For the first time in seven years, one of the most consequential tournaments in snooker history is back as the main stages of the 2026 China Open begin on Saturday.
The pandemic took the iconic event off the calendar in 2020 and it has finally returned in a new home of Taiyuan.
The China Open played a huge part in what the professional circuit looks like now, specifically the 2005 edition.
There had been plenty of snooker played in China before then, in fact Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor rematched their epic World Championship final just four months after it happened at the China Masters in Guangzhou. Davis got a scrap of revenge, winning 2-1.
The ranking China International arrived in 1999 and morphed into the China Open later that year, with those events plenty big enough to attract the top stars as John Higgins, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Williams shared the titles from ’99-02.
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The China Open then fell off the calendar, returning in 2005, partly because there appeared to be a Chinese hope on the table for the first time.
Before then there had been little impact of Chinese players on the pro game, with Guo Hua credited as a pioneering professional from Guangdong in the 90s, but only living on in the memory of the highest level snooker geeks.
But Ding Junhui had now arrived. Ding had already turned pro in 2003 at 16 years old after winning the World Under-21 Championship at 15.
The teenager had monumental promise, although was yet to really show it on the professional circuit, until late March, early April 2005.
Tournament organisers really wanted Chinese participation in the returning China Open, especially Ding, so he withdrew from his normal qualification route and was one of 16 Asian players in a wildcard round to reach the last 32 in Beijing.
17-year-old Ding beat Mark Davis in that wildcard round and quickly made his mark on the main stage.
A 5-0 hammering of Peter Ebdon – who had been world champ three years earlier – came in the last 32, followed by wins over Stuart Bingham and Marco Fu.
Interest was building in China as the youngster was making a name for himself on home soil and Ding gave himself a brilliant present in the semis as he beat Ken Doherty 6-0 on the day of his 18th birthday.
Waiting in the final was a certain Stephen Hendry, at that point the GOAT of snooker, and he too was dismissed, 9-5.
A star was born and Ding did not just shine bright that week in Beijing, by the end of the same year he had won the UK Championship, beating another legend, Steve Davis, in the final.
The following year he completed a remarkable hat-trick of defeated foes in his first three ranking triumphs, downing Ronnie O’Sullivan to win the Northern Ireland Trophy.
That win at the China Open had not just rocketed Ding to the upper echelons of the sport, it began a huge change in snooker which is still being felt today.
An estimated 110 million viewers in China watched Ding beat Hendry and it wasn’t long before more Chinese events joined the professional circuit, with the Shanghai Masters springing up in 2007.
That is now one of the biggest events on the calendar, won by world number one Judd Trump last week.
Some have come and gone but this season there are six big tournaments on the professional calendar in China and 31 Chinese players on the main tour.
The season Ding won the China Open for the first time he was one of three Chinese professionals, alongside Liu Song and Jin Long.
21 years ago there were three Chinese professionals, now we have nearly as many Chinese world champions.
Academies have sprung up across the country, producing top level players at a rate which far exceeds any other nation.
Wu Yize is the current Crucible king, winning the world title a year after Zhao Xintong became the first Chinese world champ.
Zhao’s story is linked back to that 2005 China Open, with his own birthday just two days after Ding’s.
While celebrating his eighth birthday, Zhao watched Ding beat Hendry and cites that day as great inspiration to pursue the dream of becoming a snooker star himself.
It may have felt like the end of a journey from Ding’s Beijing win to Zhao’s in Sheffield, but really it is just a milestone on a much longer path.
There are 52 players on the professional tour currently under 30 years old, 26 of them are from China.
Ding himself has said this week that he expects more and more talents from China to emerge on the professional tour, as they in turn are inspired by Zhao and Wu’s successes.
‘I look forward to seeing wave after wave of young athletes grow into world-class stars,’ Ding told Xinhua.
‘I hope more tournaments, even the Snooker World Championship, can be hosted in China.’
The World Championship going to China is not going to happen any time soon, with the Crucible keeping hold of it on a long-term deal, but Ding will be hoping the China Open trophy does return to Chinese hands.
He won the event again in 2014, but no Chinese player has been to the final since then.
If Ding, Zhao, Wu, or any other of the brilliant Chinese stars – perhaps the dashing Chang Bingyu – can get their hands on the China Open title next week, it will be another step forward for the revolution Ding sparked 21 years ago.
2026 China Open
The tournament returns for the first time since 2019, falling off the calendar in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic.
It is back with a huge top prize of £250,000 in a new city of Taiyuan, having been staged in Beijing from 2005-19.
Neil Robertson is the defending champion, having beaten Jack Lisowski in the last staging of the event seven years ago.
China Open schedule
Saturday August 8
Wildcard round
2.30am UK time
Liu Linhao v Hossein Vafaei
Wu Shengguan v Anthony McGill
Last 32
7am
Mark Williams v Zhou Yuelong
Ding Junhui v David Gilbert
12.30pm
Barry Hawkins v Liu Hongyu
Wu Yize v Yao Pengcheng
Sunday August 9
7am
Judd Trump v Noppon Saengkham
Xiao Guodong v Wu/McGill
12.30pm
Ronnie O’Sullivan v Jackson Page
Shaun Murphy v Matthew Selt
Monday August 10
7am
Neil Robertson v Chang Bingyu
Si Jiahui v Jiang Jun
12.30pm
Mark Selby v Pang Junxu
Kyren Wilson v Aaron Hill
Tuesday August 11
7am
John Higgins v Stuart Bingham
Mark Allen v Liu/Vafaei
12.30pm
Chris Wakelin v Tom Ford
Zhao Xintong v Zhang Anda
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