Chinese cities bid for the Winter Olympics : from Harbin’s failure to Beijing and Zhangjiakou’s success
Document Type
Journal article
Source Publication
Asia Pacific Journal of Sport and Social Science
Publication Date
2016
Volume
5
Issue
2
First Page
120
Last Page
131
Publisher
Routledge
Keywords
Winter Olympics bids, Harbin, Beijing and Zhangjiakou, Chinese leaders, Chinese local governments
Abstract
Chinese cities have participated twice in bidding for the hosting rights of the Winter Olympics. While Harbin was eliminated in 2002, Beijing and Zhangjiakou won 13 years later. This article aims to examine the reasons for their respective failure and success. The findings confirm that Chinese local governments – at both provincial and municipal levels – lack the competence to independently make successful bids and that Chinese political leaders’ support and rival cities’ withdrawal were the keys to improving the odds for the Chinese bids.
DOI
10.1080/21640599.2016.1193302
Print ISSN
21640599
E-ISSN
21640602
Publisher Statement
Copyright © 2016 Routledge. Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.
Full-text Version
Publisher’s Version
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Chu, M. P. (2016). Chinese cities bid for the Winter Olympics: From Harbin’s failure to Beijing and Zhangjiakou’s success. Asia Pacific Journal of Sport and Social Science, 5(2), 120-131. doi: 10.1080/21640599.2016.1193302