The unique sport of board-shoe racing is demonstrating the collaborative spirit and athletic prowess of China's ethnic minorities at the 12th National Traditional Games in Sanya, a coastal city of Hainan Province.
Board-shoe racing is a traditional folk sports event of the Zhuang ethnic group in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It pits teams of three athletes wearing a single pair of wooden board shoes against each other.
The interesting sport can be traced back to the Ming Dynasty, when legend has it that a famous heroine used it as a way to train soldiers. It has been passed on from generation to generation since then, and has grown in popularity, attracting participants from northern provinces as well.
The sport was introduced as an official competition event in the 8th National Ethnic Games in 2007 for the first time. The event includes men's and women's three-member 60 meters, 100 meters, 200 meters racing, and 2×100 meters relay, as well as 4×100 meters mixed relay.
This year, a total of 30 board-shoe racing teams of 348 athletes from different ethnic minority groups will compete in the 12th National Ethnic Games. Athletes say the sport requires perfect coordination of the trio and concentration of each member.
"We're like a train. The member at the front is relatively more capable than the two members at the back because the locomotive drives the train faster, which is what our coach tells us. As for the two of us in the back, the person in the middle is responsible for coordination between the front and back, and the one at the end controls the forward movement of the board and the up and down movement of our legs. Each of us has our own function," said Liu Yilin, a member of Chongqing board-shoe racing team.
This seemingly simple sport actually has many challenges. The athletes need to ensure tacit cooperation while running at full speed to prevent slipping out of the shoes or even toppling over each other.
Liu and his teammates made a mistake in the middle of the heat, which resulted in Liu's ankle injury. But these athletes got back on their board shoes to finish the race.
"At that time, we were still trying to finish the game. I guess one of my nerves might have been injured, so half of my foot was numb. But I still insisted on putting my feet into the board shoes. We were determined to finish the race. I told my teammates that we should persist in the competition and respect the event and the process," said Liu.
Opened on Friday night, the grand event, which will take place through Nov 30, has gathered nearly 7,000 athletes, representing 35 delegations across China to compete in 18 sports and three demonstration sports, most of which were once unique to specific ethnic groups or regions.
Unlike modern sporting events, the ethnic games feature competitions rooted in traditional customs and the daily life of people of different ethnic groups in China.
Chinese traditional board-shoe racing highlights collaborative spirit
Foreign diplomats and scholars are looking closely at this year's "two sessions", saying China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) will not only chart the nation's economic and technological priorities but also reshape global value chains.
The fourth session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the nation's top political advisory body, opened on Wednesday, followed by the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC) on Thursday. Together known as the "two sessions," these meetings offer a comprehensive view into China's development priorities.
Global observers emphasized that the 15th Five-Year Plan, a blueprint guiding the nation's economic, social, and technological priorities over the next five years, marks a decisive shift toward high‑quality growth anchored in advanced technologies, with ripple effects across the world.
"The two sessions will discuss China's five-year plan, which is heavily oriented toward China's major technological development. I believe this is important because it represents the new blueprint for China's economy, which is now oriented toward the renowned high-quality development, and this will undoubtedly impact the entire world. I think it is worth studying. This is very important for Latin America. It will help us integrate more intelligently into global value chains and into all aspects of the major development that China is promoting in iconic industrial sectors, such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and space development, where Latin America also has much to contribute beyond just commercial growth," said Gustavo Sabino Vaca Narvaja, former Argentine Ambassador to China.
"The two sessions are a major political milestone in China, and this year's gathering carries even greater significance as this year marks the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan. This plan represents not only a blueprint for China, but also a guide for other countries. Instruments like the five-year plan effectively provide greater certainty and predictability for the rest of the world," said Chilean scholar of international relations Ignacio Araya Heredia.
"This is a particularly important date, especially due to the fact that the next Five-Year Plan shall be positioned and we're going to see what its main elements shall be. Serbia, which has a very high degree of steel friendship with the People's Republic of China, can expect further assistance in identifying the most prominent areas of Serbian economy and being helped by its great partner, such as it has been done in the previous period, from one part with establishing the main infrastructure projects, but also reshaping the industrial sector of Serbia, not just Serbia, but the region as a whole," said Veljko Mijuskovic, assistant professor of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Belgrade.
Beyond the policy framework, experts also pointed to China's achievements in green energy and technological innovation as models worth emulating.
Tomasz Bielinski, adjunct professor at the University of Gdansk's Faculty of Economics, said the robotics displays at the 2026 China Media Group (CMG) Spring Festival Gala reflected China's broader push in technological innovation.
"I was really impressed about the robotics. I'm very impressed with Chinese development in the technological field, we can still make great deals with Chinese businessmen and we can cooperate together to use this technology for both the good of China and the European Union. I'm aware of the innovation especially in autonomous drive on the on the Chinese side," he said.
"We hope for more of China's economic cooperation, especially in trade and also in investment. Also, and the other focus, if I talk about the focus of the development, don't forget about the green energy. We know that China is great in the electric vehicle field. So because China's electric vehicles in Indonesia nowadays, since couple of years ago, are very, very popular," said Al Busyra Basnur, president of the Indonesia-China Friendship Association.
Observers see China's new five-year plan driving high-quality development, global tech shifts
