Major Chinese vocational school offers e-sports course

Lanxiang, one of China's largest and best-known vocational schools, is offering courses on electronic sports (e-sports), riding the boom of video gaming in Asia.

The school, famed for education in traditional professions including cooking, auto repairs and hairdressing, recently opened an "e-sports college," providing three-month and three-year training courses.

Based in Jinan, capital of east China's Shandong Province, the school spent more than 10 million yuan (US$1.5 million) to create the new major, said principal Rong Lanxiang.

The three-year program aims to help students with zero knowledge about the e-sports industry become professionals. Graduates may become gamers, judges or e-sports marketing specialists.

"We opened the major because there is a demand. Many people think e-sports is simply playing games. But it's not, it's a sport, and a new profession as well," Lan said.

According to a report issued by Chinese internet giant Tencent, the country's e-sports industry engaged 170 million users last year and that number could reach 220 million in 2017.

In April, the Olympic Council of Asia announced that e-sports will be an official competitive event at the Asian Games 2022 in Hangzhou.

According to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), 51 percent of the world's frequent e-sports viewers and enthusiasts are from the Asia Pacific region.

The global e-sports industry will accelerate from roughly US$327 million in revenue in 2016 to US$874 million by 2021, the PwC said.