The Fifth National Farmers' Games, the only regularly held sports gala for farmers, was held in Yichun from October 18 to 23, 2004. Over 2,500 participants from 32 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, including Taiwan, took part. Hong Kong and Macao also sent delegations to the southern province of Jiangxi to observe the gathering.

First staged in 1988, the National Farmers’ Games are held every four years. The previous four games were held in Beijing, Hubei(湖北), Shanghai and Sichuan(四川).

It is the third time a Taiwan sports delegation has come to the Chinese mainland for the Farmers' Games. This time their delegation included 54 people, 20 of whom were participants and the rest their supporters.

During the six-day event, farmer athletes from all over the country compete in track and field events, basketball, table tennis, martial arts, Chinese wrestling, Chinese chess(象棋), shooting, grenade throwing, swimming and cycling. Agricultural skills such as planting and fishing are also official events, as are traditional Chinese sports like lion and dragon dancing, dragon boat racing, kite flying and shuttlecock kicking.

The 5th Games added more agricultural events than ever before with debuts for water-carrying races, earth-carrying races, seedling throwing and 60 meter seedling transplanting.

The grain-carrying race is a compulsory event and attracted many spectators. The athletes’ 80 meters of staggering, hardly surprising considering the heavy loads being carried on their shoulder poles, caused much amusement for onlookers.

The tire-pushing competition also attracted many people and inspired much laughter. Although some runners ran off-course behind their tires, spectators gave them enthusiastic applause.

Shot put and discus are regulars of track and field events, whether in the Olympics or on a school sports day. However, organizers of the 5th Farmers Games transformed them into a “seedling” throwing competition in order to reflect the real-life activities of farmers. The specially designed plastic “seedlings” look just like the real thing, weighing one or two kilograms, for the male and female competitions respectively.

Chinese wrestling is a sport most suitable for the field; it needs no special flooring and is easy to do. Many rural areas have become involved with this event and both adults and children take part. No surprise then that it has become a highlight of many local festivals. Although shuttlecock kicking is not an official event in the Olympic or Asian Games, it has attracted participation from many farmers and is developing rapidly in rural areas.

China has 900 million farmers, almost 200 million more than the total population of Europe. For the past 20 years life for farmers has improved greatly, enabling them to shift some of their time from subsistence to recreation. Sports and games have become indispensable for many farmers who enjoy a better life now.

Unlike most athletic events that test the limits of physical strength and stamina, the Farmers’ Games are in a sense more entertaining, less results-driven and closer to the daily life of farmers.

The 6th National Farmers' Games will be held in Fujian in 2008.