China swings back at golf, shutting down 111 courses
China has launched a renewed crackdown on golf, closing 111 courses in an effort to conserve water and land, and telling members of the ruling Communist Party to stay off the links.
The state-run Xinhua News Agency said Sunday the courses were closed for improperly using groundwater, arable land or protected land within nature reserves. It said authorities have imposed restrictions on 65 more courses.
China banned the development of new golf courses in 2004, when it had fewer than 200. Since that time, the number of courses more than tripled to 683 before the new crackdown, Xinhua said.
Developers build courses under the guise of parks or other projects, often with the tacit approval of local officials. In one example chronicled by state media, an illegal golf course boasting 58 villas was originally built as a “public sports park,” only to be secretly converted later. Many of China’s cities, meanwhile, face severe land shortages and skyrocketing real estate prices.
Golf has also come under scrutiny by way of the sweeping anti-corruption campaign launched under Chinese President Xi Jinping. The Communist Party warned its 88 million members in 2015 not to play golf, likening it to “extravagant eating and drinking” and other bad habits that were at odds with the party’s stated principles. An editorial in the China Daily newspaper the following spring clarified that party cadres were not to take free memberships or rounds.
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