CHINESE O MUSEUM

Orienteering Landscapes:

Orienteering Museum in Conghua, Guangdong, China

FROM ORIEN.ASIA

Orienteering is a sport that’s officially over all seven continents of the world. China is one of the countries outside Europe where Orienteering is a major sport. And the first dedicated Orienteering museum in the world (*see note below) is now in Conghua, Guangzhou, China.

The Orienteering Museum. Blair Trewin examines maps at the Museum during 2019 World Cup.

The Province of Guangdong markets the South China Historical Trail as a cultural and historical experience that links the many heritage sites in the province together. The South China Historical Trail Orienteering event series links these places together through a fun and engaging outdoor sport, leading orienteers to explore the historical landscape of Guangdong. The museum presents worldwide Orienteering history with maps, news and other artefacts in Orienteering since 1984. Maps exhibited include high profile events such as World Orienteering Championships, World Masters Orienteering Championships, as well as O-Ringen in Sweden - the largest annual Orienteering event in the world. Separate sections in the museum explore deeper into Orienteering history in China, documenting the development of the sport through maps since the 1980s. Hong Kong is represented prominently in the collection as it’s from where Orienteering first spread into Mainland China. There are even maps of forest areas that, due to urban development, no longer exist.

Orienteering history comes alive in the Orienteering Museum

The museum opened on 28 October 2019, during the Orienteering World Cup Finals in China. It uses a historical building in Wenquan Town, in Conghua District, Guangzhou. Wenquan means hot springs, and the area is famous for the rare sodium bicarbonate springs that makes it a popular holiday destination in China. The idea of the museum came as part of the South China Historical Trail Orienteering initiative. South China Historical Trail is a network of historical and cultural trails preserved from the various imperial dynasties of China since the Qin Dynasty (late 3rd century BC). Guangdong’s history is part of a larger cultural region in South China in which Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of China adjacent but separate from Guangdong, is also part of, as seen from closely related languages such as Cantonese, Hakka and Teochew.

China is great for Orienteering Did you know…?

Orienteering in Mainland China started in the 1980s as a sport as the economy opened up. Boosted by contacts with orienteers in Hong Kong, Guangdong soon became a hotspot for Orienteering activity, and the sport spread quickly to the rest of the nation.

Now, the sport is most popular in almost every corner of China, thanks to government support for major Orienteering events and school Orienteering. Activities now span from Hainan in the south to Heilongjiang in the north, from Shanghai at sea level to Yunnan in the highlands. Major Orienteering events, such as Great Waves and Big Dipper Orienteering series, take place in different parts of China.

We love orienteering! (Photo from MetOC Knockout Sprint 2017)

An Orienteering map from the South China Historical Trail Orienteering Series. 1. Hong Kong is probably the earliest place in Asia to have Orienteering as a sport. Being one of the last remaining British colonies in the 20th century, the British Armed Forces brought the sport from Europe to Hong Kong in the 1950s/1960s, then taught the police and the scouts how to play it, then taught other people, etc. 2. From Hong Kong the sport went on to other places in Asia: starting from Mainland China in the 1980s, Orienteering is now played in well over a dozen countries and regions. 3. There are 7 countries/regions in Asia (excluding the Middle East) which have hosted IOF high-level events (WRE, AsOC, All photos and maps in this article are kindly provided by WOC) at least once: China, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), Hong the Orienteering Museum. Special thanks to the museum Kong, South Korea, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia for providing information and support towards this article. 4. China mostly uses its own two systems, Chinahealth Address: 13 Liyuan Road, Wenquan Town, Conghua District, and Learnjoy, the latter of which is on IOF’s provisional Guangzhou, China. approval list for WRE events. Hong Kong once used the Norwegian punch system EMIT, but switched to *Note: The first Orienteering museum in the world is usually SPORTident some time around 2014 (some clubs use the considered to be the Centre of Orienteering History in Zlín, Chinese systems however). Japan still uses EMIT. Czech Republic (est. 1984). It’s however attached to the Museum of Southeastern Moravia, and exhibits its collections via that museum. At this moment, we’re not aware of any other dedicated Orienteering museums in the world that are independent of other museums. The Orienteering Museum 5. If you’ve been to Britain for Orienteering, chances are that you’d been required to bring a whistle with you in the woods. Same applies to Hong Kong, where the rules of the sport are derived from British ones (due to point 1 above). in Conghua, therefore, can be considered to be the first 6. There is currently (as of 2019) one IOF council dedicated Orienteering museum in the world. member from Asia (also the only non-European member), Dominic Yue who is also the chairman of the Orienteering Association of Hong Kong.

Chinahealth is made in Shenzhen, China. (Editor’s note – actually, Australian Hugh Cameron was a Vice President of the IOF for many years and now Mike Dowling from Australia holds that position on the IOF Council.)