In Jingshan, a county-level city in central China’s Hubei province, standard public tennis courts are available to the public for free during daylight hours, with evening lighting costing just 20 yuan per hour, according to regional media reports. The municipality operates 356 standard tennis courts for a permanent population of fewer than 60,000 residents, creating a ratio of roughly 5.67 courts per 10,000 people that far exceeds national averages.
The Economics of Small-Town Tennis
While players in metropolitan centers like Beijing and Shanghai face outdoor court fees ranging from 100 to 250 yuan per hour and private coaching rates frequently exceeding 400 to 600 yuan per hour, Jingshan’s municipal facilities offer a different financial model. Public courts managed by local authorities require no rental fee during the day, and visitors can secure court time using a local digital mini-program. For travelers arriving by rail, the city permits free reservations at five core locations—including the Wengfeng Park and the training base—up to eight times per month upon presentation of a valid high-speed rail ticket and identification.
The city’s infrastructure expanded significantly following a municipal push launched after the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which mandated tennis integration across schools, communities, and government offices. Local officials established dedicated industry funds that by 2012 secured court coverage across all townships. By late 2025, Jingshan’s economic profile was anchored by an estimated gross domestic product of 450亿元 (450 billion yuan) as a central-region top-100 county, alongside the December opening of the Jingshan South railway station on the Hubei-Chongqing-Shanghai high-speed rail corridor.
Visitor Arrivals and Tourism Revenue Rise in Jingshan
The influx of visitors seeking lower-cost training has driven local tourism metrics upward. During the 2026 National Day holiday, Jingshan recorded 640,000 visitor arrivals and generated 4.16亿元 (416 million yuan) in tourism revenue, marking year-on-year increases of 24 percent and 28 percent respectively. More than 85 percent of rail arrivals utilized promotional programs combining complimentary court access with hot spring entry, lifting facility reservations by 80 percent compared to previous periods.
To accommodate visiting athletes, local entrepreneurs have introduced specialized lodging, such as themed hotels featuring daily multi-hour training packages priced at 3,299 yuan for a five-day, four-night program. Commercial establishments including cafes and restaurants have adopted tennis-themed branding, while the Hubei Provincial Tennis School—which opened in the city in 2018—has trained over 10,500 players and produced 271 national-level gold medals.
Origins of the Grassroots Sport
Jingshan’s status as a designated tennis-feature city traces back to 1983, when retirees constructed the area’s first dirt courts by hand in Wengfeng Park using stone rollers and manual labor before winning regional seniors’ tournaments.
