Role of Character Building in China’s Physical Education

Abstract

Social problems caused by young people, such as youth violence, internet addiction and so on, are causing more and more attention in China nowadays. In order to solve those problems, it is needed to strengthen school education. Past researches from Japan and United States have indicated that physical education (PE) is an effective approach for character building, providing students experience of group accomplishment and selfefficacy through physical activities. In China, on the other hand, although the objectives of character building have been proposed and established in the current PE national curriculum, lessons are mainly focused on the development of students’ body. The content for implementation of character building is still very limited. Before solving this problem, first of all, it is necessary to review and clarify the history of PE development in China. For this purpose, this study focuses on the history of the 1980s, which is regarded as the epoch-making period during the development of