The Development of Chinese Outdoor Sports

China Design, Creativity and Design, Travel — By Beibei on August 10, 2009 at 1:36 pm

China’s outdoor sports have developed rapidly in the past 20 years.

Twenty years ago, the first group of chinese outdoor sports people were sewing sleeping bags, using plastic sheets to make tents, and using military bags as their travel equipment.

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With the increase in living standards, more and more chinese people are willing to do outdoor sports. Till now, China has about 1000 outdoor sports clubs. According to the statistics of international outdoor sports organizations, there were only 400 Chinese professional outdoor product retailers and 290 outdoor sportswear brands in 2001, but by the end of 2006, there were 2125 Chinese outdoor product stores and more than 1000 outdoor sportswear brands.

Some chinese outdoor product brands become very popular such as Toread(探路者),Snowwolf（雪狼）, One Polar（登极）etc.
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探索者(Toread) was founded in 1999 and by 2007 was qualified as a “Well-known Trademark of China “ and became the “Licensed Manufacturer of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games”. In 2008, Toread’s marketing network covered more than 90 cities all over the China, with roughly 400 franchise stores. Over the past ten years, the average annual growth rate of Toread has exceeded 50% making them local leaders in the Chinese outdoor market.
Notably, in 2008 Toread sent two rescue teams to join in the earthquake relief and donated RMB 2,600,000 including cash and materials. Ecological and environmental protection, as well as social responsibility are an important part of Toread’s ethos.

Overall, Chinese outdoor sports are more based  around 驴友论坛（online travel communities). One can go to a travel website, join a 圈子（group）, take a DIY approach in planning their trip and share their travel experience. For chinese youth, outdoor sports is not only about conquest, it is a lifestyle.

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