The event was introduced in 2008 as the Jiangsu Classic and was the third Main Tour event held in China. The tournament was played on a round-robin basis, with semi-finals and a final. The event's name was changed to Wuxi Classic in 2010,^[3][4] and the round-robin stage was abandoned.^[5][6][7]

In 2012 the tournament became a ranking event, and the Chinese organisers signed a five-year contract with prize money starting at £400,000 and increasing to £450,000 by 2014.^[8] In 2013 the tournament became the first to use a new format, where every player started in the first round.^[9] It was staged at the Wuxi City Sports Park Stadium, Wuxi, China.

There were three maximum breaks in the history of the tournament. The first was compiled by Mark Selby against Joe Perry in the group stage of the 2009 event.^[3] In 2012 Stuart Bingham became the third player to compile a 147 break in a ranking final.^[10] In the qualifying stage of the 2013 event Neil Robertson made the third maximum break against Mohamed Khairy.^[11]