There is a gap in this site shaped like a swimming pool. Watching sport is covered — how to get a ticket, which leagues are worth it. Hiking is covered. And the hygiene guide explains the board of water-quality figures beside a pool entrance, while noting in passing that sports venues sit outside the hygiene licence system entirely.
That last observation is correct and it raises the obvious question, which nothing here answers: if a Chinese swimming pool does not need a hygiene licence, what does it need?
It needs a different one. And the answer turns out to cover three of the things a visitor is most likely to pay to do.
The list has four entries#
On 1 May 2013 five central bodies jointly published the first catalogue of high-risk sports operated as a business, as announcement no. 16. The catalogue is four lines long:
一、游泳 二、高山滑雪、自由式滑雪、单板滑雪 三、潜水 四、攀岩
Swimming. Alpine skiing, freestyle skiing and snowboarding. Diving. Rock climbing.
Its legal basis is Article 32, paragraph 4 of the Regulations on National Fitness, and the announcement tells operators to complete their licence formalities and, in the meantime, to post a notice about it at the premises.
Three of those four are ordinary holiday activities. A hotel pool is on the list. The ski areas out of Harbin are on the list. Diving off Hainan is on the list. Rock climbing is the outlier for most visitors, though it is the one that overlaps with walking in the mountains once a route needs equipment.
What being on the list costs the operator#
This is the part that is worth something to you, because it converts a category into things you can look for.
An operator of a listed activity needs an operating licence for it — not the general business registration, and not the hygiene licence that covers hotels and bathhouses. On top of that the announcement requires social sports instructors and lifesavers holding national vocational qualification certificates in sufficient number, together with a safety production responsibility system, safe operating procedures, an emergency plan and facility inspection procedures.
So at a pool or a ski area in China there are, in principle, two different pieces of paper about two different things: the venue's permission to sell the activity, and the individual qualification of the person watching the water or the slope.
Two catalogues, easily confused#
Worth separating, because the names are nearly identical and published guidance runs them together.
- The catalogue of high-risk sports operated as a business is the one above — about a venue selling you an activity. One batch has ever been published, in 2013, and I found no second batch through 2025.
- A catalogue of high-risk sports events is a different instrument, published by the sports administration in a first batch in January 2023, covering things like mountain trail races and motorsport. That one governs holding an event, not running a pool.
If you are entering a trail race in China, the second is the one that applies to the organiser. If you are buying a lift pass, it is the first.
Checked for newer, and it is stuck in consultation#
The licensing procedure sits in the Measures for the Administration of Licensing of High-Risk Sports Operated as a Business, General Administration of Sport Order No. 17, issued 21 February 2013 and in force from 1 May 2013, amended three times — in September 2014, May 2016 and November 2018.
The Sports Law was comprehensively revised on 24 June 2022 and took effect on 1 January 2023, and to implement it the sports administration published a revision of these measures as a draft for public comment on 22 September 2023, with comments closing a month later.
A draft out for comment is not a rule. I found no sign that the revised measures have since been issued, so what stands is the 2013 order as amended three times. If that changes, it changes the procedure rather than the four-entry list.
What to actually do with this#
- At a pool, you now have two things to look at. The venue's operating permission, and the water-quality board the hygiene rules require — different instruments, different questions, both on the wall.
- At a ski area, the certificate is the patrol. The requirement that names lifesavers and instructors with national qualifications is the substantive protection on that list, more than the paperwork about the venue.
- A dive operator is selling a listed activity. Ask what qualifications the staff hold, in the same way you would anywhere else in the world; here the question has a domestic legal answer as well as an international one.
- Absence tells you something. A venue selling one of the four activities with no visible permission is not in the same position as a hotel without a star plaque, which is a voluntary scheme nobody is obliged to enter.
- Travel insurance is the other half, and it is the half China's rules do nothing about. Check that your policy covers the specific activity and, for skiing and diving, any depth or off-piste exclusion.
- Hong Kong and Macau run their own sports and licensing law, so none of the above describes a pool, a dive shop or a climbing wall there.
Frequently asked questions#
Do Chinese swimming pools need a licence?#
Yes, though not the hygiene licence that covers hotels and bathhouses. Swimming is the first entry on the catalogue of high-risk sports operated as a business, published on 1 May 2013, so a venue selling it needs an operating licence for that activity and staff holding national vocational qualification certificates.
What sports are classed as high-risk in China?#
Four, under the 2013 catalogue: swimming; alpine skiing, freestyle skiing and snowboarding; diving; and rock climbing. Only one batch has ever been published, so the list has not grown since.
Do Chinese ski resorts have qualified staff?#
The rule requires operators of listed activities to have sufficient social sports instructors and lifesavers holding national vocational qualification certificates, alongside safety systems and emergency plans. Skiing in its alpine, freestyle and snowboard forms is on the catalogue, so a commercial ski operation falls inside that requirement.
Is diving in Hainan regulated?#
Diving is the third entry on the catalogue, so a commercial dive operation needs the operating licence and the certified staff that the regime requires. That is a domestic licensing question and separate from whatever international certification a dive shop offers you.
Has China updated its high-risk sports rules?#
The four-entry catalogue stands unchanged since 2013. The licensing measures behind it, issued as Order No. 17 in 2013, were amended in 2014, 2016 and 2018, and a further revision to implement the 2022 Sports Law was published as a draft for comment in September 2023. A consultation draft is not a rule, and I found no sign it has been issued.
Is there a separate rule for sports events in China?#
Yes, and the names are confusingly similar. A catalogue of high-risk sports events, first batch published in January 2023, covers activities such as mountain trail races and motorsport, and governs holding an event rather than operating a venue.