Major honours
China has reshaped 21st-century snooker's landscape more than any other country. Ding Junhui first announced this sport's presence to a huge domestic audience in 2005, beating Stephen Hendry 9-5 at the Beijing China Open at just 18. He went on to win more than 14 ranking titles and became the first Asian player to reach the world number one ranking, in 2014, and in 2016 became the first Asian player to reach a World Championship final. That success drove large-scale investment in youth academies and a Sheffield pipeline, and the professional tour now carries more Chinese players than any country other than England. In 2025, Zhao Xintong beat Mark Williams 18-12 at the Crucible to become the sport's first Asian world champion, a result widely read as the completion of the interest Ding Junhui had first sparked twenty years earlier.
Record comparison
Bars are scaled to the strongest team in this list.
Club legends
Rivalry
With England still holding the deepest playing base, China is in a race with England's youth system over who develops talent faster, and rebuilding trust after the 2023 match-fixing case remains a shared challenge between the two countries.