Liang Wenbo at the Quarter Final of the Betway UK Snooker Championship, December 6, 2019. Credit: George Wood via Getty Images
China may be enjoying plenty of success in international sporting events like the Olympics these days, but it’s among the global leaders in a less desirable area too: sports-related corruption.
Recent scandals in soccer, snooker and even the relatively new world of eSports have demonstrated the downside of China’s huge and fast-growing sports industry. Chinese leader Xi Jinping, a self-proclaimed sports lover, has often expressed support for the sector whose overall value rose to more than 3 trillion yuan ($448 billion) in 2021, up 13.9 percent from the previous year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
Yet revelations of rampant match-fixing, illegal betting, and corruption involving several high-profile athletes, coaches, and officials are tarnishing China’s winning streak.
This week, The Wire highlights a few of China’s most recent sporting scandals: who is involved, how much was at stake, and what is being done to clamp down on this unsports
Exclusive longform investigative journalism, Q&As, news and analysis, and data on Chinese business elites and corporations. We publish China scoops you won't find anywhere else.
A weekly curated reading list on China from David Barboza, Pulitzer Prize-winning former Shanghai correspondent for The New York Times.
A daily roundup of China finance, business and economics headlines.
We offer discounts for groups, institutions and students. Go to our Subscriptions page for details.
As the Belt and Road Initiative gets ready to celebrate its 10th anniversary, Italy is looking for the off-ramp. Beijing's response, plus Italy's ability to negotiate a new deal for itself, will speak volumes about both China's standing in Europe and what the BRI, once seen as a colossus, has left to offer.