Upon arrival after a surprisingly smooth two days of travel, I quickly learned that in China, pool is a thing. The instant I grabbed my bags and headed out to the lobby of the tiny airport, a JOY Billiards PR crew pulled me off to the side for a photo shoot, an interview (amusingly half in English, half in Chinese), and a recording of me repeating a sound bite. Over the next two weeks, I would discover that pool halls outnumber gyms by 2 to 1. Taxi drivers would talk about pool and snooker and ask how the tournament was going. Teenagers would be arguing about the Heyball rankings and whether Chu Bingjie deserves that top spot. At the arena, there would be advertisements for coconut water and lemon sodas featuring pool celebrities.
