Shen Yubin sent 100 million won worth of rice to her impoverished Korean hometown neighbors; last year, when she played in the table tennis Super League, she kept scoring points and earning money.

On April 6, according to Yonhap News Agency, the city of Dangjin, Chungcheongnam-do, announced on the 6th that it used 100 million won in donations from the “Hope 2026 Sharing Activity Neighborhood Mutual Aid” fundraising event donated by South Korean table tennis athlete Shin Yubin to purchase rice, and has distributed the rice to local impoverished residents. And just yesterday, Shin Yubin won a bronze medal in the women’s singles at the World Cup held in Macau—her first singles medal at a major event.

In September 2024, Shin Yubin became the advertising model for Dangjin Hainero rice. “Thanks to athlete Shin Yubin’s endorsement of Hainero rice, last year’s sales reached 1.5 ten thousand tons, which is 1,260 tons higher than the forecast for 2024,” a Dangjin city official said. “We will continue to enhance the brand value of Hainero rice.”

Shin Yubin comes from a table tennis family. Previously, some domestic social media outlets spread rumors that one of her parents is Chinese. Shin Yubin was born on July 5, 2004 in Suwon. Her father, Shin Soo-hyun (born in 1972), previously worked as a table tennis player and is currently running the “Shin Soo-hyun Table Tennis Club” in Suwon, while also serving as vice chairperson of the Suwon Table Tennis Association. Her mother, Hong Mi-sun, also played table tennis when she was young; she is a typical “table tennis housewife.” Shin Yubin has three sisters; she is the second.

Shin Yubin has a sweet appearance and is highly favored by brand partners outside the competition venue. In the 2024 season, she had six endorsements for brands such as Binggrae banana milk, Dongwon ham, BHC fried chicken, Dangjin Hainero rice, Yosemite energy gel, and the Camco new launching foundation. Last year, she added endorsements including Samyang 3’s HoBbang, JL Table Tennis Arena, and Shinhan Life.

The endorsements with the hottest effects for Shin Yubin are Binggrae banana milk. Its ad views on YouTube exceed 13.16 million, and the promotional video for Dangjin Hainero rice that she filmed also exceeds 13 million views on YouTube. Shin Yubin has converted part of her endorsement earnings into in-kind donations. In October 2024, she donated an amount of rice equivalent to 100 million won to the people of Korea; in December 2025, she donated again an amount of rice equivalent to 100 million won (totaling 200 million won). This time, the city of Dangjin used the 100 million won rice she donated (about 460k yuan RMB) to provide and distribute it to impoverished Korean residents.

According to South Korean media, Shin Yubin’s total income in the 2025 season—salary plus bonuses plus endorsement fees—is about 500–600 million won (2.28–2.74 million yuan RMB). Last year, Shin Yubin joined the Table Tennis Super League team Hwangseok Base–Hwa Shin Club on loan and got plenty of results. She previously reversed a 1–3 defeat to beat Hyung Jun-rin 3–1, and defeated Chen Yi 3–2 (including one game where she won 11–0 for a shutout). She also has wins against some players from China’s national table tennis team, and her skills improved significantly. Moreover, Korean media said that last year in the Table Tennis Super League, Shin Yubin “earned a considerable income.” She can earn around 1 million yuan RMB by playing several Table Tennis Super League matches in China. And in her domestic Korean Air Force team in South Korea, her annual salary is only a little over 200 million won (about 910k yuan RMB). According to reports, this year Shin Yubin plans to go to Japan in October to play in the T League.