BEIJING, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- The China State Council released guidelines on Friday to speed up the development of the sports industry, aiming to grow it to a 2 trillion yuan (about 290 billion U.S. dollars) industry by 2025.

The sports industry serves as a powerful engine for economic growth. China plans to provide more events and recreational activities for ordinary citizens.

The guidelines also pointed out that China will launch 100 popular competitions, and 100 homegrown events by 2025.

According to the guidelines, China will attach great importance to the development of professional and international sports.

Winter sports will be warmly welcomed ahead of the preparations for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

More companies are encouraged to join the industry. China will also push reforms to streamline the approval process for sports-related companies, and ask related government departments to speed up the process.