Climbing as a lifestyle sport and serious leisure in China

Abstract

Rock-climbing is commonly understood as a lifestyle sport. This article argues for a novel conceptualization – that in China, climbing can be best defined as ‘serious leisure’ rather than a lifestyle sport in its traditional sense. The article contributes to the field of sport and leisure studies by providing a self-reflexive analysis of the author’s lived experiences as a Western, female climber in mainland China, whilst also providing thematic analysis of data from other climbers, both Western and Chinese. Due to different sociocultural and economic factors, it is argued that defining climbing as a lifestyle sport fits poorly into the Chinese sporting arena, although a slow change is happening. Rather, an alternative concept of ‘serious leisure’ is proposed that is more apt for all enthusiastic participants; outdoors, indoors and in competitions.