On July 29, the “Generation Z” International Youth Esports Invitational Tournament was held at Guiyang X Sci-Fi Valley. As an event of the 2026 China-ASEAN Education Exchange Week, it brought together 19 university teams from China and ASEAN countries for competition.

First launched in 2024, the tournament has now been held for three editions. The inaugural 2024 event, themed “The Future of Digital Education Is Here,” attracted over 300 participants from Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Malaysia and other countries, with 100,000 online viewers. Guizhou Open University and partners built an integrated industry-academia-research-application platform and worked with Huya Live to promote the deep integration of the education, talent, industry and innovation chains. In 2025, it was upgraded to the first Generation Z (youth from China, ASEAN, Japan and South Korea) Colorful Esports Competition, drawing over 50,000 registrations from more than 70 universities at home and abroad. The finals took place in Qingyan Ancient Town, where 23 multinational teams competed; China Daily gave it full-page coverage, and total online views exceeded 100 million. Guizhou Open University, together with NetEase (Changsha) Digital Industry Center and others, initiated the “Guizhou Esports Industry-Education Integration Community,” establishing a “three-in-one” training system covering order classes, livestream-host bases and vocational skill certification.

In 2026, 21 teams are competing. From China: Peking University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Sichuan University, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chongqing University, Southwest University, Communication University of China, as well as Qiannan Normal University for Nationalities, Beibu Gulf University, Guizhou Open University and others. From ASEAN: Thailand’s Chandrakasem Rajabhat University, Cambodia’s Beltei International University, Malaysia’s Universiti Teknologi MARA, Institute of Technical Education Brunei, and Management Development Institute of Singapore, among others. The venue has shifted from “ancient town + esports” to “sci-fi + esports”: X Sci-Fi Valley features a 53-meter-high robot landmark, a professional esports stage, holographic real-time battle screens and an immersive cheering zone, creating a new scene integrating “education + esports + culture tourism + science popularization.”

Zhou Yong, Member of the CPC Committee and Vice President of Guizhou Open University (Guizhou Vocational Technology Institute), stated in his speech that the event uses digital sports as a link to advance the integrated development of culture, education, tourism and sports; it is both a stage for youth exchange and friendship and a vehicle for regional people-to-people diplomacy. Guizhou Open University will continue to use the tournament as a real-world classroom to deepen industry-education integration and cultivate esports talent.

The 2026 China-ASEAN Education Exchange Week, themed “Making Smart Education Better Serve the Building of a Friendly Homeland,” is being held in Guiyang from July 28 to August 2.

Editor: School of International Studies Wang Xin

Translator: Public Basic Course Department Sun Tingting

Chief Editor: School of International Studies Zhang Wen

Senior Editor: School of International Studies Chen Lina