Leisure and China in the global context: Introduction to the special issue

Abstract

The purpose of the special issue "Leisure and China in the Global Context" is to present cutting-edge research on leisure in China and among Chinese populations abroad. The special issue was developed in conjunction with the China-International Leisure Research Association's (CILRA) 2020 Conference organized at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign in February 2020, where several of the authors of the special issue articles presented their research. CILRA 2020 was the 4th conference of the organization and the first one organized outside of China. The three Coeditors of the special issue (Drs. Stodolska, Dong, and Chick) believed that a conference on the topic and a special issue on Leisure and China in the Global Context was timely as the influence of leisure among people living in China and Chinese populations abroad is growing, and the literature on this topic has significantly developed and matured in recent decades. At the same time, many misconceptions about Chinese leisure are prevalent in the West, and many obsolete and inaccurate depictions of Chinese leisure patterns and behaviors still find their way into the mainstream leisure literature. This special issue was conceptualized and the call for papers put forth before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, none of the papers included in the special issue discusses this topic. However, in 2020-2021, issues of China in the global context and the treatment of Chinese people abroad have garnered much attention from the U.S. public. The events of the pandemic and the global response often have been put in the context of the rising economic power of China, its association with its foreign partners and ideological adversaries, and the future of Sino-North American relations.In 2009, China replaced Japan to become the second-largest economy (Bajpai, 2020). Although China's per capita GDP is lower than that of the U.S. (Bajpai, 2020), China's GDP is predicted to surpass the U.S. level in 2029 (Scott & Sam, 2018). At the same time, China has approximately the same proportion of the urban population as the U.S. had in 1940 (Scott & Sam, 2018). With this combination of rapid economic development and urbanization, recreation and leisure have become critical elements in Chinese people's daily lives and, as a national strategy, leisure has become an important way to promote social harmony, social stability, and quality of life. In recent decades, China introduced a number of changes to its government policies, including a 5-day workweek and threeweek-long vacations. These have led to a significant increase in leisure time available to CONTACT Monika Stodolska

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