Village sports create economic buzz in Hubei

WUHAN — When Hu Rui's team clinched victory in the tug-of-war finals in Central China's Huangtan town in Hubei province, their prize was not a medal, but something far tastier: 5 kilograms of soft-shelled turtle, 10 kg of crayfish, a bundle of fresh vegetables and a couple tins of local green tea.

"That's what victory smells like," said Hu, a physical education teacher from Yingcheng Huamao Foreign Language School, while holding up the prize on Wednesday.

Over the past two days, the small town of Huangtan transformed its Xingfu Park — or Happiness Park, in English — into a buzzing arena of grassroots sport and local pride. With 40 teams competing and thousands of villagers watching, the town's first-ever sports festival was turned into a grand carnival.