Mr. Yang Hua make a speech on China Youth Sports Forum 2017

　　深化青少年体育改革 促进青少年身心健康 体魄强健

　　杨桦 原北京体育大学党委书记、校长，博士生导师、教授

　　Carrying Adolescent sports Reform Further and Promoting the Physical and Mental Health of Adolescents

　　Yang Hua, Former Party Secretary, President, Doctoral Supervisor & Professor of Beijing Sport University

　　把我多年从事教育工作，特别是青少年体育这一块给大家做一个交流，谈一下体会。我来分成三个部分，第一部分简单地讲一讲，充分认识青少年体育的重要地位与价值。有时间再讲一讲对策和思路。

　　I have been engaged in education for many years. Now, I would like to update you about my experience in education, especially in adolescent sports. My speech includes three parts. In the first part, I will make a brief introduction so that all of us can fully understand the importance and value of adolescent sports. Time permitting, I will talk about countermeasures and ideas.

　　第一部分，体育是人类社会发展的产物。大家都知道，我就简单地说一下我们中国在近代，从1932年刘长春身参加奥运会，再到“乒乓球外交”，以“小球转动大球”，再到2008年中国首次位居奥运金牌榜首，这个进步的话主要还是我们国家青少年的进步。从国家战略来讲，国家战略里面它包含了三个瑶族，一个是振奋民族精神，展示大国形象，还有一个交流。习近平总书记对体育的地位和价值作出了全面的论述，强调了体育在促进人的全面发展中发挥着不可替代的重要作用。体育的本质与核心价值在于教育，青少年体育作为体育与教育融合的平台和载体，必须发挥出更加重要的作用。青少年体育是促使学校回归育人本原，促进学生全面发展的重要论述。主要的标题就是把体育回归到教育的本原，从我们现在奥林匹克，创立奥运会，与本身最早奥运会的原意，来教育和团结广大青少年这么一种形式。体育是教育的起点和先导，它在完善人格有不可替代的作用。我们国家著名的教育家蔡元培，还是亚里士多德他们，都说体育是“三育”是发展的重科技。

　　First and foremost, sports are the product of social development of human beings. The history of sports development in modern China may be familiar to everyone. Liu Changchun’s participating in the Olympic Games in 1932, “Ping-pong Diplomacy” that marked an ice-thawing process in Sino-American relations as well as China’s ranking the top of the Olympic gold medal list in 2008 for the first time, have all witnessed our country’s great progress, in which the progress of adolescents is significant. From the perspective of national strategy, sports are of significance in three aspects – inspiring national spirit, demonstrating the image of a great power and promoting communications. General Secretary Xi Jinping has made a comprehensive description of the status and value of sports, emphasizing the irreplaceable role of sports in promoting people’s all-round development. The essence and core value of sports lie in education. As a platform for and embodiment of the integration of sports and education, adolescent sports should weigh more significantly. Adolescent sports are important propositions that promote the return of schools to the nature of education in a bid to facilitate students’ all-round development. The main purpose is to return sports to the origin of education. From the revival of modern Olympics, the creation of the Olympic Games, to the original intention of the Olympic Games, sports have been acting as a method to educate and unite the majority of adolescents. As the starting point and perquisite of education, sports play an irreplaceable role in improving personality. Apart from Cai Yuanpei, China’s famous educator, Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher and others, all commented that sports were very important in people’s moral, intellectual and physical development.

　　体育在促进人的全面发展中发挥着独特作用，德乃智之帅，智乃德之资，体乃德智之舟。毛主席在《体育之研究》研究中专门说体者，载知识之车而娱道德之舍也。毛主席还讲到体育之效，至于强禁锢，因而增知识，因而调感情。

　　Sports function uniquely in enhancing the overall development of people. People’s morality governs intelligence while the latter forms the basis of the former, however, it is sports that serve as the carrier for the development of the two. In The Study of Physical Education, Chairman Mao stated that human body was the carrier of knowledge and warehouse of morality. Furthermore, the statement that sports could help people enhance their physical fitness, thus enabling them to learn more and manage their emotions.

　　第二，强化青少年体育工作是提审我国的国际竞争力，实现“两个百年”奋斗目标的基础和保障。人是生产力中最革命、最活跃的因素。在日趋激烈的国际竞争中各国都纷纷把全面提高国民素质、增强人才竞争力作为国家级战略。首先应该还是青少年的强和弱，这个是影响我们国家战略和人才竞争力的首要因素。日本出台了增进国民健康运动十年计划”里面主要大量的条款还是谈及到青少年体育健康。还有美国出台了“健康公民计划”，其中大量的篇幅和条款也是涉及到广大青少年学生体育的教育。

　　Secondly, strengthening adolescent sports is the foundation and guarantee for China to improve its international competitiveness and achieve the Two Centenary Goals. People are the most revolutionary and active factor in productivity. In the increasingly fierce international competitions, all countries, without exception, putting fully improving the quality of people and enhancing the competitiveness of talents high on their national agenda. The first priority should be whether adolescents are strong or weak, which is the primary factor affecting our national strategy and talent competitiveness. Japan launched the Healthy Japan 21 Project-National Health Promotion in the 21 Century ( “Healthy Japan 21” for short), in which adolescent sports and health were involved in a number of terms. So did the Healthy People Program, which was launched by the United States.

　　从国际看，我们要站在国家战略的高度，重视青少年体育事业发展，促进青少年身心健康、全面发展，不断提高我国的国际竞争力。从国内看，总书记发出了“少年强，青年强则中国强”的号召，少年强、青年强是多方面的，包括思想品德、学习成绩、创新能和、动手能力，也包括身体健康、体魄强健体育精神等等。青少年的身心健康、体魄强健是衡量民族旺盛生命力的重要标志，是国家现有及潜在综合实力的重要体现，也是实现“两个百年”奋斗目标和中国梦的重要生力军。我们必须增强忧患意识，坚持从学校抓起，从娃娃抓起，不断深化青少年体育工作改革，促进青少年学生体魄更强健，身心更健康。

　　Internationally speaking, we must focus on the development of adolescent sports, promote the physical and mental health of adolescents, and continuously improve China’s international competitiveness for the sake of our national strategy. Domestically speaking, General Secretary Xi has made a call that “China will be strong if the young are strong”. Adolescents should become strong in many aspects, including morality, academic performances, innovation abilities, practice abilities as well as physical health and sports spirit. The physical and mental health of adolescents is a significant symbol measuring the vitality of a nation, performing as an embodiment of a country’s existing and potential comprehensive strength and an important force for achieving the Two Centenary Goals and the Chinese Dream. We must improve the awareness of crisis and hardships, insist on starting from schools and children, constantly carry the adolescent sports reform further, and thus make adolescents physically and mentally stronger and healthier.

　　第三，青少年体育是办人民满意的教育，办强国体育的重要抓手。发展青少年体育是办人民满意教育的突破口，党的十八大对我国教育工作卓作出了全面部署。以人为本，改善民生的角度，把促进人的全面发展、适应社会需要作为衡量教育质量的根本标准，把促进学生健康成长作为办学的宗旨。知道从思想上重视清说年体育，摆在工作更加突出的位置，推动青少年体育工作的改革。

　　Thirdly, adolescent sports are a key point for developing people-satisfied education and for promoting sports in a great power. The development of adolescent sports is a breakthrough in achieving people-satisfied education. The 18th Party Congress of the Communist Party of China has made a comprehensive plan for China’s education. From the perspective of putting people first and improving people’s livelihood, we should consider promoting the overall development of people and adapting to social needs as the fundamental criterion for measuring the quality of education, and we should consider promoting the healthy growth of students as the purpose of education. We should keep in mind that adolescent sports must be emphasized and placed in a more prominent position, and thus the reform of adolescent sports will be pushed forward.

　　发展青少年体育是办强国体育的重要基础。青少年体育与竞技体育从相互独立到紧密融合，这个我们国家过去有很好的经验，从上个世纪50年代再到我们的普及与提高，再到我们创造了一整套三级的业余训练网络，还有多多体育的特色项目，传统项目，我自己个人认为，尽管这些做法是在我们国家高度集中地计划经济体制下形成的产物，但我还是感觉到我上述的做法，新中国成立以来，特别是对我们国家青少年体育运动的发展，应该是起到了不可替代的作用，我觉得在当前的感觉和今后的感觉当中，应该要好好地反思下继承发展与传承关系。因为现在一提到青少年体育就讲到体育和文化这样一种冲突，就讲到文化学习和体育好像是风马牛不相及的两个东西，而且是互相冲突的。我觉得在欧美发达国家，当一个国家的社会进步到一定程度，我觉得体育和文化教育本来就是融为一体的，并且发达的、先进的、科学的文化教育体制，本身体育就是它重要的组成部分，不可分离的。

　　The development of adolescent sports is an important foundation for promoting sports in a great power. Our country has had very good experience in facilitating the fusion of adolescents sports and competitive sports from a independent situation Since 1950s, we have popularized and improved sports and realized the establishment of a set of three-level amateur training network. In addition, there have been a lot of special sports and traditional sports. As far as I am concerned, although these practices were products under our highly centralized planed economy, I still think that they have played an irreplaceable role in the development of sports since the founding of the PRC, especially for the advance of our adolescent sports. I suggest that we should think about the relationship between inheritance and development at present and in the future. Today, when talking about adolescent sports, some people may speak of the conflicts between sports and culture, and may believe that learning and sports seem to have no connection with each other at all. Taking European countries and America as an example, we can find that sports and cultural education have always been integrated when a country makes social progress to a certain degree. Furthermore, sports are indispensible to a cultural education system which is well-developed, advanced and scientific in nature.

　　青少年体育是培养体育后备人才的摇篮。谈到我们青少年体育存在的一些问题，特别是在我们当前的学校教育当中，我市多次在政协的会议也好，还是在我自己的提案里面，还是在文章里面，还是一般的谈论当中我都大声的提出，如果我们今天学校教育还像我们现在，从幼儿教育到小学、中学、高中，还是这么一套教育体系和制度，我觉得少年强则中国强，这个任务可能就更加地遥远。

　　Adolescent sports are a cradle for cultivating reserve sports talents. When talking about the problems existing in adolescent sports, especially in our current school education, be it at political consultative conferences, in my proposals, in my articles, or in general discussions, I put forward my ideas for many times. I think that the goal – “China will be strong if the young are strong” – may be more far away to reach if our school education will still be like what exist at present and if such a set of education system will still be in practice from early childhood education to primary, secondary and senior high school.

　　发展青少年体育是强国体育的重要基础。西方发达国家竞技体育后备人才培养模式是以市场为主，政府为辅。再就是青少年体育肩负着学生的健康，提高学生的健康水平，培养良好的思想品德，形成终身体育理念的发展重任。从它的系统性、连贯性、可塑性，都应该在我们当今的全民健身，甚至为国家战略的实施当中占有举足轻重的地位。因为不一定我们国家，从人口分布来说，现在在校的青少年是4亿多人，这个还不算四五岁以下的婴幼儿，我们国家要把体育发展的重点放在青少年身上，要把青少年的体育放在中国正在崛起伟大的过程当中作为一个举足轻重的事情来做。

　　The development of adolescent sports lays a solid foundation for promoting sports in a great power. In western developed countries, the model of training reserve talents for competitive sports is based on the market and supplemented by the government. In addition, adolescent sports shoulder the responsibility of improving the health of students, cultivating good moral characters, and helping them establish the concept of lifelong physical exercise. As adolescent sports are systematic, coherent and adjustable, they weight a lot both in national fitness and the implementation of national strategy. From the point of population distribution of age, today China embraces more than 400 million adolescents in schools, which does not include the number of infants and children under the age of four or five. Adolescents sports should be given a priority to by our country and should be considered as paramount in the process of rejuvenation.

　　二、我们国家青少年体育发展的现状与问题

　　2014年是全国青少年体育制度建设年，教育部年内印发了《学生体制健康监测评价办法》、《中小学校体育工作评估办法》、《学校体育工作年度报告办法》等。2015年《总统足球改革发展总体方案》的出台，进一步改革推进校园足球和学校体育的发展。2016年，《青少年体育“十三五”规划》提出，要加强青少年体育、完善青少年体育公共服务体系、强化竞技体育后备人才的培养。

　　II. Status and problems of China’s adolescent sports development

　　2014 marked the year for building national adolescent sports system, during which Monitoring and Evaluation Methods on Physical Health of Students, Assessment Methods on Sport in Primary and Middle Schools and Methods on the Annual Report of School Sport were issued by Ministry of Education. In 2015, the Overall Plan of the Reform and Development of Chinese Football was lunched, aiming to further reform and promote the development of campus football and school sports. In 2016, Adolescent sports in the 13th Five-Year Plan Period was proposed, emphasizing that we should strengthen adolescent sports, improve its public service system and enhance the cultivation of reserve competitive talents.

　　下面现状和问题有这么几个要点，一是青少年体育工作未得到应有的重视，仍处于“说起来重要，做淇河次要、忙起来不要的尴尬地位。二是青少年体育热生动力不足，集合保障设施建设仍不完善、青少年体育的吸引力仍需提高。目前我国超过60%以上的学校体育设施、器材配置没有达到国家要求的标准和配置。体育设施和场地器材的匮乏，导致学校体育难以正常进行。当前60%的学生的居住环境不具备体育运动条件。当前我们看到更多的是北京上海、广州、深圳这样的大城市，或者中等以上的城市和省会城市，在我们14亿人的国度里面，60%、70%都是广大的农村和边城地区。经过连续四年的调查和考察，特别是我们北京上海工作的同志。

　　Status and main problems are as follows. To begin with, adolescent sports have not received as much attention as it should. It is still “important when being talked about, less important when being implemented, and unnecessary when people are busy”. Moreover, adolescent sports are lacking in enthusiasm, the construction of security facilities and attraction. At present, sports facilities and equipment configuration in more than 60% of our schools does not meet national standards and requirements, which results in the difficult implementation of school sports. Our personnel, especially those from Beijing and Shanghai, have conducted surveys and investigations for four consecutive years. According to the results, currently 60% of students have no access to sports conditions in their living environment. Good sports conditions generally exist in large cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, or in medium-sized cities and provincial capitals. China has a population of 1.4 billion, in which 60%-70% live in rural and remote areas.

　　在休息和节假日里，外出运动的学生不足30%;每天锻炼2小时的学生仅为6.3%，锻炼3小时的仅为1.3%;平日里参加课外活动的初中生仅为8%，高中生为10.5%。每天锻炼2小时的学生只有21.3%，锻炼3小时的也只有21.3%。平日里参加课外活动的初中生达到65.4%，高中生为34.5%，这是日本的。对于美国，平日里参加课外活动的初中生达62.8%，高中生为53.3%。美国5到12年级学生每周课外体育活动时间平均为12.6小时，每周的体育课时间平均为2.35小时，学生体育活动主要是户外活动。三是学生体制健康状况下降的趋势未得到根本性的扭转。中央7号文件要求“通过5年左右的时间，使我国青少年普遍达到国家体质健康的基本要求，耐力、力量、速度等体能素质明显提高，营养不良、肥胖和近视的发生率明显下降”。我国城乡学生肥胖率已超过世界卫生组织公布的10%的“安全临界点”，我国“眼镜娃”的比例高，年龄趋势偏低。现在你们去看一看学校小孩儿的状况，走进任何一个学校几乎全是戴眼镜的，我感受非常深，说过两句行动的话，我说当前招空军，一万多学生报名，筛选一千多个，最后这一千多个里面眼镜不合格的就达到了900多个。我再举一个例子，是不是今后连我们中国生产武器在瞄准时候都必须戴眼镜，不戴眼镜都没办法。

　　On rest days and holidays, less than 30% of students go out for sports, and the ratios of students who exercise for two or three hours a day are only 6.3% and 1.3% respectively. On weekdays, only 8% of junior high school students and 10.5% of senior high school students participate in extracurricular activities, and the ratios of students who exercise for two or three hours a day are both 21.3% only. In Japan, on weekdays, 65.4% of junior high school students and 34.5% of senior high school students participate in extracurricular activities; as for the United States, those figures are 62.8% and 53.3% respectively. For students of grade 5 to grade 12 in the United States, the average time of extracurricular activities is 12.6 hours a week, and the average time of PE classes is 2.35 hours a week. Student sports are mainly outdoor activities. Third, the downward trend in the physical health of students has not been fundamentally reversed. The statement that “within five years or so, our adolescents should generally meet the basic requirements of national physical health; their endurance, strength, speed and other fitness indicators will be greatly improved while malnutrition, obesity and myopia should be significantly reduced” has been stipulated in the No. 7 Central Document issued in 2007. The obesity rate of China’s urban and rural students has exceeded 10%, which is the “critical point of safety” announced by the World Health Organization. The proportion of China’s adolescents who wear glasses is high, and their age tends to be lower. Today, when you have a look at any school, you may be overwhelmed by the scene that almost all of students are wearing glasses, which has impressed me a lot. I have once said that if over 10,000 students apply for joining air force and over 1,000 students will be selected, then more than 900 out of the selected ones may need wearing glasses. Furthermore, when our soldiers use weapons and aim at targets, will they need wearing glasses? Otherwise, it’s another story.

　　老年人在活动，中年人在觉醒，青少年在沉睡。大连一所中学参加体育测试的20名学生中竟有一多半连一个引体向上都做不到。2011年，民间少年足球赛，我国小学生身高具有明显优势，但体力体能严重不足，两次遭遇惨败。以一次登山活动为例，以中、日、韩三国的学生为主，每个队大概是15到20个学生，第一个上山的是韩国队，第二个是日本队，中国的队伍上去了之后把包一放全部躺在地上，已经起不来再去玩了。

　　The elderly are exercising, and middle-aged people are awakening while adolescents are sleeping. 20 students from a middle school once participated in sports test, however more than a half of them were unable to complete a pull-up. In juvenile football game in 2011, China’s primary school students had obvious advantage in height, but they met their Waterloo twice due to insufficient physical strength. One more example, once students mainly from China, Japan and South Korea participated in a mountaineering activity. Each team had about 15 to 20 students. The first team climbing to the mountaintop is the South Korean team, followed by the Japanese team. When the Chinese team arrived, team members put down their bags and lay on the ground, totally losing energy for playing around.

　　深化青少年体育改革，促进青少年全面发展，就是要抓住历史机遇，强化认识，创新机制，推动青少年体育科学发展将党和国家关于发展青少年体育、促进青少年健康成长的各项真正落到实处。所以说总体的思路和目标我就读一下题目。一，明确青少年体育发展整体思路和目标要求，全面深化青少年体育改革。二，要回应全民健身的国家战略，把青少年体育提升到更新更高的维度。三，重点设计好青少年体育工作的抓手，推动青少年体育科学发展。四，要抢抓足球改革的历史机遇，以校园足球带动青少年整个体育的稳步发展。不是说学校体育其他的项目都不搞了，专门搞足球，这一定要注意。当时校园足球我们也听到了很多地方和一些学校的做法，把一些传统的青少年儿童喜欢的项目搁置到另外一边，把整个学校都搞足球，把中央的指示听的有点误会。五，大力发展青少年体育俱乐部等社会组织，为青少年体育发展提供更为广阔的舞台。我非常同意刘司长说的，要大力发展青少年社会组织，在欧美发达国家体育组织和学生的社会组织相当发达，像我们人身的毛细血管一样，在我们临近的日本，它的青少年的体育活动和体育组织也是非常之多，而且非常健全，每天放学之后每个孩子都能找到自己喜欢的俱乐部，包括回到自己的社区、街道都找寻到健身的地方。周六、周日中小学生各式各样的竞赛那很多，全家人一块去，有些项目是全家都要参加的，有些项目是小孩儿参加大人在旁边补劲，所以他们的青少年体育教育还有课外体育活动管理的非常好。

　　To carry adolescent sports reform further and promote the comprehensive development of adolescents, we should make avail of the historical opportunities, improve our awareness, innovate mechanisms, and promote the scientific development of adolescent sports, thus putting all policies formulated by the Party and the government on developing adolescent sports and promoting the healthy growth of adolescents into practice. The overall ideas and goals are as follows. To start with, define the overall ideas and goals of developing adolescent sports. Furthermore, respond to national fitness strategy, and up adolescent sports to a new level. Third, focus on the design of the key point for adolescent sports, and promote the scientific development of adolescent sports. Fourth, actively seize the historical opportunity of football reform, and promote the steady development of the whole adolescent sports through campus football. Please note that this does not mean only football rather than other campus sports will be developed. I have heard of the practices implemented in many places and schools. They put aside some traditional sports that are loved by children and adolescents, and make full efforts to develop football. If so, they must misunderstand instructions of central government. Fifth, vigorously develop adolescent sports clubs and other social organizations so as to provide a broader stage for the development of adolescent sports. I totally agree with what Director Liu has said. We should strive to develop social organizations for adolescents. In European countries and America, sports organizations and social organizations for students are prosperous, just like blood capillaries in our bodies. In neighboring Japan, there are a lot of sound sports activities and organizations for adolescents. Every day after school, each child can find their favorite club, including returning to their own communities and streets to look for fitness places. On weekends, primary and middle school students have various games. The whole family of a participant will go together. Some activities must be participated in by the whole family, and some activities are taken part in by children and supported by family members. So, their adolescent sports education and extracurricular sports management are well performed.

　　体育教育不仅是我国教育的重要组成部分，也是我国体育事业发展的必要基础。这个基础越雄厚，我们国家的体育就会长盛不衰。积极发展青少年体育不仅是青少年体制健康本身的意义，更是增强全民族体制，实现体育强国梦的必由之路。从战略高度认识深化青少年体育改革的重要性和紧迫性，并与教育、体育领域综合改革积极互动，顺应中国教育、体育的长期发展趋势和整体思路，寻求建立适应现代社会发展需求的青少年体育教育新体系，以新的高度、新的思路和新的举措抓好青少年体育教育举措。

　　Physical education is not only an important part of China’s education but also a necessary foundation for the development of sports in China. The more solid the foundation, the more prosperous China’s sports will be. Actively developing adolescent sports not only is conducive to the physical health of adolescents but also can enhance the fitness of the whole nation. It is the only way to realize the dream of a sports power. We should understand and further the importance and urgency of adolescent sports reform from a strategic perspective, actively interact with the comprehensive reform in the fields of education and sports, follow the long-term development trends and overall ideas of China’s education and sports, explore ways to establish a new system of adolescent sports education which fits the needs of modern social development, and carry out adolescent sports education with new ideas and new initiatives at a new height.

　　谢谢大家!

　　Thank you!