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IT started as part of China’s stunning shift to crass capitalism from stern socialism: Get golf going. Again.
That was in the 1980s, when the game described some 30 or so years ago as elitist rolled back in with such impact it would soon help complete China’s march back to profit from propoor posturing. In no time, China became the world’s No. 1 producer of billionaires.
Golf, timelessly known as the game that seals deals in business tussles big time, was back with a vengeance—thanks mainly to Deng Xiao Ping, Mao’s expelled lieutenant but who would resurface as China’s renaissance man to put the world’s most populous country to where it is now: A global power economically, politically and, yes, militarily.
It was in 1949 on the heels of Mao’s majestic victory over the American-backed Kuomintang forces of Chiang Kai Shek that golf was declared a “bourgeois” tool. Mao would next have all of China’s courses destroyed; one would become today’s site of the world-renown Shanghai Zoo.
But with Deng’s rise to power, the diminutive 4-foot-11, cigar-chomping pragmatist demolished most of Mao’s vision and mission. In no time would he make China the world’s hub of economic activity, in the process burying much of Mao’s dream of a strict socialist state that totally bans private ownership.
As skyscrapers would dot the Shanghai skyline in frenetic pace, golf courses would sprout like mushrooms all over China in answer to the Chinese businessmen’s sudden heavy reliance on the game as a networking opportunity. As of last count, there were approximately 600 courses nationwide. In one place alone near Shanghai was envisioned to be the site of 100 fairways.
But in a swift twist of fate, China’s officials recently declared war against golf. Saying course builders dug prime land in violation of a 2004 ruling, they shut down 66 courses deemed illegally constructed, including three in Beijing.
Land costs had stupendously shot up in China and the government’s need for agricultural land was, for years now, suddenly being challenged by golf developers. In their greed, businessmen were alleged to be bribing Ministry of Commerce officials in exchange for permits.
Likewise, the move was a veiled crackdown on public officials suspected of being the country’s most frequent golfers. One ranking official was investigated because he “allegedly played golf.”
Here at home, I also hear loud whispers that developers need to play footsies with government officials in exchange for environmental clearance.
But rumors will always be rumors if no one dares to stand up and expose perceived wrongdoings.
No Don Quixote, Cromwell or Ninoy, OB shots will remain unabated in the country’s golf development.