The sports industry in Taizhou, East China's Zhejiang province has been thriving in recent years.

For example, Taizhou's Sanmen county currently manufactures over 20 million outdoor jackets – about 65 percent of the nation's total - every year. Linhai, a county-level city in Taizhou, is also home to over 1,000 outdoor leisure product producers.

Meanwhile, The Ultimate Tsaigu, which is organized by the government of Linhai, has also grown to be one of China's leading trail running events, with the number of participants increasing from 200 to more than 5,500 from 2015 to 2021. The race route takes runners through forest trails and a bamboo forest in Mount Kuocang.

As of 2020, Taizhou had 1,681 enterprises engaged in the sports industry.

Official data shows that the added value of the sports industry in Taizhou amounted to 5.3 billion yuan ($815.4 million) in 2020, accounting for 1.01 percent of the city's GDP.

According to Wang Renhui, an official at the Taizhou Municipal Sport Center, the sport industry can be primarily divided into three segments - sports manufacturing, sports service and sports tourism.

By virtue of the city's manufacturing prowess, some local sports gadget manufacturers have developed relatively complete industrial chains, Wang said.

A number of high-quality fitness service brands have emerged in Taizhou in recent years, as people's sporting needs have become increasingly diversified and personalized, he added.

Sports tourism has also showed great growth potential despite being having a smaller market share than sports manufacturing and sports services, according to Wang. 

Visitors to the city can now access multiple sports programs such as mountaineering, grass skiing, yachting, rafting, mud skiing and paragliding.

Wang noted that the prospects for the sports industry is good, especially when integrated with the culture, education and tourism sectors.