The Chongqing City Football League, a grassroots sports event, has drawn tens of thousands of spectators from all over the country since launching its season in mid-September, injecting fresh momentum into the local culture and tourism consumption market in the southwestern Chinese city.
Dubbed "Yu Chao," the amateur tournament features 41 teams from Chongqing's 38 districts and counties, as well as from the Chongqing Liangjiang New Area, Chongqing High-tech Industrial Development Zone and Chongqing Wansheng Economic and Technological Development Zone.
On Saturday afternoon, more than 40,000 football fans packed Chongqing's Datianwan Stadium, a key venue for the tournament, to see the Shapingba District team clinch a 3-1 victory over Jiulongpo District. The single match set a new attendance record since the start of the tournament.
"I'm excited and happy to see that our city can hold this kind of ball game," said Li Jianxiong, a football fan.
Beyond the matches, the league's popularity has given rise to festivities all around the stadium, with food stands, cultural exhibits and live music performances attracting crowds of football fans.
The local sports bureau reported that since the season kicked off, indirect consumption driven by the tournament exceeded 350 million yuan (around 49.5 million U.S. dollars) and foot traffic in the business districts surrounding each competition area has risen by an average of more than 50 percent.
"The key to the 'event plus consumption' model is to identify the intersection between sports events and the needs of the citizens. Following this, we will introduce the sports tourism routes centered around the Chongqing City Football League and collaborate with more businesses to launch exclusive promotions," said Du Xueyong, deputy director of Chongqing Municipal Sports Bureau.
Grassroots football tournament energizes consumption in Chongqing
China's Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao outlined the key priorities of the 32nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting, which opened on Friday in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province.
In an interview with CGTN ahead of the two-day meeting, Wang said free trade, digital cooperation and green economy are high on the agenda of the meeting.
"The key areas include advancing regional economic integration and the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, supporting the World Trade Organization (WTO) in strengthening digital cooperation and developing green economy. At present, the international situation is marked by intertwined turbulence and chaos, with intensified geopolitical instability. The rise of unilateralism and protectionism poses serious challenges to the international economic and trade order, disrupting global and Asia-Pacific development. Against this backdrop, all parties have higher expectations for this trade ministers' meeting, hoping that it can build consensus and deliver outcomes," Wang said.
This year marks China's third time hosting the APEC meetings and the 35th anniversary of its membership.
By 2025, China had become the largest trading partner of 13 APEC economies. Trade between China and APEC economies reached 3.7 trillion U.S. dollars, accounting for 57.8 percent of China's total foreign trade.
China has signed 24 free trade agreements or economic and trade arrangements with 31 countries and regions, including 15 APEC economies. In recent years, China has also completed upgrades of free trade agreements with APEC economies such as Singapore and Peru.
The minister said that China has always been a firm supporter and an important contributor to APEC.
"We have actively shared our vast market and development opportunities with all parties. China's door to the world will only open wider and wider. Facing the common challenges, China will continue to fulfill its responsibilities as a major country, further deepen reform, expand high-standard opening-up, and continue to provide new opportunities for the Asia-Pacific region and the world with its new achievements in Chinese modernization," the minister said.
China's Commerce Minister outlines priorities for 32nd APEC trade ministers' meeting
