China has ordered the closure of a sixth of the country's golf courses since 2011, its top economic planner said, in an ongoing crackdown on a sport controversial for its links with wealthy elites.
China's ruling Communist Party has an ambivalent relationship with golf. Local authorities have profited from selling land for courses, but they are seen as venues for shady dealmaking between elites and politicians.
Central authorities ordered a nation-wide freeze on new golf courses in 2004, which was largely ignored. Since a fresh crackdown was launched in 2011, 111 of China's 683 golf courses nation-wide were ordered shut, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in a statement posted on its website Sunday. Operators voluntarily closed an additional 11, it added. Courses were taken to task for illegally using arable land or nature reserves, extracting groundwater in prohibited areas, and other violations.
The NDRC ordered an additional 18 courses to return illegally occupied land, as well as 47 others to stop further construction. Golf courses are present in all of China's provincial-level regions except Tibet, according to the NDRC.
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