An amateur league competition for clubs and independent teams, it was founded in an effort to promote and develop youth and women's ice hockey in China, increase the number of players in the national program pool, and to encourage growth of a viable Chinese ice hockey market via the creation and expansion of programs, clubs, and infrastructure; future professionalization of the league was a founding goal.

[4] The option for teams to sign up to five international import skaters was introduced following the reorganization of the league.

The top-four teams from the regular season – Shenzhen KRS, Qiqihar Landi, Harbin WIHT, and the Beijing Swift – participated in the finals.

[9] A total of eleven import players – from Canada, Finland, Russia, and Slovakia – were active in the 2023–24 WCIHL season.

For each regular season tournament, the seven teams travel to a host city and play a single round-robin of 21 games across a seven or eight day period.