The night of November 6 last year was one to remember for young people across China. In Wuhan, thousands thronged the streets to celebrate, chanting “EDG!” “Niubi!”, employing a somewhat coarse Chinese phrase. At one music conservatory, students belted out the operatic aria Nessun Dorma above the din of a marching band.
A sudden burst of excitement about the Communist Party’s forthcoming 6th Plenum in Beijing? Or had China’s normally terrible national men’s soccer team won a match?
The celebrations were in fact sparked by victory for Edward Gaming, a Shanghai-based professional eSports team known as EDG, in the 2021 League of Legends World Championship. Overcoming its underdog status, EDG had become the third Chinese team in four years to win the global crown.
The mass excitement over EDG’s surprise win is testament to the huge popularity of eSports in China, where some 100 million viewers tuned in to the 2021 championship on streaming platform Bilibili;
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