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The rise of ‘Green Opium’: Golf made compulsory in Chinese schools to instill manners
Golf was banned in China, after being branded a "sport for millionaires", but is now being made compulsory in schools to teach children etiquette and instill good behaviour.
China has a longstanding love-hate relationship with golf, which has been vilified by the country’s Communist rulers but enjoyed by local officials.
Labelled a “sport for millionaires” by Mao Tse-tung after he assumed power in 1949, a current war on golf is seen as part of a wider campaign by Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, on corruption and excess.
However, China has some of the best golf courses in the world and an exciting crop of teenage players who have been making an impact on major tournaments.
The rising profile of Chinese players and growing access to driving ranges and courses has helped develop interest in the sport among more affluent families from urban areas.
A state school in the commercial hub of Shanghai last year became the first to provide compulsory lessons, with the headmaster saying it provided seven- and eight-year-old pupils with “an important social skill for them to step towards international society”.
And now schools outside China’s richer, cosmopolitan cities – where parents may have never heard of Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy – are beginning to provide compulsory classes for students.
Jingwulu Primary School, in Jinan, in the eastern Shandong province, introduced the sport to “foster children's strong determination, self-discipline and manners,” headmistress Ji Yankun said.
“I don’t think I am being over dramatic in calling it a gentleman’s sport, as there is so much good etiquette involved,” she told The Telegraph.
The school has installed practice nets in its grounds and drafted in coaches from Shandong Gold Golf Club to provide compulsory training to nine-year-old pupils.
The golf club is also consulting with four other schools to roll out the training across the province.
“Many children have fallen in love with the sport, which has been called 'the green opium',” said Shandong Gold's Jiang Chunqiu, using a phrase which is often used in China to portray golf as highly enjoyable, but a dangerous foreign import.
“It is an elegant sport, and we want to train the child’s self-discipline to make them a gentleman or gentlewomen.” She said all children must first learn the “manner requirements” before they begin their lessons.
“They must apologise if they are late – even if it is less than five minutes,” she said. “And we demand that they behave themselves at all times during the competition.”
The Chinese school system is heavily focused on academic learning and pushing pupils through high-pressured exams.
The priority for parents has traditionally been for their children to achieve top marks and attend a prestigious foreign university.
However, attitudes are changing, and many now seek to encourage their children to do activities that are perceived to influence temperament and behavior, such as music, ballet or golf.
Parents in China often pay for their children to attend expensive extra-curricular lessons in sports or the arts.
Despite growing interest in golf among Chinese, the government has sought to curtail the number of golf courses being built in China, banning the construction of new courses in 2004.
But numbers have increased from less than 200 to almost 700 since the ban because of growing demand from the wealthy and lower level Communist officials.
Local governments have also encouraged the building of clubs to boost tourism and increase development opportunities.
Additional reporting by Christine Wei