The Chinese government has rolled out policies to encourage the e-sports industry to develop in a professional and healthy way.

A young female player competes in an e-sports event in Taicang, Jiangsu province.[Photo by Ji Haixin/China Daily]

Back in 2003, e-sports was included as a formal sports event by the General Administration of Sport. In 2017, the administration issued an official document to encourage Chinese cities to hold e-sports activities.

Reports confirmed that the industry is short of between 500,000 and 1 million professionals. To address the problem, the Ministry of Education incorporated e-sports as a major in universities.

From 2017 to 2018, the number of educational institutions running e-sports majors increased from 18 to 51. Meanwhile, e-sports operators and e-sportsmen were listed as new occupations by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security earlier this year to encourage more talents in the industry.

The Shanghai government promised to provide funds and train talents in the e-sports sector. Moreover, Hainan province established a special fund of one billion yuan to support the industry.

Insiders pointed out that the government needs to optimize industry organizations, competition systems and rules, as well as improve certification procedures for practitioners to promote sustainable development of the industry.

In the first half of this year, the actual sales revenue of e-sports reached 51.3 billion yuan, and 440,000 people were employed in the industry.