The squad features 19 Olympic gold medallists, including the country's most successful badminton player Lin Dan, appearing in his fifth Asian Games having won seven medals, including four gold, and swimmer Sun Yang, a five-times champion.  

But it is mostly a relatively inexperienced team as 631 out of those selected lack any Asian Games or Olympic experience.

The average age of the Chinese delegation is a relatively youthful 24.4 years old, with competitors ranging from 13 to 61-years-old.

China will compete in 38 of the 40 sports, missing only kabaddi, a contact team sport with its roots in India, and weighlifting, which the country is banned from by the International Weightlifting Federation for its amount of doping failures at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

For the first time, China is also planning to use the Asian Games, due to take place between August 18 and September 2, as a full-scale preparation for the next Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020. 

They will send a fully-equipped logistics service team to Jakarta Palembang 2018, consisting of medical staff, trainers, therapists, physical fitness instructors and information technicians.

The backroom delegation includes 38 foreign coaches from 15 countries in 22 events.

"We will set up a logistics camp outside the Village for the first time in order to better serve the athletes," Liu Guoyong, director of competition at the State General Administration of Sport, told China's official state-run press agency Xinhua News Agency.

"It's a practice of sports reform in China and also a successful experience we have drawn on from other sporting powers.

"This Asian Games functions as a mid-term test and a valuable experience leading up to Tokyo 2020, and also serves as a comprehensive check on the state of competitive sports in China.

"The Chinese delegation is aiming to demonstrate both the sportsmanship and sports prowess at the Asian Game which will also help us find promising stars, and allow our young athletes to gain practical experience."

China has finished top of the overall medals table at every Asian Games since New Delhi in 1982 when they made their return to the competition after a 14-year absence.

At Incheon four years ago China's team of 880 won a total of 342 medals, including 151 gold, their best performance for a Games outside China.

China's best Asian Games performance was at Guangzhou in 2010 when they won a total of 416 medals - 199 of them gold.