At the high school nearby, sports facilities are opened to the public after school hours and during the weekend.

Youngsters and adults then turn the school into a bustling sports center.

"I don't use the gym, I get too lonely," Wang Chunhong says.

"Thanks to the school, we finally get to have a playground of our own."

The badminton courts in the school are occupied most of the time and reservations are strongly recommended, patrons say.

"It's about 40 yuan an hour to rent one court and the price is affordable for us," he says.

"Chinese love badminton very much. We usually book the court several days in advance."

His son Wang Pei takes taekwondo classes next door together with a dozen classmates, half of whom are of similar age.

"I picked it up a month ago. I do several other sports, such as soccer. But I don't think I like taekwondo very much," the second grader says.

"Maybe I will try snooker next."

The goal of sports in China had been set as early as 1952, when Chairman Mao Zedong pushed for the "promotion of sports and the improvement of people's physique".

"We began researching Chinese people's physique in the 1970s and the government has allocated large resources toward the field, something not often seen in other countries," China Institute of Sport Science director Tian Ye told China Daily on Monday.

Middle-aged and senior citizens form the majority of participants of mass sports, while young people and children in rural areas do not exercise regularly, the country's latest national fitness survey has shown.

"Chinese students face great pressure from the current exam-oriented education system and they have to spend most of their time studying, while rural area residents lack access to sports facilities," vice-minister of the General Administration of Sport of China (GASC), Feng Jianzhong, said.

"While we have achieved great success in the elite sports, our ultimate goal is to improve the fitness of all Chinese people," Tian said.

To promote sports nationwide, the State Council issued in June 1995 An Outline of the National Fitness Program of China (1995-2010), with emphasis on the young.

Since Beijing's successful bid for the 2008 Olympics seven years ago, sports in the country have also been closely connected to the Olympic movement.

"The Olympics is about participation and the Beijing Games is a great opportunity to promote sports among the masses in our country," Feng said yesterday at a press conference on sports for the masses.

To implement the concept of a People's Olympics, the authorities have launched a nationwide campaign to encourage people from all walks of life and draw on their enthusiasm for the Games to take part in sports.

To that effect, fitness corners like those frequented by Wang have proven to be one of the best ways to promote regular exercise, Feng said.

Public welfare funds and local governments have also provided support toward the building of such fitness corners.

By the end of last year, total funding for the project reached about 3 billion yuan, with more than 30,000 such corners across the country.

Similarly, the GASC in 2005 implemented a national strategy for rural development and pushed forth the Project for Farmers' Fitness and Health, which was included in the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10), Guideline for National Economy and Social Development.

The plans call for the central and local governments to provide 3 billion yuan to 100,000 villages to construct public sports venues and facilities, with the aim of giving one-sixth of the country's villagers access to such facilities in the coming years.

"As a developing country, our limited number of sports facilities cannot meet the increasing demand of Chinese people," Feng said.

"The development of sports remains unbalanced between the East and the West, and most people still lack adequate knowledge of sports science," he said.

"The Beijing Games have helped us spread the spirit of sports throughout the country, ushering in a new beginning for mass sports in China."