--FILE--Vue sur un golf dans la ville de Zhengzhou, province de Henan, Chine centrale 27 septembre 2014. Les dirigeants communistes chinois ont tourné contre
--FILE--View of a golf course in Zhengzhou city, central Chinas Henan province, 27 September 2014. China's Communist rulers have turned against the exclusive sport of golf with the government saying nearly 70 "illegal" courses have been closed, seemingly enforcing a decade-old ban for the first time. The announcement by the ministry of land and resources comes amid a high-profile anti-graft campaign spearheaded by President Xi Jinping, which has seen crackdowns on banquets, lavish gift-giving and other official excesses. The ruling Communist Party has long had an ambivalent relationship with golf, which is a lucrative opportunity for local authorities and a favoured pastime of some officials, but is also closely associated with wealth and Western elites. "Presently, local governments have shut down a number of illegally-built golf courses, and preliminary results have been achieved in clean-up and rectification work, " read the announcement on the ministry's website late Monday (30 March 2015).
