Chinese bodybuilding can be divided into two periods. One is the period of modern development and the other is the origin of bodybuilding in China. This period should be traced back to the 1940s, that is, the period of our country's war of resistance against Japanese aggression. During the war of resistance against Japanese aggression, in Shanghai, China, a group of patriotic young people were confused by the backward country and frail people so they hoped they can be stronger to protect the country by working out. So, they initiated this bodybuilding movement. At that time, the representative publicity publication was the magazine "Health, Strength, Beauty” which was launched by Shanghai's bodybuilding predecessor Mr. Zhao Zhuguang in 1937.
After liberation, chairman MAO put forward the slogan "develop sports, strengthen people's physique", which encouraged people to actively participate in sports. However, due to the Great Cultural Revolution, bodybuilding was stopped in 1955. In 1978, China began to implement the reform and opening-up policy, bodybuilding began to revive after being interrupted for 25 years
Introduced by Qinghong Guo who is secretary-general of Beijing Bodybuilding Association, in the 1980s, the bodybuilding training class was very popular. Each city’s amateur sports school had weight-lifting majors. Weight-lifting students had classes in the afternoon and during this time, the weightlifting room was open only for students. But when it came to the evening and the class was over, then the weightlifting room was opened to the public and could be used by other bodybuilding lovers who were not amateur sports school students.
After the reform and opening up, in 1982, modern bodybuilding began to gradually resume in China. Because in 1982, there were some small fitness clubs increasingly showing up in Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Beijing.
China’s bodybuilding industry has developed for more than ten years, if count from only the sports itself, it has developed for more than 30 years. But if counting from when it becomes an industry, then it roughly starts from 2001 when commercial fitness starts rising and nutrition supplements and sports equipment appear, this industry gradually operates in a commercial way. So after more than ten years of development, it could say that China's bodybuilding industry is developing rapidly: there are 20 million to 30 million people who frequently go to the gym and workout which only this part of the population can be counted as a relatively large country in Western.
As for now, Chinese bodybuilding is a booming sport. According to CIConsulting.com( China Investment Consulting), from 2008 to 2015, the number of fitness clubs in China has increased from 2,270 to 4,425 (GAGR6.92 percent) and the number of employees has increased from 66,700 to 113,400 (GAGR7.87%), with a year-on-year increase of 20.84% in 2015. More and more young people regard it not only as a sport but also as a fashion, and many fitness enthusiasts have benefited from it. And also, more and more Chinese athletes start to shine on the international stage which include Kang Chen (5th place of Classic Physique Division in 2019 Mr. Olympia, the best result in Asian bodybuilding history), Long Wu (The first Chinese Men’s Physique athlete who gets the IFBB Pro card), and Chenhui Lu (Top Chinese Men’s Open athlete).
