Skateboarding catches on in China

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More youth pick up boards as sponsors gravitate toward the new market.

By Jordan Calinoff — Special to GlobalPost

Published: July 4, 2009 08:31 ET
Updated: July 5, 2009 14:46 ET

Page 2 of 2

Davis said the X Games are the biggest and most recognized extreme sports competition in the region. “We moved from Phuket to Shanghai, because it’s a huge market," he said, listing off some sponsors — Doritos, Mountain Dew, Kia — and noting that local companies are also interested.

"The demographic and the audience that these athletes draw is key for these companies,” he said.

Liu Qing, the under-secretary general of the Chinese Extreme Sports Association, a government group founded in 2004 under the Ministry of Civil Affairs, said that there are now 500 professional athletes registered in the association.

Liu said the organization has been lobbying for funding for youth training programs and extreme sports education at universities. "If we continue to be successful, we can attract and train many young people in extreme sports,” he said.

While Chinese skateboarders have yet to find international success, the number of new skaters picking up boards every day in China makes it simply a matter of time. Li, for example, saw some kids skateboarding at a plaza in his hometown of Liaoning in northeast China and they asked if he wanted to give it a try. He was hooked.

“I got on and I really liked it. So when I went home, my parents bought me my own skateboard. That’s how I started,” he said. “My classmates ask me how old will I be when I stop playing around with the skateboard. I tell them I’ll skate until my legs won’t let me anymore.”

Che Lin, another professional skateboarder, said that he first started after watching the 1980s Christian Slater movie "Gleaming the Cube" dubbed into Chinese (the tagline: Skate or Die). Ever since, it’s been his goal to promote the sport in China.

“I have a skateboarding company in my hometown of Zhengzhou. It’s our 10th anniversary this year,” said Che, who is from central China. “Everything I do is to try to promote the sport in China. I will work as hard as I can to develop skateboarding in China.”

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