by sportswriters Dong Yixing and Zheng Zhi
BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- On April 3, 2005, a grinning Ding Junhui lifted the China Open trophy after defeating Stephen Hendry in the final. Just two days after his 18th birthday, the Chinese teenager had stunned the snooker world.
When Ding won the UK Championship later that year, British media predicted that the first Chinese world champion was only years away.
Instead, it took two full decades.
On May 4, 22-year-old Wu Yize defeated England's Shaun Murphy 18-17 in a dramatic World Championship final at Sheffield's Crucible Theater, securing China's second consecutive world title after Zhao Xintong's breakthrough triumph the year before.
Zhao became the first Asian to win the World Snooker Championship, ending more than a century of European - overwhelmingly British - dominance at the Crucible. Wu's victory confirmed something larger: China's arrival at snooker's summit was no fleeting moment.
"From Zhao Xintong to Wu Yize, Chinese players have stood on the top podium for two consecutive years," Ding wrote after Wu's world title. "This is not just a breakthrough - it shows our time is coming."
But China's rise in snooker is neither accidental nor simple. It is the product of decades of investment, private sacrifice, government backing, industrial growth and a generation inspired by one player who carried the sport alone.
A LONG ROAD FROM DING
In the 1990s, cue sports in China struggled with an image problem. Pool halls were often associated with street corners and idle youth - hardly a respectable career path.
Ding, who began playing at age eight in his father's grocery store and left school early to pursue snooker full time, changed that.
An estimated 110 million viewers in China watched Ding defeat Hendry in the 2005 China Open final. Overnight, he became a national sporting icon, inspiring thousands of young players - among them an eight-year-old Zhao Xintong - to pick up a cue.
Snooker clubs and billiards halls spread rapidly across the country. International tournaments increasingly landed in China, while the Chinese Billiard Sports Association (CBSA) established its own academy in 2013 to strengthen player development.
"Ding is a god in China," four-time world champion John Higgins once said. "With Ding, the game has exploded. Snooker is such a big sport in China."
But for years after Ding's landmark victory, China's snooker story remained largely a one-man show on the international circuit.
Ding climbed to world No. 1 and won 15 ranking titles, but the world title continued to elude him. His closest chance came in 2016, when he reached the world championship final before losing 18-14 to Mark Selby.
It was only with the rise of a younger generation - those who grew up in the academy system - that further breakthrough was accomplished.
In 2020, Ding opened a snooker academy in Sheffield, a five-minute walk from the Crucible Theater. Equipped with 18 Xingpai tables, professional lighting and nearby dormitories, the academy became a home base for young Chinese professionals navigating long seasons overseas.
"I don't want to see them come to the UK, play just one or two seasons, and then be forced to go home," he said. "To win a championship, training is the most critical thing."
Despite operating at a financial loss and relying on his own prize money and sponsorship, the academy has since housed Wu, Xiao Guodong, Zhou Yuelong and Fan Zhengyi, among other eventual title-winners.
Yet Ding's efforts were only one piece of a much larger system.
Government-backed youth development, expanding domestic tournaments and growing commercial investment gradually strengthened China's player pipeline.
According to the CBSA, China has approximately 245 million billiards enthusiasts, 200,000 venues, and 550,000 billiards-related enterprises.
The depth of China's talent pool is now increasingly visible at the elite level. By the 2025-26 season, five Chinese players ranked inside the world's top 16, with Zhao finishing No. 3 and Wu No. 4. More than 20 Chinese professionals ended the season in the world's top 100, the largest contingent outside the United Kingdom.
After losing the 2026 world championship final, Murphy acknowledged the forces behind China's rise.
"You can see with the investment that the Chinese government has made into snooker in the last 10, 15 years the fruits of it now - Xintong last year, Wu this year - it's great for snooker out in China and it would be great to see that kind of investment here," Murphy said.
RESHAPING THE SPORT
20 years ago, snooker faced financial uncertainty after restrictions on tobacco sponsorship removed a major source of funding. At the same time, snooker remained heavily centered on British stars such as Hendry, Jimmy White and Steve Davis, limiting its international reach.
Ding's historic China Open victory marked a turning point for the sport.
Viewing figures on Chinese television made the governing body realize the immense potential of the Chinese market. The Shanghai Masters was added to the calendar in 2007 and when Barry Hearn took over at World Snooker three years later, he encouraged a bidding process between various Chinese promoters, leading to as many as five ranking events per season in China.
That momentum has only accelerated.
In the 2026-27 season, the Chinese mainland will stage six major tournaments: the Shanghai Masters, China Open, Wuhan Open, Xi'an Grand Prix, International Championship, and World Open, along with the World Grand Prix in Hong Kong - the densest concentration of events anywhere on the calendar.
Chinese brands have also become prominent partners of the World Snooker Tour.
Nongfu, China's largest water manufacturer, has sponsored top-tier events including the UK Championship, the Masters and the World Championship since 2019. Xingpai, the equipment maker whose tables are widely used in major tournaments, is a longtime sponsor of ranking events.
The shift in commercial gravity has also drawn the sport's biggest stars eastward.
Ronnie O'Sullivan, world No. 1 Judd Trump, and Neil Robertson - have all taken up residency in Hong Kong, citing China's expanding calendar and growing prize money.
"Without all of these tournaments in China and probably without Ding, I wouldn't have that opportunity," Trump told Wales Online.
Four-time world champion Selby put the financial impact starkly: "More than half of the total prize fund comes from China."
No city better reflects China's emergence as a snooker power than Yushan.
Once known primarily for stone, Yushan, in east China's Jiangxi Province, became central to the sport after Xingpai discovered high-quality slate there in the 1990s - material prized for snooker tables because of its elasticity and durability.
Today, Yushan produces 250,000 billiard slabs and 50,000 complete snooker tables annually, exporting to more than 70 countries and regions.
Yet Yushan has evolved far beyond manufacturing.
In 2015, it hosted its first Chinese Billiard World Championship, drawing 300 players from nearly 30 countries and regions. A year later, the Snooker World Open moved from major cities like Beijing and Shanghai to Yushan, an unprecedented shift for a sport accustomed to metropolitan venues.
In 2021, the Yushan International Billiards Academy opened, where Wu had trained during his early development. In 2024, the World Billiards Museum and the World Billiards Hall of Fame were both established there.
"The connection to the history of our sport is most vividly and vibrantly embodied here in Yushan," said Simon Brownell, CEO of the World Snooker Tour.
The town has also accelerated the integration of technology into the sport, including digital refereeing, performance analytics and smart tournament management tools designed to improve accuracy and transparency.
A place once known for poverty is now rebranding itself as a global billiards capital.
Outside the Yushan Sports Center hangs a slogan that captures the scale of the transformation: "The World of Billiards, All in Yushan." ■
