Skateboarding in China - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Skateboarding is an action sport which involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard.Skateboarding can be a recreational activity, an art form, a job, or a method of transportation. Skateboarding has been shaped and influenced by many skateboarders throughout the years. A 2002 report...

arrived in China at the end of the 1980s, imported by a Japanese teacher at Beijing Sport University

Beijing Sport University

Beijing Sport University , founded on November 1, 1953, has contributed greatly to the sustainable development of Chinese sport and physical education and has enjoyed the fame as one of the key sport universities in China and in the world.In the past five decades, over 30,000 students of...

whose students began its popularization. Domestic skate companies and retailers began to appear at around the turn of the century, bringing the average price for a skateboard of ordinary quality down from an expensive 1000 yuan to around 280 yuan as of 2009. Skateboarding has been slow to develop in China because of the lack of a strong preexisting street culture and of skating infrastructure; nevertheless, it's estimated that as of 2009 there are 40,000 to 50,000 skateboarders in China.

Perhaps the most significant figure in the development of skateboarding in China has been Jeff Han (Han Minjie). After a decade-long career with a milk company, in 1999 Han quit and founded Fly Streetwear, the first skateshop in Shanghai. Fly rapidly became one of the major retailers and distributors of counterfeit, pirated and factory leak skateboard and street culture brands in China, a position it maintains to this day, with a mixture of genuine and bogus products in their shops. He also founded Gift Skateboards, a manufacturer that initially produced only boards for foreign brands but has now become the leading domestic skateboard brand; Cart Wheels, another skateboard brand; and Skatehere.com, the most popular Chinese-language skateboarding website. In addition to his companies, he runs a professional skateboarding team. In 2007, Nike Skateboarding

Nike Skateboarding

Nike Skateboarding, also known as Nike SB, is the Nike brand for its line of shoes, clothing, and equipment for skateboarding.-History:...

created the Fly Milk Blazer Premium sneaker in tribute to Han.

Business

Along with Jeff Han's companies, one of the oldest and most important Chinese skateboard companies is Shehui Skateboards. Headquartered in Beijing, it was founded by Raph Cooper, a USC

University of Southern California

The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...

alum who had studied abroad at Peking University

Peking University

Peking University , colloquially known in Chinese as Beida , is a major research university located in Beijing, China, and a member of the C9 League. It is the first established modern national university of China. It was founded as Imperial University of Peking in 1898 as a replacement of the...

in 2000.

A number of Western skate shoe brands have presences in China. These brands include Vans, Nike SB, Circa, Converse and Adidas. In the domain of skateboarding apparel, Jeff Han reports that

Vans is the No.1. Adidas is the new comer in China. I still remember that on the first opening day of Vans at Fly, we sold RMB 50,000 of Vans. As a matter of fact, before Vans’ official launch in China, it was already superbly popular in Beijing. Converse was replaced by Vans as the symbol of cool. Nike successfully launched some limited editions that are more expensive…

Han regards Nike Skateboarding

Nike Skateboarding

Nike Skateboarding, also known as Nike SB, is the Nike brand for its line of shoes, clothing, and equipment for skateboarding.-History:...

's history in China as a major success story. Though not respected as a skate brand at the time they launched in the Chinese market in 2004, through sponsorships of successful Chinese skateboarders such as Che Lin and Zeng Guanhao as well as intense local marketing efforts, they won broad recognition in China.

Skateparks and other skating locations

Chinese skateboarding champion Che Lin estimated in 2009 that there were fewer than ten skateparks in China.

Shanghai

SMP Skatepark, the largest skatepark

Skatepark

A skatepark is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, aggressive inline skating and scooters. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, quarter pipes, spine transfers, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, pyramids, banked ramps, full pipes, pools, bowls, snake runs stairsets,...

in the world, is located on the outskirts of Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

in New Jiangwan City. It was completed in 2005 and is more than 12,000 square meters in size, containing the world's biggest vert ramp, the world's largest concrete skate bowl, and a 5,000-seat stadium. Despite the publicity of the high-profile events that have taken place there, it has attracted sparse crowds.

YuanShen skatepark was created when the red metal ramps from the SMP skatepark were transferred to the YuanShen Stadium in 2008. These metal ramps were originally used as a competition course in the stadium portion of the SMP skatepark. The skatepark is often referred to as the Red SMP skatepark. Top Toys took over management of YuanShen skatepark located on Line 6 on June 2010 when they opened a skateshop on location.

Beijing

The most popular skating location in Beijing is the large Woodward Beijing located in the rural southern 6th ring road. It is one of the largest indoor skate parks in the world, and it hosts the notorious Van's Night. There are also several skateparks. Ezone Sk8 Park in Fangzhuang

Fangzhuang

Fangzhuang is a vast residential area in southern Beijing. It is located in northern Fengtai District and is bounded to the north and south by the 2nd and 3rd Ring Roads and to the west and east by Tiantan Dong Lu and Fangzhuang Dong Lu. Fangzhuang was developed in 1985, and was the first...

hosts Andrew Guan's (Guan Mu's) Kicker Club, a nationwide skateboarding club with approximately 200 members in Beijing. (Guan runs a blog named after his club.) Sk8 Warehouse, founded in 2009, is an indoor park in an industrial complex just north of Shuangjing Bridge.ref name=GlobalTimes/> Honglinjin Park, in Chaoyang District

Chaoyang District, Beijing

Chaoyang District is a district of Beijing, China.Chaoyang is home to the majority of Beijing's many foreign embassies, the well-known Sanlitun bar street, as well as Beijing's growing CBD. The Olympic Park, built for the 2008 Summer Olympics, is also in Chaoyang...

, also contains a skatepark. In May 2010, Woodward Youth Action Sports Camp is slated to open in Daxing District

Daxing District

Daxing District is a suburb of Beijing, situated to the south of the city.-Overview:...

; it will contain facilities for skateboarding, BMX, and motocross and represents a government investment of $21.96 million.

Shenzhen

Shenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones...

is the most popular destination for visiting pros. Spots in Shenzhen have been featured in videos by Nike Skateboarding, Zero Skateboards

Zero Skateboards

Zero Skateboards is a skateboard company located in Carlsbad, California. It is part of the Black Box Distribution family. Zero decks are manufactured in Tijuana, Mexico, by Edieth and Osuna, which is owned by Jamie Thomas...

, and Transworld Skateboarding

Transworld Skateboarding

Transworld SKATEboarding is a skateboarding magazine, website, and production company.Founded in 1983, TWS was a response to Thrasher Magazine and specifically to the December 1982 article ‘Skate and Destroy’ written by C.R...

. Shenzhen is known for its smooth black marble ledges and cops and security guards who are largely indifferent to skateboarding. In 2009, Shenzhen Museum became the first skateproofed spot in Shenzhen when authorities placed flower pots around the central ledge.

Business

Skateparks and other skating locations

Shanghai

Beijing

Shenzhen

Further reading

Chinese skateboarding websites

Pictures and video