Twenty years ago, Ding Junhui stunned the snooker world by winning the 2005 China Open as an 18-year-old, beating Stephen Hendry in the final. He was a lone pioneer—a singular talent from a country with virtually no professional snooker infrastructure. Fast forward to the 2025/26 season, and the transformation is extraordinary. China now boasts five players inside the world’s top 16, nine different mainland Chinese players have won ranking event titles, and the sport’s newest world champion hails from Yushan.
Zhao Xintong’s remarkable story dominates the narrative. Having served a 20-month ban for breaching betting regulations—part of the sport’s worst match-fixing scandal—Zhao returned via the Q Tour, won four consecutive events, and earned his place at the 2025 World Championship qualifiers. What followed was one of the most extraordinary runs in Crucible history. Zhao defeated Ronnie O’Sullivan 17–7 in the semi-finals before beating Mark Williams 18–12 in the final to become the first Asian player to win the World Championship. He made 18 centuries across the tournament, equalling Ding Junhui’s record from 2016.
Zhao’s triumph was just the beginning of his season. He captured the Riyadh Season World Invitational in November, and then added the 2026 World Grand Prix title in Hong Kong, defeating compatriot Zhang Anda 10–6 in the final—his fourth career ranking title overall. At 28, Zhao has established himself as a genuine force at the top of the game, rising to world number seven in the rankings.
But China’s revolution extends far beyond one player. Xiao Guodong successfully defended his Wuhan Open title in August, edging Gary Wilson 10–9 to become only the fourth player in professional history to defend a maiden ranking crown. That victory lifted him to a career-high world number eight. Meanwhile, Wu Yize announced himself on the biggest stage by defeating John Higgins 10–6 in the International Championship final in Nanjing—becoming the ninth different Chinese player to win a ranking event.
The depth of Chinese talent was showcased at the 2025 World Championship, where a record ten Chinese players featured in the main draw, smashing the previous record of six set in 2019. Four were seeded inside the top 16: Ding Junhui, Zhang Anda, Si Jiahui, and Xiao Guodong. Si Jiahui reached the quarter-finals before falling to O’Sullivan, while Zhang Anda continues to establish himself as a consistent top-20 presence.
China’s influence now extends beyond the players themselves. The country hosts nearly one-third of all professional ranking events each season—more than any nation outside the United Kingdom. Cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Nanjing, and Xi’an have become fixtures on the global snooker calendar, providing a commercial backbone that has helped sustain the sport’s growth worldwide.
From one teenager shocking the establishment in 2005 to a generation of world-class competitors two decades later, China’s snooker revolution is no longer a story about potential. It is the defining force reshaping the sport—and with the World Championship still to come this season, there may be more history to write.
