The China Disabilities Training Center is spread over an area of more than 24 hectares, with facilities in the campus including an athlete's dormitory, a multi-sports training gym, a natatorium, a hall for ball games, an indoor athletic arena, a fitness gym, a tennis hall and an outdoor athletic field with a grandstand. To better facilitate the athletes and their special needs, the campus is barrier-free. Apartments in the athletes' quarters are also designed to fit those with different disabilities.

Since it started operation in 2007, the center has been involved in the training not only for the Chinese delegations, but also for 15 teams from different countries and regions as they prepare to participate in a series of games and sports meets such as the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games.

China first took part in the Paralympic Games in 1984 at the Seventh Paralympic Games held in Long Island, New York. Four years later, the China Disabled Persons' Federation was established to promote the rights of people with disabilities, including the organizing and financing for sports.

In 1994, the Sixth Far East and South Pacific Games for disabled sports men and women was held in Beijing - the first time many Chinese got to know about the existence of such games.

(China Daily 08/13/2012 page20)