Building on a transformative shift that began at the 13th National Games in Tianjin in 2017 — when mass-participation events were first introduced — the ongoing 15th National Games, being hosted in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, have evolved from an elite-only arena into a truly national sports festival.

This year's edition deepens that legacy. The country's largest-ever premier multisport event to date, it integrates 34 elite competitions with 23 mass-participation events that drew a million grassroots competitors, powerfully translating the slogan of "fitness for all "into widespread action.

The public program features 19 competitive mass-participation sports, such as dragon boating, Go, Chinese chess, Chinese wrestling, shuttlecock, table tennis, badminton, tennis, soccer, basketball and orienteering, along with four demonstration sports: qigong, tai chi, dragon and lion dancing and broadcast gymnastics.

This diverse range of activities enables individuals of all ages and backgrounds to find a sport that suits them. Notably, the majority of these mass-participation events were concluded before the Games' opening ceremony on Sunday.