China's youth have become trailblazers Illustration:Xia Qing/GT

From the pioneers of the "Two Bombs, One Satellite" program who blazed a trail through the Gobi Desert, to today's youth taking up the torch to tackle challenges in various emerging fields, what has changed is the arena, but what remains unchanged is the innate spirit of never giving up and daring to strive - a spirit ingrained in the blood of the Chinese people. Today's Chinese youth possess greater confidence and capability. Rather than settling for being followers, they have become trailblazers setting trends in emerging new frontier sectors.

The 2026 League of Legends World Championship concluded in New York in the early hours of November 15, Beijing Time. Chinese team, Bilibili Gaming (BLG), defeated South Korea's Gen.G to claim the championship title in this esports tournament, which boasts the largest global participation and the highest level of competition. Related topics immediately went viral across major domestic social media platforms, while media from multiple countries rushed to cover the event.

Esports is an arena for the young. The average age of BLG's players is early 20s, and the tournament's core audience also consists largely of young people. By fully showcasing their talents on the global stage, they have not only raised the international profile of China's youth but also opened a window into the world of today's young people.

BLG's road to the title was, in many ways, a battle to prove its doubters wrong. Before the tournament, much of the global esports community had little faith in the competitiveness of China's League of Legends teams, and BLG itself had an underwhelming group-stage performance. But after advancing to the knockout stage, the team first defeated South Korea's T1, a powerhouse that had maintained an unbeaten record against Chinese teams for 13 years. Then, despite falling behind early in the final, BLG fought back to overcome Gen.G, the top seed from the South Korean league and one of the tournament favorites. In doing so, it helped dispel the long-standing perception that Chinese teams were unable to overcome their South Korean rivals.

A documentary released by the club after the victory offered a glimpse into what it took to reach the top. It showed players enduring years of repetitive, demanding training during their academy days, as well as the difficult periods when the team struggled and few believed in its prospects. Clips from the documentary quickly spread across social media. BLG's determination to push through setbacks and prove its critics wrong has struck a chord with young people, many of whom share a desire to challenge prejudice and let their achievements speak for themselves.

Looking beyond the esports arena, there is a much broader world where the younger generation is also making its mark. 

The DeepSeek team consists of fewer than 140 people, with an average age of about 28; more than 75 percent were born in the 1990s, and over half were born after 1995. For the "Beidou" satellite network, the average age of the satellite development team was 31. For the "Chang'e" lunar soil sampling mission, the average age of the heads of key telemetry, tracking, and command positions was 33. For the "Tiangong" space station construction, the average age of the Mengtian lab module final assembly team was 33. And for the "Tianwen" Mars exploration mission, the average age of the flight control team was just 30. 

A former administrator of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) once remarked publicly that one of China's space program's greatest strengths lies in the large number of young scientists and engineers it possesses. The Washington Post also noted that "while China's older tech pioneers tend to idolize Silicon Valley," China's younger generation find their role models in people such as DeepSeek's Liang Wenfeng and Unitree's Wang Xingxing. The fact that China's young people are capable of shouldering major responsibilities is winning admiration across the world.

For a long time, the ideals of solidarity, hard work and bringing honor to the country were most commonly associated with traditional sports, factory floors, laboratories and fields across the country. But as the digital economy has grown rapidly, a new generation of young Chinese has come of age in new emerging fields, including esports, e-commerce, livestreaming, trendy Chinese cultural products, AI, and green energy. 

These fields share a common characteristic: rapid knowledge evolution and a high density of innovation. Unlike traditional sectors that require long-term experience and expertise, in these emerging fields, young people often have an edge due to their familiarity with new rules and their sensitivity to technological trends. They do not have to follow the paths paved by their predecessors to the letter; instead, they can compete directly with their global peers on newly opened tracks, and even overtake them by leveraging more flexible thinking and stronger learning abilities.

From the pioneers of the "Two Bombs, One Satellite" program (China's successful detonation of an atomic bomb, its first intercontinental ballistic missile, and its first artificial satellite) who blazed a trail through the Gobi Desert, to today's youth taking up the torch to tackle challenges in various emerging fields, what has changed is the arena, but what remains unchanged is the innate spirit of never giving up and daring to strive - a spirit ingrained in the blood of the Chinese people. 

In the past, when people spoke of "stepping up to the plate," they often referred to hardship, sacrifice, and perseverance. Today's young Chinese not only embody these qualities, but also demonstrate the poise to engage with the world on equal footing, alongside an open-minded and collaborative spirit. 

Supported by decades of popularized basic education, expanded higher education access, sustained growth in R&D investment, and the accumulated strengths of a complete industrial system, today's Chinese youth possess greater confidence and capability. Rather than settling for being followers, they have become trailblazers setting trends in emerging new frontier sectors.

As more and more teams, whose members average in their 20s and 30s, step into the spotlight of the world's top fields, the future of this nation naturally gains its most solid foundation. What the outside world sees in BLG's championship victory is not only the triumph of one esports team, but also the ambition, vigor, and confidence of a nation's younger generation. The vibrant, upward-striving energy of youth is precisely the moving underlying force driving China's continuous progress.