Since September this year, Professor Zhao Yupei, a researcher of the Hundred Talents Programand doctoral supervisor at ZJU’s College of Media, has led a research team invited to the training base of esports national team, so as to conduct a one-month field survey during the 19th Asian Games. This measure aims to deeply explore the dissemination activities and sustainable development of China's esports“national team”, including the elements of intellectual media in Chinese esports, the training system of athletes, the competitive psychology and image of national team players, and the intergenerational development of Chineseesports ecosystem. The research team has been entrusted by institutions such as Publicity Department of CPC, CCTV, Sports Information Center of the General Administration of Sport of China,Ministry of Culture and Tourism and so on, and the team has submitted 27 professional reports as of now.

Since the 20th National Congress, the work of digital sports in China has been highly valued. Therefore, esports which were officially recognized as sports events early in 2003, along with the relevant industry, haveundergone significant transformation. As a form of competitive sports in the digital era, esportsare becoming the latest darling globally at an astonishing speed. The revenue of China's esports industry in 2022 hit 144.503 billion yuan and the amount of users has reached 489 million. Although it is a “rookie” project of the Asian Games, esports havealready come under the spotlight due to its broad base of users, highly renowned athletes, and strong trend of development.

There will be a total of sevenesports events in Hangzhou Asian Games, including League of Legends, King of Glory Asian Games Version, Peace Elite Asian Games Version, FIFA Online 4, Street Fighter 5, Dream of Three Kingdoms 2, and DOTA2. The Chinese esports national teamconsists of five coaches including Li Tuo and Zhu Kai, in addition to 31 athletes such as Chi Xiaoming, Jiang Tao, Chen Zebin, and Tian Ye, all of whom competed for the medals in esports events of the Asian Games.

The staff at the training base expressed their anticipation, “We are glad and honored to collaborate with the research team of ZJU’s College of Media and International Culture. We enthusiastically welcome the arrival of Professor Zhao’s team and hope to provide intellectual support for the development of esports in China through the cooperation.” Professor Zhao’s team were also full of expectations for this opportunity. “The realm of esports is of mysteries and imaginations, and we have been preparing for this research for a long time.”

Professor Zhao has been deeply involved in esports research for many years and have published a series of relevant papers in top journals at home and abroad as well as two esports textbooks, and has been invited to draft seven esports industrial standards. Among them, the paper “Umbrella Platform of Tenant eSports Industry in China” issued in the well-known international SSCI Journal of Cultural Economy (Q1) has become a highly-cited and frequently-read article in the past three years, showcasing the international influences of research depth and unique insights into the domestic esports industry. This year, Professor Zhao's team, in collaboration with Electronic Sports magazine, will release an evaluation report on the positive value of esports in the Asian Games, continuously making contributions to the research field of esports in China.

Finally, the experience and achievements of this research will be presented in the master's course “Integration of Virtual and Real Applications: Metaverse and Esports” this semester. Experts largely participating in the Asian Games will also be invited to the classroom.