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Snooker in China

Postby MarcoStaiano

I was always curious about the connection between snooker and China and how the game became so popular in the Asian country.

I tried to search in detail more concrete aspects about this relationship (first contacts with snooker, first table setting, first good players), but can't find much on Internet.

I read this article (https://www.snookershorts.com/shorts/ho ... r-in-china) but it lacks of the info I'm looking for, seems quite generic.

Maybe someone with some Chinese skills or a direct involvment can help me!

The fact that in China there is streaming for Q-School it's just something that proves how much snooker is popular and obviously the interest is big for the new players coming through.

Re: Snooker in China

Postby McManusFan

I've also wondered about this too. I've always assumed it was something to do with British Hong Kong.

Re: Snooker in China

Postby SnookerArcher

As a chinese guy I'll speak from my experience though I'm English born and my family overseas are mostly in Taiwan, not China. Jimmy White's very popular with the chinese, he was in a Hong Kong film. Naturally Ronnie O'Sullivan is very popular too, my dad liked Alex Higgins, hated Davis. (He played snooker in his prime, max break 20s). As a kid we did get a mini Steve Davis snooker table from Brent Cross John Lewis lol. Had it till it got chucked out some yrs ago but still have the score counter.

Chinese like table sports, precision sports, see how they are obsessed and dominated table tennis, a level of dominance not seen in anyother sport, certainly olympic level other than the 1 blip of the first mixed doubles for Tokyo 2020 China has won nearly every gold for table tennis since 1992 for men & for women all golds since it became an olympic sport in 1988 for women, nearly taking every silver too. (Chinese like pool also)

Chinese like gambling, arcades and slot machines (What we call tiger machines cos of how voracious they are!), snooker and pool fits in with those very well & we all know how China's such an economic powerhouse & like table tennis they're pressing their advantage on snooker as tournament sponsors and nurturing players albeit the're nowhere as successful in competition vs their commercial success though it may happen, with more active chinese snooker players than the whole of the UK population. It's a game that requires buckets of practise and concentration, nerve and not so favouring athleticism or size (Though as Ronnie has shown being fit is very useful for snooker as it's an endurance sport that does require flexibility and a good spine).

In the casino when they do have snooker on most of the people who do watch it are chinese. Commercially the best thing that can happen to world snooker is Ding winning, as much as Ronnie is the biggest star bar none. Dream final commercially would be Ronnie vs Ding! Clash between East and West, the biggest stars of both regions.

Ronnie has said Shanghai is his favourite city in the world, must be why he's so successful in that tournament, being the most dominant player of its short history winning 4x and the current champion for the last 3, assume it will resume if not the coming season or next? I know this much, the tournaments in China have huge prize money, puts to shame what's offered in the west besides the Majors. Anyone that dominates China on the tour (Which has been Selby and Allen recent years) benefit hugely in the rankings list.

So to conclude, it's not just snooker, chinese like table sports perhaps more than anyother culture, thinking geographically with it being the biggest country in population, space would be at a premium in the crowded cities so indoor entertainment would be important, same time as it's such a huge country they have plenty of space for snooker clubs and academies. I think asians generally like table games including cuesports.

With snooker, not that you have to be good at it to like it (E.g football and basketball, China's poor at the former and the latter, some competency in it but are some way off from being elite) but China's knocking on the door with becoming a major chunk of the snooker tour, so far it's winning bits & pieces overall but it has the potential to become the dominant power in the game, coupled with its popularity even without success but the hope is there, hope = interest = money and the chinese like to win, to be the best, however often or not it happens they do push for it & when they get it they really hold on tight to it, best shown with olympics, the sports they medal in they really work hard at those, more than anyother country. Like table tennis, diving, gymnastics (On and off)