Peking University to teach China’s elite to play golf

August 29, 2006

Peking University, where Mao Zedong once worked as an assistant librarian, plans to teach China’s intellectual elite how to play golf, the Beijing News reported on Tuesday.
The report said lessons in golf would be offered to students at the university, China’s equivalent of Harvard or Oxford, as part of the physical education programme.
The university said permission would also be sought to build a driving range on its scenic campus in the northwest of China’s capital.Since the first golf course opened in mainland China 22 years ago, the sport has become extremely popular among the newly affluent.
During the 2003 SARS epidemic, many Chinese entrepreneurs decided that doing business on the golf course was preferable to the office, where the risk of contracting the flu-like virus was considered to be higher.
Reaction to the news was mixed among students at the university.
“Golf isn’t a proletarian sport,” one told the paper. “Most students wouldn’t be able to afford it and the university should concentrate on providing better facilities for more popular sports.” A business student, however, was more enthusiastic.
“Golf is very popular among businessmen and white collar workers and the university has to keep up with the times.”
Source: sport.guardian.co.uk

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