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Beijing. Only one of some 20 golf courses in Beijing has been developed legally, a member of the law committee in China’s parliament said.

Amid concerns about grabs involving prime farming land, China’s government put a moratorium on the development of new golf courses in 2004 and reinforced the ban last year.

Development has continued, however, and the China Golf Association puts the number of courses on the mainland at around 500, mainly clustered around the major cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

“There are many golf courses in Beijing, but only the one close to the Ming Tombs has been legally approved,” Sun Anmin, deputy director of the National People’s Congress law committee, told the Beijing Youth Daily on Monday.

The Beijing International Golf Club, which borders the Ming Tombs reservoir, was the first course built in Beijing, in 1986.

The 19 other courses in Beijing include the sumptuous Jack Nicklaus-designed Pine Valley and two championship courses, the Beijing Honghua and the CBD International, which have both hosted the European Tour-sanctioned China Open in recent years.

Sun suggested the developments be given legal status retroactively, saying golf courses have helped China’s economy by providing employment, and that green spaces in urban areas helped improve the environment.

CGA vice president Wang Liwei said last week that he backed the ban on developing good farmland, but thought courses might be legally built on wasteland in the future. 

Reuters