Xie Guochen steered China to fourth place in FIVB Volleyball World League Group 3 in 2015, following a third place finish the previous year. In 2014, they topped Pool G and defeated Slovakia in the bronze medal match. It was China’s first appearance in the competition after a three-year absence and a couple of months later they took joint-15th place in the 2014 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship. The Asian Games ended their season, where they took fourth place.

China were among the eight teams in the first edition of the World League in 1990 and they have participated 16 times since. They have enjoyed little success on the world stage in recent decades however. China were joint-fifth at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. They failed to qualify for the London 2012 Olympics Games and will also miss the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. China first appeared at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, when they finished seventh overall. China finished fourth at the six-team FIVB World Grand Champions Cup in 1997. At a continental level, China won the Asian Championship in 1997 and 1999, the Asian Games title in 1986, 1990 and 1998, and the Asian Cup in 2012.