Abstract: Since the reform and opening up, Chinese sports have made remarkable achievements along with the rapid development of China's economy and society. From the perspective of national development, this present paper reviews and summarizes the historical contributions of sports in the construction of national spirit, the construction of national image, and the peaceful rise of China in the process of China's modernization. The research suggests that during the process of building a powerful nation, sports should play its due role in promoting the overall health of the people, promoting the harmonious development of society, helping the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and promoting the construction of a well-off society. This present paper proposes the strategy of developing China's sports in the new era, that is, taking the people as the center to establish the development orientation of the "big sports" mechanism, deepening reforms in a comprehensive way to form the development trend of "great development", and guiding the construction of sports power with "four confidences", i.e. confidence in our chosen path, guiding theories, political system, and culture, to achieve the development goal of "grand opening" and focusing on the development orientation of walking onto the center of the international stage with "great responsibility".

Key words: new era, national development, reform and opening up, sports in a big country, sports power