Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p>This study examines how the governance structure of China’s elite sport elite sport reserve talent development has changed since the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Drawing on 47 national-level policy documents issued between 1949 and 2024, it develops a three-dimensional analytical framework that links governance stages, policy instruments, and governance actors. Using theory-driven content analysis and qualitative policy interpretation, the study addresses three questions: how the governance structure has evolved, how policy instruments have been selected and combined across stages, and what governance logic underlies this transformation. The findings identify four stages of governance transformation: a chain-type centralized model from 1949 to 1978, a tower-type dependent model from 1979 to 1992, a ring-type consultative model from 1993 to 2011, and a network-type collaborative governance since 2012. Across these stages, policy supply shifted from unified administrative provision to differentiated cross-sectoral provision; policy values moved from performance-oriented instrumental rationality toward broader value rationality; implementation expanded from single-department control to multi-actor participation; and institutional safeguards gradually moved from policy guidance toward rule-of-law regulation. Yet this transformation remains incomplete. Fragmented coordination, uneven implementation capacity, and insufficient legal consolidation continue to constrain collaborative governance. This study contributes to sport governance research by linking policy instruments with changing actor relations in a long-term, state-led elite sport system. It also shows how hierarchical control, sectoral coordination, and collaborative governance coexist in China’s elite sport reserve talent development system.</p>