The 2018 National Beach Volleyball Tournament kicks off in Pingtan, East China's Fujian province on May 10. [Photo/Hu Meidong from China Daily]

The 2018 National Beach Volleyball Tournament kicked off in Pingtan, East China's Fujian province on May 10.

The event is jointly sponsored by the State General Administration of Sport, Fujian Provincial Bureau of Sport and Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone Administrative Committee.

It has attracted a total of 53 professional teams from across the country.

As the first stop of the tour, this is the second time for Pingtan to hold the national game, with the first in 2017.

Longfengtou Beach, the game venue, is the largest natural bathing beach in China. Its flat and soft landscapes make it an ideal place for the beach sports like beach volleyball.

The host of the game, scheduled to run untili May 14, is set to further improve the global recognition of Pingtan, as the city is actively building itself into an international tourism island.

Pingtan, an island located off the coast of Fujian, is the Chinese mainland's closest neighbor of Taiwan.