Admitted to World Famous School at 18, Committed to E-sports After School 

Hangzhou Overseas Student Xu Mingren:

Fly My Dream to Win Glory for Motherland and Hometown 

The IG's Championship, which shook the Internet last November, made the post-90s and post-95s cry for it with tears. Youth, they said, was not trifling with playthings and losing lofty aspirations, and e-sports was justified at that moment. In the Asian Games to be held in Hangzhou in 2022, e-sports competition is expected to be formally included in the sports events. This is a great honor and inspiration for the world's e-sports lovers. 

Xu Mingren, a Hangzhounese studying in Canada, is a senior player who fell in love with the game at the age of 7. At 18, he figured out that his dream had something to do with the game. Now, 22, he is striving to realize his dreams, and willing to spread e-sports culture and spirit of this era with his own power.

“I started playing online games when I was in elementary school. At that time, I was most indulged in Fantasy Westward Journey and Crazy Arcade.” Though claiming "indulgence," Xu Mingren was a very self-disciplined child. “If I had a study assignment, I would never touch the game first when coming home from school.”

A boy fond of using his brain and thinking, he preferred science. “Maybe it's because I had been playing Lego games as a little kid.”

In the winter of 2011, Xu, 15, started his journey to studying in Canada. 

In the four years in high school in Vancouver, studies and exams filled his life in full circle. Every day he came home under starlight and fell asleep as soon as touching the pillow. His effort paid off. At 18, he received a letter of admission from the University of Toronto, a world's leading university. 

Recalling those days, “the thing that could make me instantly forget the pressure and trouble was to play Furnace Stone Legend and League of Legends,”Xu Mingren said. He ranked among the top 300 online players of Furnace Stone legend in USA server. He was admitted as an “amateur master-hand” of the game, in which techniques prevailed. It gave him the greatest consolation.

“Work hard, play hard” was a real portrait of Xu Mingren. Soon after he entered the University of Toronto, he joined the game club organized by the school's Chinese students and took part in an e-sports competition of the Furnace Stone Legend. It meant a trial, but he braved the way into the finals. Because of a slight loss of luck in the last game, he got the runner-up. Although he did not reach the summit, the competition was unforgettable for the 18-year-old Xu Mingren. “This experience reminded me that it was time to do something for the cause of longing and love.”

Before his sophomore summer vacation, he submitted his resume to Beijing Datang Network Company and was accepted as an intern in the operational department. But a month later, he found himself more interested in game numerical planner. Without a second thought, he sent a resume to the planning department of Shanghai Shanda Online Games Co. Ltd. 

Xu Mingren was in good luck. Soon after he went from Beijing to Shanghai to enter the company, he participated in the development of a mobile phone game Bright Warrior. Under the joint efforts of the team, this product received Tencent's investment and registration. In the summer vacation of his junior year, the company invited Xu to the internship again.  

The three experiences let Xu Mingren contact e-sports culture at the forefront of domestic pioneer game companies. They also gave him a deeper thought about the industry. “China's e-sports industry is rising at a rapid speed. In the near future, it will be the most concerned area for Chinese teenagers. I hope to exhaust my ability to make everyone know more about e-sports, as it's really quite different from what we used to think of playing games.”

“E-sports and games are a severe mental competition, a comprehensive quality competition. E-sports test for the players is no less than the track and field competition. E-sports contestants are also chosen through various layers of selection. They have to practice hard to qualify for the competition.” Xu Mingren, who is about to graduate from college, wants to contribute to the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou.

“Hangzhou is the capital of animation. It is striving to become the capital of e-sports. As a native of Hangzhou, I want to work with this city. E-sports has become my life dream, and I hope to make my own efforts to enable e-sports accepted and loved by more people. I am actively preparing for the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou. I am looking forward to seeing e-sports become a formal competition event in my hometown of Hangzhou, so that the world can feel the charm of e-sports in China, and spread the spirit of e-sports more widely and further in this era.”