CHINA DAILY | HONG KONG EDITION Wednesday, December 12, 2018 | 19 YOUTH

Yang Liuqing, a Racing into the future popular female skater in China, sees a bright prospect for the sport among An increasing number of young women are taking to skateboarding, Li Yingxue reports. the country’s girls.

hen Chinese street called on every audience member skater Yang Liuqing to cheer for Yang. encountered US park “He said I needed more encour­ skater Lizzie Armanto agement, and led the audience to at W the Vans Park Series Pro Tour call my name loudly and applaud for finals of 2018, the world’s top men’s me. And they did! and women’s park terrain skate­ “I was so encouraged and finally boarding competition held in Suz­ did that trick.” hou, Jiangsu province, over Oct 26­ As the competition was held in 27, Yang says she felt a connection her hometown, Yang thought there with Armanto. might be some of her friends or Speaking about the meeting, classmates that were cheering for Yang, 28, says: “That’s the beauty of her, but when she finished the jump­ skateboarding — we don’t need to ing, she found that there was talk — we skaters have this kind of nobody she knew. understanding.” “I might not have been the best on Yang, one of the most popular the field, but the audience cheered female skaters in China, was in Suz­ for me. And that was when I realize hou as she was invited to watch the the charm of the sport.” final showcase of the world tour, Over the past few years, Yang has which pitted the top­ranking 2018 practiced skateboarding in her Pro Tour athletes against select VPS spare time after work. continental champions. Armanto But when it was included as a competed in the semifinal, but fail­ mass sport in the National Games in ed to make the grade. 2017, she quit her job and took half a Armanto is one of the most year to prepare for the competition accomplished female skaters in the that was held in September. skateboarding history. There she won the silver medal In 2016, she became the first for street skateboarding. woman to ever grace the cover of While skateboarding will feature Transworld, the skateboarding at the Tokyo Olympic Games in magazine. 2020, Yang has decided to find And in August, the 25­year­old another way to support the sport became the first female skater to instead of being a professional ath­ complete the loop, a 360­degree lete. ramp. Late last year she started her own Yang and Armanto first met a year skateboard brand, Mirroir, which ago when the world tour first An athlete creates a stunt with his skateboard at this year’s Vans Park Series Pro Tour finals, held in Suzhou, East China’s focuses on boards specially for entered in China last October in Jiangsu province, on Oct 27. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY women. Shanghai, an event in which Arman­ Yang is also signing promising to ranked 4th. female skaters to train and support And this year, after the women’s Skater Lizzie You can see cities and get to know very proud when she could manage hair and dressed like a tomboy, I them. semifinal, Yang and Armanto got a Armanto from people there, and get an insight into to do it. used to worry about what people According to Yang, a professional chance to sit together and share the United their homes, which is different from Yang says: “It’s just a piece of thought of me, but ever since I skater needs two to three new pairs their stories about skateboarding. States is the any other way of knowing the wood. So, when you do the trick, began skateboarding, I don’t care of shoes and boards for training Armanto says she found the num­ first female to world,” she says. people are amazed and many think that much, and think people see me each month, which is a lot expense ber of women skaters is growing in complete the To be a skater, according to you have magnet on your board. as cool.” for youngsters. her country compared to when she loop, a 360­ Armanto, one has to be “I enjoy the success of each new Yang took part in her first compe­ “I hope to support female skaters started in 2007. degree ramp. patient and learn from trick, and it makes me want to learn tition in 2012 in Xi’an, after four with my boards, and also by becom­ Back then, it was rare to see scratch. something more challenging.” years of practice. ing a coach, I want to help them to another female skateboarding, but “You have to learn Yang, who was born and raised in “Then there was no women’s avoid the problems that I experi­ now, it’s hard to find a park without how to fall so that you Xi’an, Northwest China’s Shaanxi group at the competition because enced. a woman practicing skateboarding, don’t get hurt. And province, started to learn skate­ female skaters were so few, so I had “Skateboarding is offering she says. you have to learn boarding 10 years ago when she just to compete with men,” says Yang. opportunities and challenges to “Skateboarding can be really recovery when you wanted to find something to ride She set herself a goal of jumping women in China right now,” says hard mentally and physically. It’s get hurt,” she says. instead of walking. off six steps in that competition, but Yang, who thinks the sport is still in scary to learn tricks in your mind, The first trick Chinese “For a bicycle, you have to find a couldn’t make in the last minute. its infancy. so I think it takes a certain kind of skater Yang learned was place to lock it, and for roller skating “I was pretty much the worst in “Skateboarding gives us a chance person to be a skateboarder,” says ollie, where the rider with you have to carry the shoes all the that competition, while all the male to show how more cool women can Armanto. the board leaps into the air time. I think the skateboard is the skaters were busy ‘flying’ around,” be.” “But the sport inspires me in without the use of hands. perfect device for transportation on says Yang. so many ways. I get to travel a Even though it took Yang a the road,” says Yang. Yang recalls that the contest’s Contact the writer at lot through skateboarding. whole year to perfect it, she felt “Also, earlier, when I had short emcee noticed her struggling and [email protected] Online writer now a favorite of TV producers Paragliding takes off

By LI YINGXUE influenced by the late martial arts job and take up writing seriously. and a published writer has blurred. novelist’s works. “I’m a science graduate. So, after She feels a close bond with her at Chinese university For someone who started writing “I started to read Cha’s novels analyzing the subscriptions and online readers, so she continues to as a hobby, Ding Mo (pen name) has when I was in elementary school. clicks for my online novels, I thought post her complete stories online. “I done pretty well for herself. She is “My mom wouldn’t let me read it was time to try to write full time,” enjoy communicating with my read­ SHENYANG — A group of girls now in the spotlight as a 50­episode them at night, so I would hide under she explains. “And I’d saved up so ers.” from Shenyang Aerospace Uni­ TV series, Our Glamorous Time, my quilt and read using a torch.” that I could support myself without She moved to Wuhan in neighbor­ versity in Liaoning province have based on her novel of the same As for her other online works, she any income for six months.” ing Hubei province in 2013 and started to enjoy soaring through name, is being aired on Zhejiang TV has published a dozen love stories Soon after her career change, her spent three years there. So the sto­ the sky while paragliding, which and Dragon TV, and is being dis­ spanning suspense, science fiction stories began to gain more attention ries she wrote during that time are has become an indispensable cussed on Sina Weibo, China’s Twit­ and business since 2005. online and from publishers, so she all set in Wuhan. In 2017, she moved part of their lives. ter­like platform. Writing turned from a hobby into stuck to writing instead of going to Dali in Southwest China’s Yunnan Paragliding is an adventure The series features a love story a career over the past decade for her, back to a nine­to­five job. province for half a year before mov­ sport where participants jump off between white­collar designer Lin who was born and raised in Huai­ Before 2012, she had only one ing back to Hunan, so she wrote a a hill or out of a plane and use a Qian (played by actress Zhao Liying) hua, Central China’s Hunan prov­ book published, but now that most story based in Dali. parachute to fly for long distan­ and a former soldier Li Zhicheng ince. In 2001, she went to Peking of her stories are in print she is mod­ She says many of her stories are ces. (played by actor Jin Han) who University to study structural engi­ ifying her writing style accordingly. based on real­life incidents such as a There are now 50 members of becomes a CEO, and how the two neering. After graduation, she took “When you write online stories drug case in Love Me If You Dare in the paragliding team at the uni­ work together to take their compa­ up a human resources consulting you need to update daily, and you which her characters had different versity, including 20 girls from ny to success. job, while writing stories online in have to leave some suspense at the reasons for their addiction. different majors and grades. Surprisingly, though she is the her spare time. end of each chapter. These are Most of her books are published The unique sport has many author of the book on which the “I was so excited when I first start­ some of the tricks you have to use. in Hong Kong and Taiwan in tradi­ challenges for the girls. series is based, she is clueless about ed to write. It was like going into my And readers’ feedback can influ­ tional Chinese along with a simpli­ Before takeoff, the paragliders how the plot unfolds in the series. own little world each day after work, ence your writing,” she says. “But fied Chinese version for the need to do a warm­up and then She says she sits each night in front and I would write about 3,000 when you write a book you have to mainland. climb mountains for about half of the television to follow the story. words and post online, and see the think of the whole story and create Her books are also translated and an hour, carrying the parachute “I haven’t seen the script, so what comments before going to bed,” says your own rhythm.” published in Thailand, Vietnam and and other equipment which can A female paraglider in a final I know about the story is the same she. She also says in recent years, the South Korea. weigh up to 30 kilograms. competition held on Nov 17 in as any ordinary viewer,” she says. “I In 2012, she decided to quit her boundary between an online novelist “The readers from abroad some­ Hou Xiaojuan, the first female Lianyungang, Jiangsu. About totally understand that books and times leave a message on my Sina member of the paragliding team 60 enthusiasts from across TV series are two different artistic Weibo, and I’m glad they like my sto­ at Shenyang Aerospace Universi­ China attended the contest. expressions, and I respect the ries,” she says. ty, says that she has been in the WANG CHUN / FOR CHINA DAILY scriptwriter’s adaptation and Her other works are also attract­ team for about two years. re­creation.” ing TV producers. “Flying is my dream. After I The book on which the series is “Like all authors, I hope my nov­ learned about the sport of para­ duced in the university in 2015. based is her fourth novel that has els can be made into films or a TV gliding, I wanted to try it and Paragliding was first developed been adapted into a TV series after series, but that will not be my prima­ start learning and training,” Hou in Europe and does not have a Love Me If You Dare, When a Snail ry goal,” she says. says. very long history in China, Falls in Love and Memory Lost that For now, she is slowing down her Ma Yixin, another girl from the according to Qin, who says she all sparked discussions on social pace of writing to maintain the qual­ university’s paragliding team, believes the sport “has a bright media. ity of her work. says: “When I made a paragliding future”. She is unfazed by the feedback on “In recent years I have been writ­ flight for the first time I was so According to the girls, para­ the TV series based on her works, ing only one or two books a year, surprised and astonished. I saw gliding not only gives them a saying: “I learned from Louis Cha’s and I read dozens of books in the earth, I saw the trees, and I chance to enjoy floating and free­ novels to see the world in a more between.” saw the birds flying with me. It dom, but also teaches them how comprehensive way that is not just She is planning her next book. gave me a completely different to respect and revere life, as a suc­ black or white.” “I haven’t written a suspense love feeling. I felt so free and excited.” cessful flight includes a safe land­ Her novels focus more on logical story in a while. I felt the itch, so I’ve Qin Shaorui, the captain of the ing as well as good takeoff. deduction and the integrity of the Writer Ding Mo gives free rein to wild ideas, in preparation for her already started reading ancient university’s paragliding team, story structure, which she says are next suspense, romance novel. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY detective stories for inspiration.” says that the sport was intro­ XINHUA