Malaysian world number one Lee Chong Wei and Chinese Olympic champion Lin Dan, chasing a record hattrick of titles, were due to open their campaign later on the opening day.
Former All-England champion Gade displayed power and precision to dispatch unseeded Valeriy Atrashchenkov of Ukraine 21-11, 21-16 in 29 minutes.
Unseeded Dutchman Dicky Palyama caused the first upset on an adjacent court, edging Bao 21-18, 21-14 in just over 30 minutes.
England pulled out of the championships on Sunday citing a "specific terrorist threat", following media reports of a threat to the event by the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.
The militant group has been blamed for the raid on Mumbai in November in which 166 people were killed.