Output of high-tech fitness facilities surges in China amid rising enthusiasm towards sports

With an upsurge of keeping fit under China's national strategy of Fitness-for-All, a wide spectrum of cutting-edge gym equipment has been put into the market to help satisfy personal fitness needs around the country.

With the continuous expansion and upgrading of sports fields and school sports facilities all around China, demand for synthetic turf is expanding year by year. In a workshop that manufactures artificial turf in Laoling City in China's eastern province of Shandong, the production line, with an annual output of 20 million square meters, is working at full throttle to meet the orders.

The brand-new artificial grass is 100 percent recyclable and can be customized with a variety of patterns thanks to fully automated intelligent equipment.

"Both production and sales are booming, with the amount up more than 30 percent over last year. And the production schedule of our orders has been extended to September," said Bian Xiaonan, president of a sports industry group in Shandong Province.

Meanwhile, fitness is meeting modern entertainment technology at a sports equipment company in Dongguan City of south China's Guangdong Province. The company produces more than 50 types of equipment, from an intelligent voice-powered skipping rope to a smart push-up board.

"The more people jump, the better they feel. It can inspire people to exercise scientifically," said He Xin, a rope-skipping enthusiast.

Another sporting goods laboratory in Dongguan has independent property rights for a spring trampoline that is becoming popular among companies around the world seeking to keep their workforce in shape.

"This batch of trampolines will be exported to Italy. And now we are negotiating over reordering," said Jia Xueping, head of a sports goods company in Guangdong Province.

Eager to support China's booming sports industry, colleges in Dongguan City are also summoning their strengths to expand industry-university research cooperation.

Through one such partnership, a new type of ultra-light helmet has been officially delivered to the country's national bobsleigh team.

"The weight reduction realized by this helmet is equivalent to a bottle and a half of mineral water. In addition to the light weight, impact resistance is also realized," said Li Nan, an associate professor at Dongguan University of Technology.

Output of high-tech fitness facilities surges in China amid rising enthusiasm towards sports

China's automobile industry showed a growing trend in August, with both production and sales of vehicles increasing month on month, while those of new energy vehicles (NEVs) recorded a double-digit year-on-year growth, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers on Tuesday.

In August, auto production and sales in China surpassed 2.49 million and 2.45 million units, respectively, showing month-on-month increases of 9 percent and 8.5 percent, with year-on-year decreases of 3.2 percent and 5 percent, indicating a smaller decline compared with the previous month.

During the January-August period, auto production and sales totaled about 18.67 million and 18.77 million units respectively, reflecting year-on-year growth of 2.5 percent and 3 percent, respectively.

In August, the production and sales of NEVs achieved 1.09 million and 1.10 million units, respectively, representing an increase of 29.6 percent and 30 percent year on year. The sales of NEVs in August account for 44.8 percent of the new vehicle sales in China.

In the first eight months of this year, the production of NEVs reached nearly 7.01 million units, rising 29 percent year on year. The sales of NEVs hit almost 7.04 million units, growing by 30.9 percent from a year earlier. The market share of NEVs in China reached 37.5 percent in the period.

On the export front, auto exports reached 511,000 units in August, marking a year-on-year increase of 25.4 percent. Among these, exports of NEVs totaled 110,000 units, showing a 22-percent growth year on year.

China's auto industry reports rising vehicle production, sales in August