Niche sports like surfing are gaining popularity and becoming new favorites for entertainment and fitness in China, as the Paris Olympic Games is heating up people's enthusiasm for sports.
Surfing lovers in Beijing are discovering a new space for indulging themselves this summer to avoid getting baked in the sun.
Driven by the Paris 2024, indoor surfing is coming into vogue nowadays, which enables city dwellers to have fun in "sea waves" without going to seaside. Coaches will lead green hands to discover the delights in surfing.
"Surfing parks are rare in downtown areas, and almost all are on seaside. And, it might be bothersome for us to go to the seaside to experience sea waves," said Hao Jie, manager of a surf park.
Hao said this is an Olympic effect, but it will need more time to flourish fully.
"Since being included as an Olympic sport in 2020, surfing has been gaining popularity. The Paris Olympics has attracted more Chinese people with Yang Siqi becoming the nation's first female surfer to compete at the Games. I hope more people would jump into the waves to join her," he said.
Apart from indoor surfing, rock-climbing and archery are also becoming new favorites for niche sports enthusiasts in China. Data from JD.com e-commerce platform show that in the first half of 2024, purchases of surfing swim wear in China jumped 473 percent year-on-year, and that of rock-climbing helmets, up 42 percent.
"It's no challenge for me if it is a sport that everyone can handle. Niche sports are more adventurous and I'd like to try them," said Liu Yuxuan, a niche sports enthusiast.
"As a young people, I prefer exciting sports like skiing," said Dong Chengzhe, another enthusiast.
Boosted by massive sporting events such as the Olympic Games, it is believed that niche sports have started gaining ground in China and will bring more vitality to the country's sports consumption market.
Olympic fever boosts niche sports in China
Hubei released China's first pricing program for medical services with brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies this week, accelerating the cutting-edge sci-tech's pace entering people's livelihood.
The Healthcare Security Administration of Hubei Province set the maximum prices for the implantation and removal of an invasive BCI implant at 6,552 yuan (about 899.7 U.S. dollars) and 3,139 yuan respectively, and the highest price for a non-invasive BCI adaptation service at 966 yuan.
The BCI technologies are bringing revolutionary changes in the treatments of many patients, according to Professor Jiang Xiaobing with the neurosurgery department under the Union Hospital affiliated to the Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
"For patients with hemiplegia, blindness, or aphasia, we can use BCIs to restore some of their physiological functions. And we can also use BCI technologies to treat patients with Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, or Alzheimer's disease. And currently we don't have very effective therapies to cope with these diseases. So BCIs are bringing hopes for these patients," said Jiang.
"The next three to five years are a critical period in our development of BCI technologies. Their applications to the treatments of, say, cancers and paralyses are definitely different, so relevant products have to go through corresponding procedures (before entering the end market)," said Jiang.
In March, the National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) released a pricing guideline for neural system care services, specifying BCIs in an independent category.
According to the NHSA, this move aims to boost the clinical application of the cutting-edge technology to benefit patients in need, against the backdrop of BCIs' rapid development in recent years.
The guideline also outlines the pricing of invasive and non-invasive BCIs respectively based on the distinctive features of the two BCI approaches.
The guideline will pave the way for the swift translation of mature BCI technology into clinical use in the future, and offer a compass for localities nationwide to manage relevant medical services, said the NHSA.
China's first medical service pricing for brain-computer interfaces issued
