Here are some fascinating facts about the LI-NING China Masters 2023, an HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750 event.

• At the start of the Superseries circuit in 2007, it was one of two Superseries events in China – the China Open being the other – from 2007 to 2013. From 2014 to 2017 it became a Grand Prix Gold.
• With the advent of the HSBC BWF World Tour in 2018, this event was called the Fuzhou China Open and was a Super 750 event, while the China Open Superseries became a Super 1000 event.
• The last three editions were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Lin Dan has the highest number of titles at six.
• Two women’s singles players have back-to-back titles: Liu Xin (2013, 2014) and Chen Yu Fei (2018, 2019).
• The most successful doubles players are Xu Chen and Yu Yang  (four titles each), in separate partnerships.
• No player has ever won a double title at the same edition.
• From the inception of the event in 2005 until 2017, only one non-Chinese player had won the men’s singles – Indonesia’s Sony Dwi Kuncoro in 2008. Subsequently, Japan’s Kento Momota won back-to-back titles in 2017 and 2018.
• China’s record is just as comprehensive in women’s doubles, with only one pair – Indonesia’s Vita Marissa/Liliyana Natsir – interrupting China’s reign from 2005 to 2017. The next two editions were won by Korea (Lee So Hee/Shin Seung Chan) and Japan (Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota).
• Hong Kong China’s Zhou Mi was winner in 2008, and the only other non-Chinese winner was Japan’s Aya Ohori in 2017. China wrested the title back in 2018 and 2019 through Chen Yu Fei.
• In men’s doubles, China haven’t been as utterly dominant. Denmark’s Jens Eriksen/Martin Lundgaard Hansen won the second edition in 2006, subsequently there have been seven editions with non-Chinese winners.
• Of the defending champions, only Chen Yu Fei, Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota and Huang Dong Ping (with a different partner) are in the draw this year.

Standout Stat: Quite astonishingly, no non-Chinese pair has ever won the mixed doubles title at the China Masters in the 15 editions of the tournament.