China's 15th National Games: Dashing forward in the Greater Bay Area

BEIJING, Nov. 21, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- A news report from China.org.cn on China's 15th National Games and the Greater Bay Area:

The gigantic ring-shaped cauldron is "ablaze" above the Guangdong Olympic Sports Center, as 34 sporting disciplines unfold over the past fortnight or so. One might wonder: Is China hosting another major international sporting event?

In fact, this is nothing other than China's own National Games.

Held every four years, the National Games are akin to China's version of the Olympics, which also share a similar competition line-up as that of the Olympic Games. The 15th National Games (the Games) is special — it is the first edition that has been jointly hosted by Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. That means, the Games is crossing two social systems and three customs territories.

In the cycling road race event, athletes set off from Zhuhai Museum in Guangdong Province and pedaled all the way across the Macao Bridge, past Hong Kong International Airport and Hong Kong Disneyland, ticking off a series of Greater Bay Area landmarks, all while in medal contention.

These few hours of competition are, in essence, a vivid footnote to the ongoing journey of development in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).

The GBA is an urban cluster consisting of the two special administrative regions (SAR) of Hong Kong and Macao, together with a group of cities in Guangdong Province. In 2019, the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area was elevated to a national strategy. By then, Hong Kong and Macao had returned to their motherland for about two decades, and great changes had taken place in their social and economic landscapes. Meanwhile, the industrial structure in the Pearl River Delta was in urgent need of transformation and upgrading. Thus, by advancing the development of the GBA, China sought to deepen reform and drive institutional innovation, boosting integrated growth in the three regions, and fostering a new engine of economic expansion.

The cyclists at the 15th National Games were able to shuttle among the three regions within half a day, thanks to the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge jointly built by the three places. As the world's longest sea-crossing bridge, it has handled over 90 million passenger trips since it opened seven years ago. Since 2023, private vehicles from the two SARs can apply for digital plates, stick the RFID cards onto their cars, then smoothly travel to Guangdong Province via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge checkpoint.

Without altering existing systems, the three regions have innovatively facilitated the flow of vehicles, data and talent. Now, the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link operates so frequently and routinely, that it's almost like an intercity shuttle; the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou tech hub has ranked among the world's leading innovation hubs for years; at the ports of entry across the GBA, ordinary citizens of all profiles are often seen passing through customs with bikes. The GBA, with less than 0.6% of China's land area, has generated one-ninth of the country's GDP.

Some say, the 15th National Games offers a condensed glimpse into the past, present, and future of the Greater Bay Area. Over a century ago, Hong Kong and Macao were forced to separate from the motherland; now, a scene of people running forward side-by-side in the GBA is being depicted through the sporting event.

China Mosaic 
http://chinamosaic.china.com.cn/

SOURCE China.org.cn