The Chinese Government’s Evolving Attention to the Leisure Industry and National Leisure Life: A Mixed-Methods Analysis (1978–2021)

This study adopts a mixed-methods approach, utilizing Nvivo12.0 software to analyze 44 Central Government Work Reports from 1978 to 2021. Through quantitative measures such as keyword frequency statistics and content proportion analysis, combined with qualitative methods including literature review and textual interpretation, it systematically examines the Chinese government’s policy attention to the leisure industry and national leisure life since the reform and opening-up. The findings reveal: (1) From 1978 to 2021, the government’s allocation of attention to the leisure sector exhibited a cyclical upward trend, which can be divided into four evolutionary phases based on policy characteristics: the initial stage (1978–1991), the reform and exploration stage (1992–2000), the transformation and development stage (2001–2012), and the quality enhancement stage (2013–2021); (2) During the early and middle phases of reform and opening-up, the cultural industry consistently received higher policy attention than the sports and tourism industries, with bureaucratic norms, economic development and reform demands, and major events serving as key constraints influencing the government’s attention allocation; (3) The leisure industry achieved dual improvements in scale and quality, and a fundamental shift occurred in the structure of national consumption, with leisure consumption gaining significantly greater importance in residents’ lives; (4) In the post-Olympic and post-pandemic era, the growing emphasis on healthy living is expected to promote leisure sports as a vital means of enhancing physical and mental well-being, leading to their normalized development within both industrial structures and lifestyle patterns.