There is a lot of research on possible genetic contributions to sprinting and log-distance running dominance of athletes with African ancestry. But, China's dominance of Table Tennis and Badminton is equally impressive. Is there any research to suggest that genes may be involved, or is this just a social phenomenon?
I think that sociological explanations are more parcimonious: you probably have some social structure that is in place that easily spots and selects good players and train them.
Analogously, here in Brazil we are usually remembered for our soccer/football. Curiously, very few of these soccer players comes from middle or upper class. Even though we have some correlation between race and income, that would not be sufficient to explain the phenomenon as "genetic", because our soccer players are mixed race and not all our soccer players are black or whatever.
That's not to say that soccer or table tennis ability does not have a hereditable component. It is a very complex trait (if we can call it that) and probably involves a bunch of physiological variables that have a large genetic component. But I'm inclined to think that, overall, this genetic component is not very relevant. Could be wrong, though.
Sports like Table tennis and badminton require very fast reactions. Apart from numerous other factors, the nerve conduction velocity resulting in fast reaction time may also provide some clue in this direction. Observations of the above researchers are really expanding the overview of the question. African Americans have relatively longer legs, narrower hips and more bone density than their american counterparts thus providing them with certain advantages and disadvantages in many sporting events.
This is just the result of a selection process. Look how China does this:
http://english.pravda.ru/society/stories/03-08-2012/121836-china_olympic_games-0/
I do not think one should explain any observation or phenomenon with genetics. The case with table tennis can be associated with traditions, selection process, training methology, etc. in China, Korea. Do not forget that in the past there were world champions coming from Sweden, Germany, Serbia, etc.
Agree with Panayot. The reason of the success in these sports for China is more like "Practise makes perfect", and importantly practise without so much fatigue in comparison to some other physical-dominant sports. When the Chinese players sacrifice their school time to do more practice, they will be paid back with such kind of success.