The Quanzhou E-sports Association is established in Quanzhou, East China's Fujian province on May 20. [Photo.fj.chinanews.com]

Quanzhou in East China's Fujian province inaugurated its first e-sports association on May 20 as part of its broad push to jump on the wagon of the country's thriving e-sports industry.

According to the 2017 China Game Industry Report published by Penguin Intelligence last June, the market value of China's e-sports sector reached 20 billion yuan (about $3 billion), generated by gamers' spending, copyright distribution, merchandizing and e-commerce.

The number of registered online gamers jumped from 170 million in 2016 to 220 million in 2017－24 percent of new players were from universities, which equates to about 53 million students.

The Olympic Council of Asia has confirmed that e-sports will be part of the 2018 and 2022 Asian Games, while the International Olympic Council has said e-sports "could be considered a sporting activity".

The association, as a result, was set up in Quanzhou with a starting fund of 1 million yuan to seize the opportunities generated by the booming industry.

According to Liu Weilong, newly-elected president of Quanzhou E-sports Association, the association will play an active role in promoting standardization and industrialization for a healthier development of e-sports in Quanzhou.

It will also contribute to intensifying the city's partnerships with businesses or clubs in the industry at home and abroad, Liu added.

Quanzhou, is not the only one in Fujian that eyes e-sports development, Fuzhou and Xiamen are also taking note.

In the first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, relatively complete e-sport industry chains have already formed while in Fuzhou it is still at its beginning. The association was considered desirable under such circumstances, said Wang Bing, secretary-general of Fuzhou E-sports Association, which was established earlier this year.

This month, the first Fujian University Student E-Sports Competition was held in Xiamen and for the fourth year in a row, the National E-sports Tournament (NEST) is set to land in the port city in November as scheduled.

According to a manager from the XO E-sport Club headquartered in Xiamen, with the great policy support, the competitive online gaming is booming in Xiamen. He reveled that professional players in his club could earn as much as 4 million yuan annually and the club has opened branches in Shanghai and Chengdu to date.