Scores of adults and children are joining the ranks of fitness fanatics this summer vacation, gripped by a renewed love of classic pastimes like basketball and badminton.
Late in the evening in Shanghai, a comprehensive sports stadium remained brightly lit, its dozens of basketball and badminton courts occupied by devoted sports enthusiasts.
"I need to make a reservation two or three days in advance [to secure a booking]," said Liu Zeyu, a badminton hobbyist.
In Beijing, stadiums are crowded with students and parents participating in sports activities.
"When I was a child, I rarely saw formal basketball training. However, it appears that parents are now increasingly recognizing the importance of children's participating in sports," said Luo Can, a basketball enthusiast.
Badminton remains one of the most popular sports this summer, and the high demand for the sport has even led to a shortage of shuttlecocks.
"Since the start of summer vacation, we have seen a significant increase in passenger traffic, particularly among teenagers and children," said Ding Haiyang, head of a badminton venue.
"This year the price [for a package of 12 shuttlecocks] has increased by more than 10 yuan (about 1.4 U.S. dollars), but the price hike doesn't dampen these students' enthusiasm for badminton," said Cai Defeng, a badminton coach.
A shuttlecock contains 16 feathers, while a single goose can only provide at most 14 suitable feathers. The recent surge in demand for shuttlecocks, coupled with a shortage of goose feathers, has made shuttlecocks highly sought after.
In Jinping County of southwest China's Guizhou Province, one of the country's badminton-related equipment production centers, many companies' shuttlecocks are sold out as soon as they become available.
"One truckload of six tons of feathers is used up within two to three days. From January to June this year, our output value increased by 25 percent year on year. It may reach 400 million yuan this year," said Hu Bing, head of a local sports company.
China aims to grow the total scale of its outdoor sports industry to three trillion yuan by 2025, and the consumer market size of outdoor sports products is expected to approach 600 billion yuan that same year, according to the country's sports authorities.
Sports fever sweeps China leading to shuttlecock shortage
