Why is the Chinese women's volleyball team taller than Western teams?

Not only possessing overwhelming strength, the Chinese women's volleyball team when entering the 2025 World Championship also makes all opponents discouraged because of their superior physique.

Yuan Xinyue is 2m03 tall - Photo: CN

Northern Blood

China's first opponent at the 2025 World Cup, in Group F, is Mexico. This Central American women's volleyball team has an average height of only 181cm, almost 1 inch shorter than China.

You heard right, the 14 girls in coach Zhao Yong's hands have an average height of 189.9 cm.

And in fact, their core team when stepping onto the field is even more stunning, with captain Yuan Xinyue at 203cm tall, veteran Zhu Ting at 198cm tall, and superstars like Li Yingying at 192cm tall, Wang Yuanyuan at 195cm tall, Zhang Changning at 195cm tall...

With Tran Thi Thanh Thuy, the entire history of Vietnamese women's volleyball has only had one girl taller than 1m90. Even in Western volleyball teams, athletes taller than 1m90 do not appear much.

Wu Mengjie - a 19-year-old girl who is 1m95 tall and can block the ball by just standing on her tiptoes - Photo: FIVB

But with this generation of the Chinese women's volleyball team, they have a total of 7 players who are over 1m90 tall, and 3 more who are 1m89 tall. That means except for the liberos, almost the entire Chinese volleyball team is over 1m90 tall.

At the Women's Volleyball World Championship, the average height of the Italian team was only 185.3cm, and the US team was 186.5cm, both shorter than China.

The first reason is the selection policy within the national sports system. Scouts for youth training centers in China often prioritize children from northern provinces such as Liaoning, Shandong, Hebei, Tianjin, Gansu - where the local population has an outstanding average height.

Chinese athletes are taller than most of their Western opponents - Photo: FIVB

Li Yingying, the current number 1 star of the Chinese national team, was born in Heilongjiang - the northernmost province of China, where it is cold all year round, with winter temperatures even reaching minus 30 degrees Celsius.

Other tall stars like Gao Yi and Wang Yuanyuan were also born in Gansu or Shandong.

In terms of scientific explanation, Chinese population studies confirm that height has a strong correlation with geographical latitude: northerners are generally taller than southerners.

Due to living conditions, nutrition and genetics, northerners are more likely to be taller. Most of the above provinces are inhabited by nomadic tribes and Manchus.

Additionally, cold environments generally promote larger body shapes (according to Bergmann's biological law) to help retain heat better.

China's height development lesson

But not all of China's female volleyball stars come from the north. The tallest player on the team, Yuan Xinyue, was born in Chongqing, Sichuan province, which is closer to the south than the north.

Chongqing, formerly known as Bashu, is a mountainous region that produces tall people. But more importantly, Chinese sports have always paid close attention to the optimal development of athletes' physiques.

Yuan in a match in 2023 - Photo: CHINA DAILY

"Genetic focus training" - is a term familiar to Chinese scouts. Yuan's parents were both volleyball players in Sichuan province. Her father is 1m93 tall, while her mother is 1m80 tall.

That's why, since she was a primary school student, Yuan was oriented to pursue a career in volleyball. She received a special diet to optimize her strong genetics.

At the age of 12, Yuan was as tall as his mother. Chongqing nutritionists applied a moderate diet and lifestyle to prevent Yuan from going through puberty early, thereby helping him grow taller in a scientific process. As a result, by the time he was in his twenties, Yuan had reached a height of more than 2 meters.

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HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/vi-sao-tuyen-bong-chuyen-nu-trung-quoc-cao-to-hon-ca-cac-doi-phuong-tay-20250823200104725.htm