One of the world’s most popular sports, motor sport, attracts billions of television viewers every year. Some people believe that the Formula One World Championships, which has the greatest media impact of all other motor sports, is as important and famous as the Olympics and the World Cup. For most Chinese people, though, motor sport means no more than an occasional TV relay of the Grand Prix and a remote German hero racer, Michael Schumacher. It’s just too far away from their life.
But thirty-year-old Li Jia is an exception. Hailing from Nanjing, Li Jia is one of a small number of professional racing drivers in China.
“I love Nature, and I love to drive on and brave all kinds of roads. It’s both challenging and exciting, because you encounter all kinds of difficulties on the road. Sometime it even means turning your car over! But I think that’s part of the charm of motor sport.”
Li Jia says seven years ago he was a postman, and had a steady income. But he was so crazy about cars that he decided to quit the job and move to Beijing to study racing. All his family and friends were strongly against his decision, and thought he must have gone mad. They all thought racing is just too dangerous, and very expensive.
Two years later, Li Jia’s dream came true: he became a professional cross-country rally driver. He says this sport started in China in the mid-1980s. But it’s a costly sport, and it’s developed very slowly. In the early years, Li Jia had no choice but to try and cover his expenses by looking for sponsors himself; he certainly didn’t make much money for his own pocket. But racing alone gave him a great sense of fulfillment. Then things began to look up.
In 1998, Li Jia and his team won the top prize during a cross-country rally championship in Beijing.
“It was unbelievable! We were the champions! You know how long this has been my dream? Every one wants to become a champion. But my dream had come true, I couldn’t believe it.”
Since 2000, overseas motor companies have entered the Chinese market with unprecedented enthusiasm. As a result, China’s fledgling motor sport has grown increasingly popular, and racing has become a lucrative profession.
Li Jia explains that car racing is a competition not only between drivers, but also between racing car producers. The world’s top auto companies all attach great importance to the sport and the design and manufacture of their racing cars. China’s large population and its growing motor sport mean a great market potential for the car-makers.
“ Volkswagen’s China branches in Changchun and Shanghai have both entered the racing market. Obviously, they want to show that they have the ability to produce cars that can endure tough conditions, such as in a race.”
With the active involvement of auto companies in China’s motor sport, professional race drivers like Li Jia now have more opportunities to display their talent. But he says he’s going to spend only half this year participating in rally championships.
“The rest of the time, I want to cooperate with my partners from south Asian countries to form a racing team of our own. Now, I drive for Shanghai-Volkswagen. I hope one day I’ll drive for my own team in a car produced in my hometown – Nanjing.”
Li Jia says that although cross-country rallying has developed for more than ten years in China, it still attracts far less media attention than football. As professionals, Li Jia says he and his colleagues still have a long way to go to promote this sport in the world’s biggest potential market.
(China Radio International June 18, 2002)
