China and the free flow of information make a horrible pairing, like mint ice cream and anchovies or a slow polka fused with death metal vocals. In short, we never really know what’s happening there. Run in the Summer of 2019 but not made public until March 2020, the country completed its first pool event.

Wanning, in Hainan China hosts annual events, particularly those run by the International Surfing Association, or ISA. China’s first unsalted surf competition went down in Qingfeng in the central province of Henan at a wave once known as The Ghost Ship.

Officially dubbed the Xing Feng Extreme Sports Center, the wave tech is a leviathan plow system that, despite its size, produces a small, rip-able wave similar to Adventure Parc Snowdonia. The system pulls a foil along a set track and looks similar to Wavegarden’s pre-cove technology. After its initial launch, the $26million facility re-contoured the bottom to increase the quality of surf. Estimates are that China has five additional wave pools planned.

This event rolled out over three days with longboard and shortboard divisions until eventually crowning lanky regular foot Huange Yige as event champion.

More info on the Chinese wave pool at HubsurfTV