Skateboarding
Skateboarding is an extreme sport, action sport originating in the United States that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry Profession, job, and a ...
arrived in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
in April 1986 when an American skateboarder arrived in China to study Chinese at the Beijing Language Institute. He says, "When I arrived in China, there wasn't even a word in Chinese for skateboard. People were really interested in learning to ride, and in a few years Chinese skaters started appearing in almost every city I travelled to".
[Li, Winnie.]
Speedy Skateboarding
" ''Beijing This Month'' June 1, 2005. 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.][Xia, Summer, and Lisa Li.]
China Youthology interviewing Jeff Han: the skateboarding scene in China
." ''China Youthology'' February 6, 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.[He Bolin.]
" ''China Daily'' June 22, 2009.
The first major skateboard brand to enter China was Powell Peralta
Powell Peralta is an American skateboard company founded by George Powell and Stacy Peralta in 1978. The company rose to prominence in the 1980s as skateboarding began maturing as a sport. The company featured the Bones Brigade, a team featurin ...
, who in the early 1990s gave Chinese skaters a taste of the skateboarding by organizing a skateboard club, sponsoring contests and bringing over famous professional skateboarders. Many participants in the Powell events are still involved in the industry today, including Yuan Fei, who runs a skateshop in Qingdao and has the well-received skateboard brand, Lady, Wang Lei, the recipient of Powell's first board in China, who at 40 is still skating hard, and Xia Yu, who is now a well-known movie star and avid skateboard and snowboarder.
Another 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 co-founded Fly Streetwear with Danny Yuan Yuan Zhang, the first skateshop in Shanghai.[ He and Danny Yuan Yuan Zhang also founded Gift Skateboards together, 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, primarily known as Nike SB, is the Nike brand for its line of shoes, clothing, and equipment for skateboarding. Nike Skateboarding won the 2020 Webby People’s Voice Award for Best Home/Welcome Page in the category Web.
Hist ...
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 (; English: ''Society'') Skateboards.[Chow, Jonathan.]
Skateboarding with Chinese Characteristics
" ''US-China Today'' June 20, 2008. Headquartered in Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
, it was founded by Raph Cooper, a USC
USC most often refers to:
* University of South Carolina, a public research university
** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses
**South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program
* University of ...
alum who had studied abroad at Peking University
Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education.
Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...
in 2000.
A number of Western skate shoe brands have presences in China. These brands include Vans, DC Shoes 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, primarily known as Nike SB, is the Nike brand for its line of shoes, clothing, and equipment for skateboarding. Nike Skateboarding won the 2020 Webby People’s Voice Award for Best Home/Welcome Page in the category Web.
Hist ...
'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. ʻAukai is well known too.
The Biggest Skateboards Company is "Challenge Skateboards." and now they start their new company "FDskateboarding"(沸点滑板有限公司)to promote their domestic business. They have 11 skateboard (and skateboard related) brands: Symbolic Skateboards, Boiling Skateboards, Justice Skateboards, Black Knight Skateboards, Psychos Skateboards, Peer Trucks, Donuts Wheels, a Chinese skateboarding portals websit
Chinaskateboards.cn
& a printed magazine ''Whatsup'' skateboard magazine(Chinese).
Skateparks and other skating locations
Chinese skateboarding champion Che Lin estimated in 2009 that there were fewer than ten skateparks in China.
Ningbo
Skateboard Supercross Ningbo skatepark (SBSX Ningbo)
One of the largest skatepark
A skatepark, or skate park, is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, scootering, wheelchairs, and aggressive inline skating. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, stairsets, q ...
in the China with 42,000sqf. SBSX Ningbo is a game changing skatepark and pumptrack aka super track. It was built inside of Georgia School Ningbo where 2000 studentstake skateboarding as PE Class daily.
The park features an Intermediate level street course, a semi enclosed bowl, rails and the world’s first concrete pumptrack designed for multiperson races.
The park is lit, allowing night sessions.
Shanghai
SMP Skatepark (Shanghai Multimedia Park)
Formerly the largest skatepark
A skatepark, or skate park, is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, scootering, wheelchairs, and aggressive inline skating. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, stairsets, q ...
in the world. SMP is located on the outskirts of Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
in New Jiangwan City. It was completed in 2005 and is more than 12,000 square meters in size, containing the world's longest vert ramp, the world's largest concrete skate bowl, a huge downhill 3/4 to full pipe, several smaller bowls, a street section, 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 (Top Toys)
This park 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 in June 2010 when they opened a skateshop on location.
Bin Jiang Skatepark
This is a sunken plaza/street style course with stairs, ledges, banks, kickers, hubbas, etc. There are no transitions. It is located next to the Huangpu River and is lit in the evening.[Iconx Guide to Shanghai Skateparks. "http://iconx.com/skateboard-lessons-camps-events/skateparks-shanghai/"]
Jinqiao Skatepark
Located in Pudong, built by B&E Action Sports. Concrete park with granite ledges, rails, and a 1.6m transition bowl.[Concrete Disciples, Jingiao Skatpark. "]
Love Park (LP)
Small street spot with ledges and stairs. Located near the Line 8 Dashije station.
Iconx Indoor Skatepark
Shanghai's first public indoor skatepark. Opened in June 2014. This park has a 5-foot mini, boxes, banks, rails, ledges, and a few transitions.
Beijing
The most popular skating location in Beijing is the large Beijing Fashion Sports Park. It was known as Woodward Beijing from its opening in 2010 until March 2014. It is located in the rural southern 6th ring road. It is one of the largest indoor skate parks in the world, and it previously hosted the notorious Vans Night. There are also several skateparks. Ezone Sk8 Park in Fangzhuang
Fangzhuang Subdistrict () is a subdistrict and residential area in northern Fengtai District. It 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. As of 2020, it ha ...
hosts Andrew Guan's (Guan Mu's) Kicker Club, a nationwide skateboarding club with approximately 200 members in Beijing.[Pillsbury, Adam, ed. ''The Insider's Guide to Beijing, 2005-2006'']
p. 462
Beijing: True Run Media, 2005. (Guan runs
blog
named after his club.) Sk8 Warehouse, founded in 2009, is an indoor park in an industrial complex just north of Shuangjing Bridge. Honglingjin Park, in Chaoyang District, also contains a skatepark. In May 2010, Woodward Youth Action Sports Camp opened in Daxing District
Daxing District () is a district of Beijing, covering the southern suburbs of the city. It borders the Beijing districts of Tongzhou to the east/northeast, Fangshan to the west, Fengtai to the northwest, Chaoyang to the northeast, and the Hebe ...
; it contains facilities for skateboarding, BMX, and motocross and represents a government investment of $21.96 million.[ There are also plenty of small skateparks in the Shunyi area inside the villas such as Yosemite and Dragon Bay villa.
]
Shenzhen
Shenzhen
Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...
is the most popular destination for visiting pros. Spots in Shenzhen have been featured in videos by Nike Skateboarding, Zero Skateboards
Zero Skateboards is a skateboard company located in Carlsbad, California, United States. The brand was founded by professional skateboarder and entrepreneur Jamie Thomas, and distributed by his Black Box Distribution company. In late June 2014 ...
, and Transworld Skateboarding
''Transworld Skateboarding'' (''TWS'') was an Skate magazine, international magazine on skateboarding that was based in Carlsbad, California, United States. The publication also ran an accompanying website and video production company. In Februar ...
. Shenzhen is known for its smooth black marble ledges and police officer
A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...
and security guards
A security guard (also known as a security inspector, security officer, or protective agent) is a person employed by a government or private party to protect the employing party's assets (property, people, equipment, money, etc.) from a variety ...
who are largely indifferent to skateboarding. In 2009, Shenzhen Museum became the first area in Shenzhen where skateboarding was prevented when authorities placed flower pots around the central ledge.[ ]
In 2011, ''Transworld Skateboarding
''Transworld Skateboarding'' (''TWS'') was an Skate magazine, international magazine on skateboarding that was based in Carlsbad, California, United States. The publication also ran an accompanying website and video production company. In Februar ...
'' listed Shenzhen as one o
the best 10 cities to skate in the world
Every winter skateboarders from all over the world come to skate and spend their winter in Shenzhen.
References
* SBSX Park Ningbo
Skateboard Supercross official website
Further reading
* Sedo, Tim "Dead-stock Boards, Blown-out Spots, and the Olympic Games: Global Twists and Local Turns in the Formation of China's Skateboarding Community," in William D Coleman, Petra Rethmann, Imre Szeman, Eds., Cultural Autonomy: Frictions and Connections (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2010)
{{Asia topic, Skateboarding in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
Sport in China by sport