In a summer where wide swathes of China are suffering from drought, the central government appears to be placing some of the blame for water shortages not on climate change or poor environmental practices, but on a distinctly bourgeois pastime.
Golf -- a relatively new introduction to the country but a passion among the same new elite who drink fine wines and buy up French chateaux -- is a fast growing business on the mainland despite a state edict in 2004 which banned the building of new courses. Last year, Golf Today estimated there were more than a million golfers in China, with huge potential for growth.
However, of an estimated 600 or more golf courses around the mainland, only 10 are fully legal with central government approval. The rest -- two thirds of which have been built since 2004 -- were created as “eco-tourism” projects that fail to mention the golf component, or with approvals obtained from local governments who benefit from the land sale and the resulting increase in property values. (It helps, of course, that many government officials are said to have acquired a taste for the game as well.)
“Given the fact that 400 of the more than 600 cities in China are suffering from water shortages, the rapid depleting of underground water to keep the hundreds of golf courses green will likely prove to have severe consequences for many cities in the near future,” read an editorial in the English-language China Daily newspaper, which accused Beijing’s golf courses of using nearly 40 million tons of underground water annually, equal to the amount consumed by 1 million residents a year, despite the city’s water shortages.
Still, this latest round of ranting is likely to pass without much dampening of enthusiasm for the sport.
“Golf is definitely an easy and obvious target if you are looking to sell newspapers or generate clicks. It hits all the right buttons. It's an elitist -- especially in China -- Western activity that is emblematic of many of China's current challenges: government corruption, environmental concerns, land rights issues, the gap between rich and poor,” said Dan Washburn, editor of Asia Society and author of the forthcoming book Par for China, about the evolution of golf in the country.
“The last couple years have been especially rife with announced crackdowns. But what's always the end result? More golf courses in China,” he said. “So in effect, by initiating this golf course ban and not enforcing it, the Chinese government has created a thriving yet legally nebulous industry. You can say that new golf courses are illegal in China. But you can also say that China is the only country in the world in the midst of a golf course boom. Figure that out.”
