Commercialization gives esports better image

ON SATURDAY, a team from China won the annual League of Legends championship held in Busan, the Republic of Korea. China Daily writer Zhang Zhouxiang comments:

The Chinese team iG won this year's LOL championship. However, in terms of esports, China lags quite far behind the ROK. Even this time, three of the six members of the Chinese team came from the ROK, which is rather surprising because China has the largest number of esports players, the largest audience, and is the largest esports market in the world.

The root problem lies in a long-existing prejudice against esports in China. Regarded as a respectable sport in the United States, Japan, Europe and ROK, esports participants have long been considered "game players" in China.