baseball Association and several indigenous professional baseball players. The league organizes baseball games and clinics for children in Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung Counties.

The biennial Aboriginal Sports Meet was held in Miaoli County from March 28 to April 1, 2003. With around 2,700 indigenous athletes from 98 cities and counties participating, the competition included events such as track and field, marathon, eight-person tug-of-war, boxing, traditional dance, traditional archery, traditional wrestling, heavy-load racing, table tennis, and judo. Ninety-six athletes broke records in 30 events at the meet. Kaohsiung County, which won the overall championship for 2003, will host the next meet in 2005.

Sports for Disabled People

The NCPFS established the Sports for the Disabled Committee, which is responsible for planning and implementing various sports activities for mentally and physically handicapped citizens, as well as for building free-access facilities for the disabled. The Chinese Taipei Sports Federation for the Disabled, which is supported and guided by the NCPFS and the Ministry of Education, also helps to promote sports for the disabled. The 2002 National Sports Games for the Mentally and Physically Disabled was held in Pingtung County.

The Far East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled was held October 26 to November 1, 2002, in Busan, South Korea. A total of 2,420 athletes and officials from 40 nations and territories attended the games, which had fierce competition in 17 events for 435 gold medals. The Taiwanese delegation placed sixth on the medal table with 17 gold, 25 silver, and 21 bronze medals.

At the World Championships for the Blind held in Quebec, Canada, in August 2003, Taiwanese athletes won a gold and three silver medals: Lee Ching-chung 李青忠, gold medal for judo; Hu Hsin-chung 胡馨中, two silver medals in women’s swimming; and Chiang Shih-chung 江志忠, silver medal in javelin.

At the Czech Open 2003 Table Tennis Tournament for the Disabled, a 14-member Taiwanese delegation won one silver medal and one bronze medal.

Professional Golf

Due to Taiwan’s limited space, the development of golf in Taiwan is quite restricted. However, the ROC Professional Golfer’s Association (ROC PGA) has been helping to promote the exercise and recruits many new members annually through professional golfer examinations and one coach qualification test.

In 2002, two Asian PGA tournaments, the Mercuries Masters and the Acer Taiwan Open, were held in Taiwan. Taiwan’s Tsai Chi-huang 蔡啟煌 romped to an emphatic five-stroke victory in the US$300,000 Mercuries Master, and two Taiwanese players─Hsieh Yu-shu 謝玉樹 and Lin Chie-hsiang 林吉祥─tied for second place in the Acer Taiwan Open.

At the ANA Open held September 18-21, 2003, in Sapporo, Japan, Taiwan’s Yeh Wei-tze 葉偉志 won his first PGA championship and 20 million yen in prize money with an 11-under total of 277. In August 2003, Taiwan’s 22-year-old Candie Kung 龔怡平 finished the 72-hole Wachovia LPGA Classic with a 14-under total of 274, collecting US$180,000 in prize money and marking her second victory of the year since her triumph at the Takefuji Classic in April.

Professional Baseball

Through December 2002, Taiwan had two professional baseball organizations, the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) and the Taiwan Major League (TML). The debut of the CPBL and the TML in the 1990s rekindled the enthusiasm that Taiwanese baseball fans used to have in the 1970s, when Taiwan’s professional baseball delegations excelled in major international games. However, soon thereafter, various adversities began to create fierce competition between the two leagues. Owing to this phenomenon and encouraged by Taiwan’s successful hosting of the 34th Baseball World Cup in 2001, baseball officials began to push the government, the TML, and the CPBL to consider a merger or acquisition of the two so as to expand baseball’s fan base in Taiwan. On January 13, 2003, the TML and the CPBL were successfully merged to create the Chinese Professional Baseball League, which consists of six teams: the Brother Elephants, President Lions, Sinon Bulls, China Trust Whales, First Bank Agan, and Makoto Bank Gida.

Professional Billiards

Cooperation between the private sector and the government has allowed Taiwanese athletes to excel at billiards in international sports competitions. Since 1987, the ROC Billiard Association has held a series of national professional billiards open ranking competitions in order to establish a system for assessing the competitiveness of professional players.

At the WPA World 9-Ball Championships for Women and Juniors held July 5-7, 2002, in Kaohsiung, Taiwanese athletes Liu Shin-mei 柳信美 and Chen Ying-jie 陳英傑 won the gold medals in the women’s division and the junior division, respectively.

In 2003, the 11th and 12th APBU Asian 9-Ball Championships were held in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in February and Jakarta, Indonesia, in July, respectively. Taiwanese billiard players were at the top of the list at both competitions, with Liu Shin-mei and Fu Jhe-wei 傅哲偉 winning gold medals in the women’s and men’s competitions, respectively, in Kaohsiung, and Liu Shin-mei winning a silver medal in the women’s division and Guo Bo-cheng 郭柏成 winning a bronze medal in the men’s division in Jakarta.

Cross-Strait Sports Exchanges

The government has assisted and guided local associations and organizations to hold sports exchanges with China, including visits by athletes from Taiwan’s various colleges on physical education and sports to attend seminars in China on cross-strait sports terminology, on sports, and leisure culture. Athletes from China competing in Taiwan are allowed to apply for entry upon arrival, and between 1992 and 2002, 5,155 mainland athletes entered Taiwan. In 2001, the government announced regulations allowing Taiwan sports professionals to work for sports teams on the mainland, furthering exchanges between the two sides. In 2002, the NCPFS approved 34 out of the 35 applications submitted by Taiwanese coaches and players wishing to work for sports teams in China, primarily in basketball, table tennis, and baseball. That same year, the NCPFS processed 935 applications from China─a 20 percent increase compared with the 780 applications submitted in 2001─and approved 71 of them, mainly in the fields of table tennis, bridge, and basketball. This growth in the number of applicants shows how cross-strait sports exchanges have intensified in recent years.

Since January 1997, the China Olympic Committee on the mainland and the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee in Taiwan have taken turns to host the Cross-strait Olympic Committees Conference on Sports Exchanges. The fourth conference was held in Taipei on May 7, 2001.

Recreation

A survey released by Roper Starch Worldwide in June 2001 reported that the Taiwanese people worked on average 53.4 hours per week, placing Taiwan in fourth place out of the 32 countries participating in the survey. First place went to South Koreans, who worked 55.1 hours per week, while Americans worked 42.4 hours per week.

Another survey performed by Hong Kong’s Asia Market Intelligence in August 2001 on six Asian countries showed that 51 percent of all Taiwanese felt great pressure from work, ranking Taiwan in second place after China’s 53 percent. In addition, 78 percent of Taiwan respondents between 31 and 40 years of age were worried about job security, and 73 percent were worried about Taiwan’s unstable political situation. Only 26 percent of those surveyed had sought out relaxation methods.

To encourage all citizens to seek a balance between work and leisure, the government has established sports and recreation centers around the island, such as the Taipei Youth Activity Center, which opened in 2001. The government has also promoted domestic tourism through the development of new travel packages, and the creation of a tourist service network. In 2003, a national tourism card that combined a credit card with domestic travel services began to be issued to Taiwan’s public servants, who receive a US$228.50 subsidy for one week of mandatory, paid vacation spent in Taiwan, up to a maximum of US$457 for two weeks of vacation.

In addition, the Council of Agriculture 農業委員會 under the Executive Yuan has allocated a subsidy of US$26 million to promote the “one county, one recreational farm” plan. In August 2001, the council selected 50 qualified areas around the island to proceed with the plan, which is aimed at uniting ecology, scenery, life, agricultural development, and community culture through the construction of farm villages that possess both regional assets and characteristics.

Regarding indoor recreation, Taiwan has a diversity of popular leisure activities for Taiwanese youths to relieve themselves from the pressures of studies and work, such as going to the gym to keep fit, surfing the web in Internet cafes, singing Karaoke at KTVs, reading comic books, and playing computer or video games.