The 2019 China Mountaineering & Outdoor Industry Conference and the 18th National Annual Conference of Mountaineering & Outdoor Clubs will take place from December 27 to 30 in Jiangshan, Zhejiang Province. This annual conference is jointly organized by the Chinese Mountaineering Association and the Zhejiang Provincial Sports Bureau, hosted by the People's Government of Jiangshan City, and operated by TiTAN Media. It is the highest-profile, largest-scale, and most representative outdoor industry exchange platform in China this year.
Mount Everest, standing at an elevation of 8,844.43 meters
The year 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. With the nation’s growing prosperity and continuous improvement in people’s living standards, mountaineering and outdoor sports in China have evolved from elite athletic activities undertaken for national missions to popular recreational and competitive pursuits enjoyed by both amateur enthusiasts and professionals. The sport has seen a continual rise in derivative activities, expanding participation, innovative events, and record-breaking achievements by Chinese athletes on both domestic and international stages.
Today, events such as mountaineering, rock climbing, mountain outdoor sports, hiking, and camping have flourished across the country, while high-altitude adventure travel, multi-discipline team races, desert crossings, and overlanding have attracted increasing numbers of participants. The rising affluence of the population and shifting lifestyles have driven favorable policies. The 2014 State Council Document No. 46, “Several Opinions of the State Council on Accelerating the Development of the Sports Industry and Promoting Sports Consumption,” ushered in a golden era for the fitness and leisure industry centered on outdoor sports. Subsequently, policy documents such as the “13th Five-Year Plan for Sports Development,” the “Cooperation Agreement on Promoting the Integration of Sports and Tourism,” the “National Fitness Program (2016–2020),” the “Healthy China 2030 Outline,” the “Guidelines on Accelerating the Development of the Fitness and Leisure Industry,” the “Opinions on Further Expanding Consumption in Tourism, Culture, Sports, Health, Elderly Care, and Education,” the “Mountain Outdoor Sports Industry Development Plan,” and the “Guidelines on Vigorously Developing Sports Tourism” have been issued. Emerging sectors like “sports + tourism” and “outdoor + tourism” have rapidly developed, becoming trends and directions for the mountain outdoor industry. The public now enjoys more leisure and fitness options, while mountain outdoor tourism resources across the country are better protected and utilized.
Against this backdrop, the 2019 China Mountaineering & Outdoor Industry Conference and the 18th National Annual Conference of Mountaineering & Outdoor Clubs will review the development of China’s mountaineering and outdoor sports, analyze the impact of policies and industry trends, and forecast new business models, hotspots, and growth areas. The conference will also listen attentively to input from all stakeholders to inform decision-making.
The year 2020 marks the 60th anniversary of the first successful ascent of Mount Everest by a Chinese mountaineering team. In 1960, under extremely rudimentary conditions by today’s standards, Wang Fuzhou, Qu Yinhua, and Gongbu became the first to summit Everest via the North Ridge, opening a new chapter in human mountaineering history and greatly inspiring the Chinese people’s resolve to build a modernized nation. Therefore, 2019 is also a year of carrying forward the spirit of mountaineering. The success and critical acclaim of China’s first “phenomenal” outdoor adventure-themed film—The Climbers—demonstrates how climbing culture and the spirit of climbers inspire contemporary individuals to uphold the virtues of hard work and strive for continuous progress.
On May 25, 1960, Wang Fuzhou, Qu Yinhua, and Gongbu of the Chinese Mountaineering Team summited Everest, marking the first time humans reached the peak from the North Ridge. The photo shows the team members traversing an 8,000-meter rocky snow slope.
In 1975, team members battled fierce high-altitude winds while progressing through the 7,400-meter Great Wind Gap
In recent years, China’s mountaineering and outdoor industry has achieved significant growth. Events such as mountain outdoor sports and rock climbing, hosted by the Chinese Mountaineering Association, have continued to increase and improve. A wide variety of mountaineering and outdoor competitions organized by diverse market-driven entities have emerged. Participation groups such as outdoor sports clubs formed by local enthusiasts have grown steadily, and international exchanges based on mountain outdoor sports have deepened. Emerging industries combining outdoor with tourism and sports with tourism have become vital economic sources in some formerly impoverished mountainous regions, contributing to local livelihoods. Sales of well-known outdoor brands from China and abroad have also remained strong.
The 17th National Annual Conference of Mountaineering & Outdoor Clubs
The 2019 China Mountaineering & Outdoor Industry Conference and the 18th National Annual Conference of Mountaineering & Outdoor Clubs feature intellectual exchanges between leaders of China’s mountaineering and outdoor sports authorities and experts in research, industry, and academia, as well as in-depth discussions among enthusiasts, practitioners, and managers. The event brims with insightful perspectives and creative ideas, serving as a true platform for sharing, inclusiveness, and breakthroughs in the context of the booming outdoor industry.
As the governing body of mountaineering and outdoor sports in China, the Chinese Mountaineering Association actively adapts to the trends of sports reform and market-oriented operations, striving to serve society with professional expertise and promote the development of mountaineering and outdoor sports in China. In recent years, the Association has launched a series of highly acclaimed self-owned IP events, including the National New Year Mountain Climbing Fitness Conference, the National Double Ninth Mountain Climbing Fitness Conference, the National Mass Mountain Climbing Fitness Conference, the China Mountain Marathon Series, the China100 Series, the China Rock Climbing Natural Rock Wall Series, the China Outdoor Fitness and Leisure Conference, and the China Coordinate Urban Orienteering Outdoor Challenge. It has also initiated public welfare programs such as the National Outdoor Safety Education Program, mountain rescue initiatives, the National Youth Rock Climbing Hope Stars, and the Camp China National Youth Outdoor Camp Winter and Summer Camps. These efforts have greatly popularized outdoor sports, cultivated an outdoor sports community, and helped impoverished mountainous regions boost income through the development of “outdoor + tourism” industries, achieving significant economic and social benefits.
To foster more effective and positive interactions with various participants in the outdoor sports industry, facilitate in-depth discussions, exchanges, and collaborations, starting in 2019, the Chinese Mountaineering Association upgraded its internal National Annual Conference of Mountaineering & Outdoor Clubs into the most authoritative China Mountaineering & Outdoor Industry Conference in the country. The goal is to further broaden participant representation, listen carefully to voices from all sectors, jointly discuss the future of the outdoor industry, innovate, build on past successes, and continuously drive the great development of China’s mountaineering and outdoor industry in the new era.
TiTAN Media Group is currently the most influential sports media company in China. It owns a multimedia platform including the newspaper TiTAN Weekly, TiTAN Plus, Football Weekly, Outdoor, and Golf Digest, among others, covering football, winter sports, outdoor activities, running, basketball, esports, and motorsports. It organizes or operates top-tier domestic and international sports events such as the China Mountaineering & Outdoor Industry Conference, the China Golden Ball Award, the China New Energy Vehicle Championship, and the National Fitness Challenge Day.
Image courtesy of: Chinese Mountaineering Association archives