Individual players and doubles pairs earned points based on their performances in the 20 events of the 2016 ITTF World Tour.

The seedings for the tournament draws were based on final tour standings, not the official ITTF world ranking.

[4][5] China's Liu Shiwen and Singapore's Yu Mengyu were not included on the list of confirmed players published on 25 November for the women's singles tournament, despite having finished in qualifying positions in the tour standings.

[7] On 1 December, China's Zhang Jike was forced to withdraw from the men's singles tournament because of a foot injury.

[8] After winning her first round match, defending champion Ding Ning was forced to withdraw from the women's singles tournament due to illness.