From Leisure as Ideology to Leisure as Industry: Changing Leisure Policies in China

In China, leisure in general, and leisure policy in particular, are under-researched. This paper offers a schematic description of changes in leisure policies in China from 1949 to the 2000s. In so doing, the paper divides this period into three sequential and distinctive stages and describes the ways in which the state treated leisure differently in these stages. It reaches the conclusion that leisure policies in China have undergone a profound change from leisure as ideology to leisure as an industry. In relation to this change, current problems relating to leisure policies in China are discussed.