Chinese tycoon xia yang inspired by prince charles to restore polo to communist china But now a beijing property magnate has launched a mission to turn his country into a nation of polo players.Xia yang was inspired to take up the elite sport after watching prince charles playing in a match against the sultan of brunei. Christian Louboutin Sandals He hopes to entice his fellow tycoons into joining him in playing a sport that first appeared into china more than 1800 years ago but died out during the turmoil of chairman mao's cultural revolution, when anyone professing a love of polo was marked out as louboutin outlet an enemy of the people. With its economy still growing slowly despite the deepening recession abroad, china is home to 101 billionaires and around 320, 000 dollar millionaires.The vast majority of them are self made and mr xia believes playing polo will help turn them into gentlemen. "In the west, polo is said to be an aristocrats' sport,"Said the 42 year old. "We don't have aristocrats in china, but we do have a lot of people who have become very rich very quickly.I want to encourage them to behave like gentlemen, and playing polo is part of that. "Mr xia, a former architect turned property developer, has ploughed 20Million yuan(Million)Of his own money into establishing china's first polo club and has done cheap louboutin shoes online everything he can to make sunny time feel like a gentleman's club. The walls are lined with paintings, imported from britain, of uniformed hussars and hunting scenes.Sitting in front of a roaring log fire, while a servant stood close by topping up his tea cup at regular intervals, mr xia said he was drawn to polo by the romantic image of the sport. "When i saw prince charles playing polo on tv back in 1996, i thought he looked like a hero,"He said. "I just thought it was a very cool sport.It made me think of how people must have been in ancient times, when swordsmen rode in china. " In fact, polo has been played in china since the han dynasty at the beginning of the third century ad.It reached the height of its popularity 700 years ago, before declining during the qing dynasty a 260 year long period during which ordinary people were forbidden to own horses.It was still part of the national games china's annual sporting showcase in the 1950's but disappeared during the political upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s. Bringing back the glory days is part of mr xia's mission.He heads the polo committee of the chinese equestrian association and wants to see the sport played as widely as possible, with a chinese team able to take on the likes of england and argentina. "If polo was an olympic sport we'd have a team already,"Said mr xia, a reference to the way china spared no expense to make sure it topped the medals table at the beijing olympics. "But sports grow quickly in china and i think we'll have a national polo team soon. " There is no doubt that the chinese have been quick to adopt other sports associated with the wealthy in the west.There are now around 1, 000 golf clubs in china, up from 200 five years ago, with more than a million people on the links, a number growing at a rate of 30 per cent a year.Skiing too, is increasingly popular.The china ski association predicts 10 million people will be taking to the slopes at 200 resorts by 2010. Even though a polo pony can cost up to one million yuan(In china, a second club, the nine dragons hill polo club, opened in shanghai last year.But the 50, 000 yuan(Annual membership fee for mr xia's club is almost three times the average annual income of beijing residents.Unsurprisingly, the members of his club are fellow property developers, or the heads of coal and oil companies.All are recession proof. "I don't think the cost of polo is too high for my members.It's christian louboutin australia about the same as their food bills,"Said mr xia. The only non tycoons in evidence are the professional riders mr xia employs.Mostly from the grasslands of inner mongolia, a region famed for its horsemanship, they live at the club.Wu zhi wei had never played polo until he got the job, but he has been riding since he was six. "I earn more doing this than if i was back working on my parents farm,"Said the 23 year old. "And it's more fun playing polo. " On match days the club's car park fills up with top of the range models, as friends and family of the members gather to watch chukkas being played in the shadow of the picturesque yanshan mountains, close to the great wall outside beijing. But what mr xia would really like to see is royalty galloping across his polo field. "It would be fantastic to have prince charles playing here,"He said. "He's a bit old now, but i know his sons play.They'd be more than welcome to play here. "

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