The pursuit of regional geopolitical aspirations : China's bids for the Asian Games and the Asian Winter Games since the 1980s

Any international bid involves a zero-sum competition among two or more national candidates vying for the right to host a particular international event. Chinese cities in total have participated in the Asian Games and Asian Winter Games bids four times since 1980. Beijing's bid for the 1990 Asian Games; Harbin's bid for the 1996 Asian Winter Games; Changchun's bid for the 2007 Asian Winter Games and Guangzhou's bid for the 2010 Asian Games: not one encountered failure. The argument here is that all the bids were used to build up China's hegemonic status in the Asian sports community with wider resonances for the geopolitical hegemonic influence of China. Evidence is drawn from contemporary literature and media reports.