Places in China for children to play safe and happy are
shrinking, according to a national survey.
About 53 percent of the 2,500 primary and middle school students
responding the survey said their homes were their constant play
sites, while 45 percent of the respondents said they often played
around residential areas or in parks, showed the survey, recently
conducted by the China Youth and Children Research Center.
The respondents, who come from six main cities including
Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Changchun, Chengdu and Lanzhou, also
chose schools and classmate homes as their main play sites.
Nineteen percent students surveyed said they seldom did sports
because "there are no appropriate sports sites", it showed.
"Children often play at home because they have few other
choices," said one of the survey organizers Wang Xiaobo, associate
researcher with the Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences, noting
there are fewer places in Chinese cities for children to play
around.
Wang said, with China's scarce land resources, more and more
outdoor sports places in cities have been occupied for urban
development, and the soaring number of private cars in the country
prompted urban communities to allocate more space for parking,
which makes children play sites continue dwindling.
"Many Chinese parents don't like their children to play outside
out of worries about worsening road traffic and public security,"
said Wang, adding the lack of sports has seriously affected
children's health.
Another survey by the Ministry of Education (MOE) shows that
while Chinese students have got taller in recent years, there is an
overall decline in their physical strength.
It found that, in 2005, Chinese students jumped an average of
three centimeters less in the long jump compared with 2000.
The ministry urged schools throughout the country to improve
their sports facilities so students could build up their body
strength.
"Courts, gymnasiums and fields should be open to young people,
encouraging them to do more physical exercise," said an MOE
official.
(Xinhua News Agency May 8, 2007)