The 2017 China·Changning Shunan Bamboo Sea "Guomei Wine Cup" National Hot Air Balloon Championship concluded successfully on November 30 in Changning County, Sichuan Province. Approximately 100 professional pilots from around the country completed various competitive events over the seven-day event, including the Wandering Waltz, Fly to the Main Venue, Target Task, 3D Task Cake, and 3D Task Donut. Against the backdrop of Changning’s unique 10,000-acre bamboo sea, they delivered an aerial flying spectacle themed “Flying Over the Bamboo Sea·Enjoying Changning.”
Above Changning, where the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau meets the Sichuan Basin, the competing pilots engaged in fierce contests and successfully completed all competitive events. At the closing ceremony and awards presentation held on November 30, eight awards were presented. The pilots who secured fourth to eighth places were Cheng Peng, Zuo Dan, Yang Si, Gao Xinsheng, and Hu Xiliang. Li Jie took third place with 12,066 points, Xing Hailong earned second place with 12,927 points, and Liu Xiang claimed the championship with 12,966 points. All guests, leaders, pilots, and spectators witnessed this glorious moment together.
Looking back at the championship, the classic balloon launch ceremony featured 50 colorful hot air balloons dancing to live music, offering the people of Changning an unforgettable visual experience. Five couples participating in a romantic “sky wedding,” accompanied by dazzling fire performances, exchanged vows witnessed by tens of thousands of onlookers. The thrilling BASE jumping added waves of excitement to the scene. Later, the spectacular simultaneous launch of 50 hot air balloons thrilled the audience, allowing them to fully experience the charm of hot air ballooning.
Notably, the public welfare activity “The Sky Is Vast, Let’s Fly Together,” held during the event, was dedicated to the city’s “beauticians”—sanitation workers who labor daily to maintain the urban environment. Twenty sanitation workers took to the skies in hot air balloons, overlooking the beautiful city they help keep clean and experiencing firsthand the neat and attractive home they have helped create. They described it as their most unforgettable experience and expressed hope that the event would spread more positive energy throughout society, fostering a healthy, uplifting, warm, and harmonious social atmosphere.
Changning boasts picturesque scenery and uniquely advantageous tourism resources. With distinct seasons, mild climate, high humidity, and low winds, its superior weather conditions make it an ideal location for establishing a Chinese aviation flight base. During the event, Ding Peng, Deputy Director of the Radio-Controlled Model Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sport of China, Wang Fengwu, President of the China Scenic Area Association, Jia Lihua, Deputy Secretary and County Chief of Changning County, Liu Yi, Deputy Secretary of Changning County and Director of the Shunan Bamboo Sea Administration, and Liu Dawei, Chairman of Shizhi Sports, officially unveiled the China Aviation Flight Base located within the Shunan Bamboo Sea scenic area in Changning.
The China Aviation Flight Base is a venue established under the unified guidance and planning of the Chinese Aeronautical Sports Association to provide aviation sports products and services tailored to local conditions for the general public. Its establishment not only meets the development needs of aviation sports but also gives rise to a new form of tourism, distinct from traditional sightseeing, through the innovative integration of sports and tourism industries. It offers balloon enthusiasts from around the world a fresh perspective to appreciate the bamboo sea.
The National Hot Air Balloon Championship marked the first time such an event was held in Changning, Sichuan, and also the county’s first major sports event since it established its strategy to combine sports with tourism. Leveraging this competition, Changning County will focus on advancing the development of “China’s No.1 Holy Land for Low-Altitude Tourism.” Based on scientific tourism resource planning, the county is accelerating the rapid and healthy growth of its sports tourism industry. Various distinctive scenic spots—including the national AAAA-level tourist attraction Shunan Bamboo Sea, the world’s oldest karst landform Meidong Bamboo Stone Forest, Shuanghe Grape Well, Zhuhai Xu Scenic Area?Jianghe, Century Bamboo Garden, and Sanjiang Lake Shijie Taoyuan—gained greater exposure through this event. The championship facilitated a perfect blend of “sports as the stage, tourism as the show” among multiple stakeholders in Changning, enhancing the county’s international visibility and influence.
It is reported that this event was jointly organized by the Aviation Radio-Controlled Model Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sport of China, the Chinese Aeronautical Sports Association, the Sichuan Provincial Sports Bureau, the Yibin Municipal Education and Sports Bureau, the Yibin Municipal Tourism Development Commission, the CPC Changning County Committee, the People's Government of Changning County, and the Yibin Shunan Bamboo Sea Scenic Area Administration. It was hosted by the Yibin Shunan Bamboo Sea Tourism Development Co., Ltd., the CPC Changning County Propaganda Department, the Changning County Education, Sports, Culture and Radio & TV Bureau, and the Changning County Tourism Development Bureau, with the China Scenic Area Association as a supporting organization and Shizhi Sports as the exclusive operator.