The world's top 24 snowboarders will gather at the Bird's Nest in Beijing next weekend at the 2012 Oakley Shaun White Air & Style Beijing beginning on Dec 8.

This is the first 6 Star event of the World Snowboard Tour's season and the riders will have a chance to compete while bringing the sport and its lifestyle to a broader audience.

Global snowboarding star Shaun White is the ambassador of the event.

It is the third time the event, which originated in 1994, will be held in Beijing.

Ulrik Badertscher of Norway, the winner of last year's event, will lead big names such as WST champion Peetu Piiroinen of Finland and WST Big Air champion Seppe Smits.

The North American delegation will be led by slopestyle world champion Chas Guldemond of the US. Others include Mark McMorris, Seb Toutant, Maxence Parrot and Antoine Truchon of Canada and Eric Beauchemin and Sage Kotsenburg from the US.

An impressive field of Scandinavians will also be on hand. Norway's Stale Sandbech, Torgeir Bergrem, Emil Ulsletten and Petja Piroiinen will join Sweeden's Sven Thorgren and Nils Arvidsson and Finland's Roope Tonteri from an area that boasts one of the sport's richest heritages.

Japan's Yuki Kadono will have the shortest trip, but may have the most to gain from a victory on his home continent.

China's Sun Nan and his band will perform live alongside the snowboarding.

The facilities are being built at the Bird's Nest, the main stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The start height is 50 meters above level, the slope in-run is 42 degree steep and the leap is about 30 meters.

The riders will placed in a head-to-head competition from the first round on. Twelve winners and four lucky losers will advance to battle for a spot in the Super Final of four riders.

The winner will pocket the 1,000 world snowboard tour points, the winner's share of the $100,000 purse and the Ring of Glory.

The Red Bull Airtime competition has been added to the schedule for the first time. The rider with the longest time in the air will win $5,000.