Every morning, the characteristic sound of pickleball balls echoes along the Qi River bank in Hebei city, Henan province, China.
Ms. Zhang Shaohua - a resident of the 7X generation - has been passionate about pickleball since her first attempt in 2024. To widely promote this sport, she has established a community of players and built her own professional pickleball court. She also regularly travels across the country to compete and connect with people with the same passion.
In just three years, this once little-known sport has developed strongly in Hac Bich. The city has built 1,600 stadiums, spreading from urban areas to districts and towns. Pickleball also promotes related manufacturing industries here. The city takes advantage of the chemical industry platform of coal, rubber and plastic to build a production chain from raw materials to pickleball equipment.
Since producing products for pickleball in 2024, a local enterprise has achieved revenue of more than 25 million yuan (about USD 3.7 million) in 2025, an increase of over 50% and is expected to exceed 50 million yuan (about USD 7.4 million) this year, with many products exported to Europe, America and Southeast Asia.
Many other cities in China are also developing this sport. Hangzhou has built a 6,000m2 pickleball park under the elevated road. Suzhou put into operation a complex of 23 courts; while Nanjing organized 11 courts on the 51st floor of a shopping center.
According to Mr. Bai Xilin, Director of the Tennis Management Center of the General Administration of Sports of China, the country currently has about 8 million people who regularly play pickleball and 20 million people who have tried this sport. The number of players may reach 30 million in the future.
The China Sports Federation informed that the domestic pickleball tool and service market has exceeded 1.8 billion yuan (about 268 million USD) in 2025 and is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 47% in the next 5 years.
Tournaments have also become a way to combine sports with culture, tourism and commerce. In more than 2 years, the Chinese Pickleball System has organized events in 99 cities in more than 20 provincial-level localities.
Pickleball also expands international exchanges. The Hac Bich International Friendly Tournament 2025 gathers athletes from 14 countries and territories. This year, US teachers and student delegations also came to Hac Bich to compete in friendly matches with local youth and participate in activities to learn about Chinese culture.
