WUHAN, July 30 (Xinhua) -- Aleksandra Otasevic could never have imagined that she would be able to find tennis courts within walking distance almost everywhere she went in a county-level city in central China.
However, that is the reality in Jingshan, a county-level city in Jingmen, Hubei Province. Home to about 600,000 people, Jingshan boasts a community where more than one in six residents regularly pick up a racket, weaving tennis into the fabric of local life and supporting a growing sports economy.
"I didn't expect that when we came to China, we would see such a great place so much involved in tennis," said Otasevic, a member of the Journalists' Association of Serbia.
Otasevic was among 18 other international journalists from countries across Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe who visited Wuhan and Jingmen in Hubei last week. Their journey offered a glimpse into how Chinese localities are turning distinctive sports and emerging industries into new sources of economic growth.
A CITY BUILT ON TENNIS
Jingshan's relationship with tennis began more than four decades ago, when residents of Wenfeng Village formed a senior tennis team on a dirt court. What started as a curiosity gradually became a part of everyday life.
Every morning at around 6 a.m., farmer Peng Jufang heads to a public court to coach local players before returning to his cattle farm. He has played tennis for more than 30 years, competed in numerous tournaments and taught more than 3,000 students.
"Many people see tennis as an elite sport, but in many villages in Jingshan, almost everyone can pick up a racket," Peng said.
That accessibility helps explain the sport's wide reach. Jingshan now has over 350 standard tennis courts, allowing most urban residents to reach one within a 10-minute walk. Many public courts are free during the day, with evening players paying only a lighting fee of 20 yuan (about 2.95 U.S. dollars).
The city's tennis movement gained momentum after 2008, when Jingshan launched a campaign to promote the sport. The years that followed brought more courts and major tournaments, helping tennis grow from a rural pastime into a citywide passion.
In Wenfeng Village, the sport has also become a source of business. The village launched its first "Village Tennis" tournament in 2023, bringing professional players, amateurs and residents onto the same courts while drawing visitors to the surrounding countryside.
Among those who saw an opportunity was Qi Chengmei, who returned home and converted her family house into a tennis-themed courtyard restaurant. The business now employs more than 10 residents and generates over 600,000 yuan in annual revenue. Today, the village is home to more than 10 tennis-themed homestays and restaurants.
The wider economic impact is increasingly visible. In 2025, tennis-related tourism drew 3.52 million visits to Jingshan, while the city's tourism revenue exceeded 5 billion yuan, official data showed.
Jingshan has also built a pathway from mass participation to professional training. At the Hubei Provincial Tennis School, visiting journalist Moutlakgola Phenyo Masire, a journalist with Botswana Television and Radio, spoke highly of how the city is nurturing the next generation of athletes.
"I'm impressed, especially by the school, because we don't have a tennis school there," he said, adding that the visit offered ideas for creating more opportunities for young people in his own country.
Through cooperation among provincial institutions, the tennis school and local authorities, Jingshan has trained a number of national-level players and joined a national program to develop reserve Olympic tennis talent.
Its annual international tennis tournament has further raised the city's profile. Last year's event brought together more than 130 players from over 20 countries and regions and attracted about 56,000 spectators.
In Jingshan, tennis has become much more than a sport. It connects public facilities, youth training, international events and village businesses, turning widespread participation into tourism spending and local employment.
TAKING FLIGHT
Elsewhere in Jingmen, the search for new growth has taken to the skies.
At the Shengjing Mountain Paragliding Base in Dongbao District, colorful wings sweep across the sky as visitors wait for their turn to fly.
Jingmen began developing the base in 2017, drawing on the mountain's terrain and climate. It has since grown into a destination combining competitions, professional training and tourism, with tandem flights often fully booked during peak periods.
For visitors, paragliding offers the thrill of soaring above the mountains. For nearby villagers, it has opened up new opportunities to earn a living.
Liu Xiaojun in Jinquan Village is among those benefiting from the trend. He transformed his old house into a paragliding-themed homestay, and during last summer's vacation season, all eight rooms were fully booked, with three months' earnings matching the total income of the previous year.
Tourism services have expanded around the base as more visitors arrive. According to Chang Luying, an official with the Dongbao District culture and tourism bureau, the development of attractions around Shengjing Mountain has increased the average annual income of nearby households by more than 20,000 yuan. Tourism revenue in the district has grown by an average of 29 percent annually over the past five years.
The visiting journalists experienced the emerging industry firsthand through virtual-reality paragliding and indoor wind tunnel flights. For Otasevic, the visit offered an up-close look at how a local tourism project connects with China's growing low-altitude economy.
"When we were in Shanghai, I first heard about the low-altitude economy. It was a great opportunity for me to understand what it really means. It is not just about drones," she said. "Everything is amazing. It can boost tourism and the local economy."
China has highlighted the low-altitude economy in its government work reports for three consecutive years, while Hubei has introduced an action plan for the sector covering 2024 to 2027. Dong Yong, a government official in Dongbao District, said the district aims to turn Shengjing Mountain into "the Alps of the paragliding world" and use the sport to drive the local growth of the low-altitude economy.
In Jingshan, Peng begins his mornings teaching residents how to swing a tennis racket before returning to his cattle farm. Near Shengjing Mountain, Liu welcomes visitors who have come to experience flight.
As tennis balls bounce across village courts and colorful wings rise above the mountain, Jingmen shows how local traditions, natural resources and emerging industries can converge to create new possibilities for development.
