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How many people play basketball in china
How Basketball Became China's Most Beloved Sport — RADII
From pick-up games to livestreamed tournaments, China loves basketball in every shape and form. Pass by a public sports complex on any given day and you’re likely to find row upon row of courts at full capacity. Basketball as entertainment is just as, if not more so, prevalent — almost half a billion people watched the NBA’s most recent season through Tencent, the entertainment and tech giant that last month extended its exclusive digital partnership with the NBA for another five years.
As China gears up to host the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup from August 31, here’s a look at how the country became so enamored with a game that has only been around for a little over a century. (We’ll give you a hint: it started well before China’s most famous 7-foot-6 player ever set foot in America.)
The Birth of Chinese Basketball
It took just four years after the invention of basketball in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1891 for the sport to make it across the Pacific. It was introduced alongside the establishment of China’s second YMCA in Tianjin by American missionaries, who viewed it as a tool for promoting Christian ideals of masculinity and health.
It was through the universities, however, that the game really began to gain ground in China. The country’s first national team, made up entirely of college students, took home a silver medal in the inaugural Far East Championship Games basketball tournament in 1913. In early 20th century Asia, China was ranked second only to US-occupied Philippines, and of the ten Far East Championship Games that were held, China was the only country that ever beat the archipelagic nation.
Even when sports and leisure yielded to war and survival efforts throughout the Second Sino-Japanese War and WWII, basketball still found a place as a pastime of Communist soldiers, which laid the groundwork for how the sport would fare once they took power in 1949.
The sport took on a life of its own in Communist China, enjoying political support and gaining official recognition as a national pastime. Members of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) founded one of the country’s first domestic teams, the Bayi Basketball team, which went on to become one of the country’s most celebrated basketball franchises. The team’s name, “Bayi” (八一), literally “eight one,” was named so after the founding date of the military organization, on August 1.
The PRC’s first sports movie in color was a basketball movie, called Woman Basketball Player No. 5. The film, released in 1957, modeled its protagonist on a prominent player on the women’s national team at the time, Yang Jie.
The nation’s love for the sport — which by now had largely overcome its association with Christianity and the West — was unwavering. It weathered the Cultural Revolution, and after the launch of “ping pong” diplomacy in the ‘70s, basketball became another way China could reconnect with the world.
The NBA’s Entry and the Years of Yao
In the decade following Deng Xiaoping’s reopening of the country, Chinese basketball began to see an explosive rebirth thanks to the US’s National Basketball Association, or NBA. During what many consider to be the “golden age” of NBA basketball, the league saw its chance to reap what the YMCA had sown almost a century earlier.
Under the direction of Commissioner David Stern in 1987, the NBA began giving away free recorded broadcasts of games to CCTV. Two years later, that agreement quickly transitioned into a full-blown live-broadcasting deal, which few American media companies had managed to pull off at the time.
NBA Commissioner David Stern promoting the China Games in 2012
The introduction through State-sponsored TV of the American league and its stars such as Magic Johnson instigated a reorganization of China’s own professional basketball system. A Chinese equivalent, the Chinese Basketball Association (or CBA), was founded in 1995, and became a league the NBA would start recruiting from in the years to come.
It was America’s women’s league however, the WNBA, that first took a chance on a Chinese pro. The Los Angeles Sparks drafted Zheng Haixia in 1997, a player on China’s national team who helped bring home the country’s first Olympic medal in the sport in 1984. The NBA followed suit four years later, when the Dallas Mavericks drafted decorated Bayi Rockets center Wang Zhizhi.
Although Zheng and Wang’s careers in the American leagues were relatively short-lived, spanning just one season and four seasons respectively, they paved the way for the sensation that would follow them.
Before being drafted to the NBA, Yao Ming had already played for the Shanghai Sharks through his teenage years, and for five years in the CBA. After signing to the Houston Rockets in 2004, Yao would become the face of Chinese sports and propel the marketability of NBA all-stars in China to new heights. Over 200 million Chinese viewers tuned in to watch Yao’s first head-to-head with Shaquille O’Neal on the court. Not long after, the NBA started hosting annual preseason games in Chinese cities for fans to watch in person.
China’s Modern Ballers
Only a handful of Chinese players have managed to make it to the American league since. Jeremy Lin — the NBA’s first Asian-American player of Chinese descent and spark for the mania known as “Linsanity” — is the most popular current NBA player in China (based on social media followers, mentions and Baidu searches). That position has likely been bolstered by the recent announcement that Lin will ply his trade for the CBA’s Beijing Ducks for the 2019-2020 season.
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But even without a consistent influx of big-time Chinese players, the NBA still has ways to connect with its mainland Chinese fan base. In 2010 the league began streaming its games live on Chinese microblogging platform Weibo. It also cut a deal with Chinese tech giant Tencent, allowing the latter to stream games and market to consumers across popular social media platforms such as QQ and WeChat (both Tencent products).
Individual teams have also found their own ways to court Chinese fans. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban recently challenged online users to create a new Chinese name for the team, which it then adopted. Other teams have worn special Chinese-character stitched jerseys during the Chinese New Year.
After receiving more than 100k votes from Chinese fans, we just revealed our new Chinese team name during our @tencentnba broadcast. We're proud to introduce 独行侠！
The connections formed between US and Chinese basketball have even resulted in former NBA players finishing their careers in China. After leaving the NBA, all-star Stephon Marbury continued playing professionally in the CBA for eight seasons, retiring for good just last year.
Though the NBA is still the most popular sports league in the country on social media, basketball fever is far from limited to American basketball. Homegrown stars within and outside the CBA have gained a following in their own right, as evidenced by the popularity of streetball tournaments and reality TV shows such as Dunk of China with stacked lineups of celebrity judges. (After Jeremy Lin and Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou fronted the first season of Dunk of China, the new series has brought in the likes of Dwyane Wade and Nick Young.)
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Paralleling the way in which basketball has been absorbed into China’s daily grind, massively popular online forum HUPU was first formed around basketball before it grew to encompass other topics such as football, esports, film, and music.
More than 300 million people in China play basketball today, and China’s CBA has grown to include 20 men’s teams located all across the nation. Withstanding decades of anti-Western sentiment and political shifts, basketball has taken root and become a part of everyday life and entertainment in China. Today, the sport is as popular as ever, and its diehard Chinese fandom isn’t likely to abate anytime soon.
Header image: Mayura Jain
Basketball in China Part II: The Evolution | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors
China's basketball power is rising. (Photo courtesy of the CBA)
Basketball is never out of place in modern China. As a matter of fact, the sport in the land of Confucius is almost as old as the sport itself.
After years of development, the Chinese version of the NBA was born. One of the players coming from this league was a Chinese giant by the name of Yao Ming.
With an estimated fan base of 450 million, China’s basketball market has shown huge potential to become the biggest in the world.
Basketball Today
Basketball is currently one of the most popular sports in China, and has the biggest number of people involved with the game.
An estimated 300 million Chinese citizens play basketball — roughly equivalent to the entire population of the United States, according to the Chinese Basketball Association.
It is the most popular sport among Chinese youth.
Since 1987, when the National Basketball Association (NBA) first gave broadcasting rights to China Central Television (CCTV) free of charge, it has cultivated an estimated fan base of 450 million. Megastars like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Kevin Garnett are household names in the country.
With exposure to the NBA, more and more kids play with NBA-style cockiness and wear Adidas, Nike and Reebok shoes and clothes.
Over the last 10 years, Beijing has slowly opened basketball to outside influences, in much the same way it has opened other strategic industries to foreign investment. The government has gradually allowed corporations like Nike, Li Ning and the NBA to play an increasingly greater role in developing the market and the basketball talent.
In January 2008, the NBA established the entity NBA China, an affiliate with local operations and management. Since then, NBA China has built its business aggressively through a broad media play, along with sponsorships, promotions, events and an arena-management venture.
A Historical Perspective
Long before the NBA arrived, missionaries and revolutionaries helped make the game ubiquitous here in China.
Introduced to China over a century ago by YMCA missionaries just a few years after the game's 1891 invention in Springfield, Massachusetts, basketball has seeped into the fabric of Chinese lives.
Some of the first groups that embraced basketball in China were college students and western-minded scholars.
In the 1920s, the game was very popular among urban students.
In 1935, basketball was declared a Chinese national pastime.
At that time, members of the Red Army was encouraged to play basketball for lifting spirits and exercise.
Until the NBA arrived in the early 1990s, basketball had come to feel so intrinsically Chinese, most people did not even associate it with America.
Chinese Version of NBA
Before 1995, basketball careers were fostered mainly with State support. But, although competitive leagues had been developing rapidly, state funding could not be sustained, hindering further growth. Consequently, the game was professionalized.
In 1995, a Chinese version of the NBA, namely the Chinese Basketball Association, CBA for short, came into play.
After years of cultivation and development, the league has significantly improved, with a number of high-caliber players springing up. Among those were Yao Ming, Wang Zhizhi, Yi Jianlian, Mengke Bateer and Sun Yue, who have played in the NBA.
During the 2007 NBA All-Star Game, the player who received the most votes was neither LeBron James nor Kobe Bryant. It was Yao Ming. The first Chinese-born athlete to play successfully in the NBA.
Yao retired from basketball on July 20, 2011, leaving behind giant footprints on the NBA court.
The Chinese basketball authorities, previously fearing that players who go abroad will never return, now encourage players to get overseas experience, as China looks to raise its level of international competitiveness.
The CBA not only encourages local exports, but also welcomes foreign imports.
Being coordinated by both local sports committees and businesses, the clubs in the CBA are able to work with foreign investors, bring in foreign players and coaches, and freely trade players with other clubs.
In 1996, James Hodges became one of the first Americans to play in the CBA.
As the league becomes more professionalized, quite a few well-known international players have joined the CBA. Notable players include NBA All-Stars Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis and Kenyon Martin.
Some foreign players are a crucial part of their teams. A few have NBA experience. Many have played at American universities with good teams and have some experience playing in Europe, Argentina, Turkey, Israel among other countries.
Over the last decade, over 200 international players have participated in the CBA.
As of right now, the CBA has grown to be the No.1 basketball league in Asia, and some believe, within ten years, China will become one of the top four basketball powers in the world.
* * *
Zhenyu Li, a contributing columnist for some of the world's foremost sports publications, authors the "Beyond Gold" column for People's Daily Online in China.
Basketball in China • China News Portal PRC.today - China Today
Content:
Last revised 09/27/2021
Basketball has become one of China's favorite sports, and this can be evidenced by the daily workload of the basketball courts of public sports complexes . In addition, Chinese fans of this sport actively follow all the events that take place, from matchmaking games to live tournaments. As entertainment, basketball is quite widespread in China, for example, in China, the last season of the NBA was watched by almost half a billion people, which was facilitated by the technology giant Tencent, which on July 28, 2019extended its exclusive digital partnership with the NBA for another five years.
The origins of basketball in China
The origins of basketball in China began in 1895 when the sport was introduced by American missionaries at the same time as China's second Youth Christian Association (YMCA) in Tianjin, who saw it as a tool to promote the Christian ideals of masculinity and health.
However, in reality, the game began to gain popularity in China precisely because of the educational institutions and later the soldiers of the People's Liberation Army of China (PLA). At 19In 13, at the Far East Championship, the first silver medal was won by the first Chinese national team, consisting entirely of students from educational institutions.
Even as sports and leisure gave way to wars and survival efforts during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II, basketball still found its place as a pastime for PLA soldiers, which laid the foundation for how this sport will develop after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 year.
In communist China, the sport took on a life of its own, with political support and official recognition as a national pastime. The members of the PLA founded one of the first national teams, the Bayi basketball team, which later became one of the most famous basketball teams in the country. The "Bayi" team, literally "eight one", was named after the founding date of the military organization - August 1.
China's love of sports was unwavering - it survived the Cultural Revolution, and after the launch of "Ping-Pong Diplomacy" in the 70s, basketball became another way to reconnect China with the world.
Interesting fact! The first color sports film in the PRC was the female basketball player No. 5 basketball film. In the film, released in 1957, the image of the main character reflected the outstanding player of the women's team of that time - Yang Jie.
Recognition
A decade after Deng Xiaoping reopened the country, Chinese basketball has seen an explosive rise. Under the leadership of David Stern, in 1987 the NBA began giving away free recorded broadcasts of games on CCTV. Two years later, this agreement quickly grew into a full-fledged live-to-air deal, which few media companies were able to pull off at the time.
The introduction of the American League and its stars, such as Magic Johnson, on public television prompted a reorganization of China's professional basketball system. The Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), was founded in 1995 and became the league that revealed the names of outstanding Chinese basketball players to the basketball world,
Surprisingly, it was the Women's League of America (WNBA) who first took the risk of betting on a Chinese professional basketball player - Los Angeles Sharks at 19In 1997, she chose Zheng Haixia, a member of the Chinese national team, who won the WNBA Sports Conduct Award the same year. The NBA followed suit four years later when the Dallas Mavericks selected Bayi Rockets center Wang Zhizhi.
Although Zheng and Wang's American league careers were relatively short-lived, spanning only one and four seasons respectively, they set the stage for the sensation that would follow.
In a way, it can be said that for decades Chinese basketball players have played in relative obscurity, but a unique Chinese style of play has been developed to compensate for the relatively limited height of most of the players. Skillful footwork, accurate shots and sophisticated ball skills became the hallmarks of the Chinese game until a guy named Yao Ming came along.
Before joining the NBA, Yao Ming had already played for the Shanghai Sharks as a teenager and spent five years with the CBA. After signing with the Houston Rockets, Yao helped the team reach the playoffs multiple times (2004, 2005, and 2007–09), became the face of Chinese sports, and raised the market competitiveness of NBA stars in China to a new level. Shortly after Yao joined the Houston Rockets, the NBA began holding annual pre-season games in Chinese cities for fans to watch in person. An injured Yao retired from professional basketball in July 2011. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016 and he became CBA president the following year, having been president and franchise owner of the Shanghai Sharks CBA since 2009of the year.
The Yao Phenomenon
At 7ft 6in, Yao wasn't just tall for a Chinese, he was a human mountain by any standard. With his fluid play and even smoother sense of humor, he became an international sensation and helped turn the idea of China as a basketball nation into the mainstream.
It's really hard to overestimate how phenomenal Yao and his Houston Rockets team were in China in the early to mid 2000s. The Chinese love to be proud of their own, and here they had a homegrown star taking the world's biggest stage by storm.
Yao knitwear sells in the millions (and millions more in fakes). He was the spokesman for a ridiculous number of brands and companies, and his face graced billboards all over the country.
Yao's first game against NBA superstar Shaquille O'Neal in 2003 drew over 200 million viewers in China, nearly double the American audience for the most watched Super Bowl in history.
Yao (and later Jeremy Lin) helped attract more casual Chinese fans and gave the country a single star and team to root for, but there are many other interesting elements that make basketball so popular in China.
Yao Ming's NBA arrival
Interesting moments! In 1935, basketball was declared a national hobby in China, and in 1936, China fielded an Olympic team. During the Mao era, it was played under the slogan "friendship comes first, competition comes second" and players would apologize after breaking the rules. Basketball was one of the few Western pastimes not condemned by the Cultural Revolution, and members of the People's Liberation Army were encouraged to play basketball during exercise.
Popularity
The popularity of basketball in China is not waning, but rather increasing. For example, Jeremy Lin is a popular current NBA player in China, according to social media followers, Baidu mentions and searches. But that's not all, and as a testament to the popularity of basketball in China, it should be noted that the NBA itself is looking for ways to connect with its mainland Chinese fans. In 2010, the league began streaming its games live on the Chinese Weibo platform. It also struck a deal with Chinese tech giant Tencent, allowing the latter to stream games and sell them to consumers through popular social media platforms like QQ and WeChat (both Tencent products). Individual teams have also found their own ways of communicating with Chinese fans. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban encouraged online users in January 2018 to create a new Chinese name for the team, which was then adopted.
Interesting fact! Charles Barkley is one of the greatest basketball players and is also considered an entertainment expert on American television. Once he kissed a donkey on the ass. Yao Ming, the superstar of Chinese basketball, is to blame for this. This was back in November 2002. Barkley lost a bet he hinted that Yao would never score more than 19 points in a single game in his first season in the NBA. Yao Ming proved Charles Barkley wrong by scoring 20 points against the Los Angeles Lakers after just eight games.
It is possible that the popularity of basketball in China led to the fact that after leaving the NBA, Stephon Marbury continued to play professionally in the CBA for eight seasons and finally retired only in 2018.
The stars in the CBA, and not only them, have gained a following, as evidenced by the popularity of streetball tournaments and reality shows such as Dunk of China with numerous star refereeing squads. (After Jeremy Lin and Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou performed on the first season of Dunk of China, Dwyane Wade and Nick Young have since appeared.)
Stars in and out of the CBA have gained a following, as evidenced by the popularity of streetball tournaments and reality TV shows such as Dunk of China with numerous star refereeing squads. (After Jeremy Lin and Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou performed on the first season of Dunk of China, it was followed by Dwyane Wade and Nick Young.)
Dunk of China aired its first episode on Saturday, August 25, 1918 , racking up over 51 million views in four days, which isn't surprising considering there are around 300 million people who practice basketball in China. While 1v1 and 3v3 television competitions are nothing new in China, Dunk of China marks the first time basketball has been put into a reality TV format, and sponsorship from multinational brands like Head & Shoulders brings the familiar streak of permanent product placement.
In parallel with basketball becoming a part of China's daily life, the massively popular HUPU online forum was first formed around basketball before it expanded to cover other topics such as football, esports, film and music.
NBA Opens Basketball Training Center in China
Mission Hills Group designed and built the facility to be operated by NBA China.
Development will improve the standard of play in the country
The Chinese government strives to promote sports culture in Hainan Province
China's first National Basketball Association (NBA) basketball training center jointly developed by the league's Chinese division and the Mission Hills group officially opened.
The sprawling resort campus in the Chinese island province of Hainan has five international standard indoor basketball courts. The complex also has a number of support facilities including gyms, a rehab center, gyms, indoor pools, medical offices, player apartments and player restaurants.
The project also includes an interactive NBA experience center and specialty stores that have been operating since 2018. The project was originally introduced in 2017 by five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant.
NBA Certified Coaches will develop professional basketball training courses and will be responsible for training basketball players and developing players at the facility. Active and legendary NBA players will also visit the training center to give students additional guidance.
NBA to open China's first basketball school
"The completion of the NBA Basketball Training Center demonstrates our commitment to developing youth basketball in China," said Shi Gerui, vice president of NBA China Basketball Operations. « I believe that under the guidance of NBA-trained coaches, more young male and female players will learn basketball skills at the NBA Basketball Training Center and enjoy the sport ".
At the opening ceremony, NBA China also announced that Yingyi International Medical will be the official partner of the training center for sports rehabilitation and sports training.
Covid-19
The emergence of Covid-19 brought many troubles and problems, which also affected the CBA, but the players and teams did not stand aside and provided all possible assistance in confronting Covid-19 — Yao Ming, being the president of the CBA, took an active part in the camp donations within the league to buy medical and protective supplies as soon as the coronavirus struck China's Wuhan. He continued to use his influence in the Chinese basketball world to donate more money and medical supplies. Yao's actions also prompted a group of league stars including Stephon Marbury, Jeremy Lin, and Yi Jianlian to get involved and donate.
The contribution of CBA teams and players has gone beyond helping to fight the epidemic in China, but has also spread throughout the world. On March 23, after former CBA Liaoning Flying Leopards fitness coach Sergio Pérez sent messages asking for much-needed masks and gloves in Spain, he was soon contacted by the team to send much-needed supplies.
Former NBA star Stephon Marbury worked with Chinese manufacturer to deliver 10 million N9 masks5 to his hometown of New York, which has become the epicenter of the US coronavirus outbreak. The head coach of the Beijing Royal Fighters also provided donations to help Chinese medical workers.
Today, more than 300 million people play basketball in China, and the CBA now has 20 men's teams located throughout the country. Despite decades of various upheavals, basketball has taken root and has become a part of everyday life and entertainment in China. Today, the sport is as popular as ever, and its stubborn Chinese fandom isn't likely to die down anytime soon.
Chinese basketball in brief
Chinese people love basketball. It is estimated that about 300 million people play this game. Some Chinese who have money spend it on basketball shoe collections. Data from the mid-2000s suggests that basketball and football were roughly tied as the most popular sport in China, with table tennis in third place.
Andrew Higgins wrote in the Washington Post: “Hundreds of millions of Chinese people play basketball and watch it on TV. China's professional league, the Chinese Basketball Association, has 17 teams. The country's national basketball team, the best in Asia, delights Chinese fans with its aggressive play and noisy fights with rivals."
Basketball courts can be found in villages and urban areas. For many Chinese, their main form of exercise is playing basketball. One of the first things you see when you enter the main courtyard of the Forbidden City are the basketball courts, one with grass and the other with regular concrete for a playground. They are mainly used by security guards and other employees for informal games.
Basketball is the most popular school sport and the most popular sport among Chinese youth. It's hooked in part because it's easy to play and doesn't require a lot of hardware. Most schools have nets and shields, and new playgrounds are being built all the time.
With the advent of the NBA, more and more kids are playing NBA-style sass and wearing Adidas, Nike and Reebok, often fake shoes and clothes. At the university level, an organization similar to the NCAA has been created that sponsors an NCAA-like tournament with a Final Four.
The Chinese national basketball team is considered the best basketball team in Asia. She regularly defeats her closest rivals, Japan and South Korea.
The Chinese have established some good centers.
Members of the national team undergo grueling training twice a day, six days a week. This practice often includes hours of the same ball handling exercises performed by younger students.
In international competitions, Chinese women usually perform better than Chinese men. One of the most dominant players in women's basketball in the 1990s was Zheng Haixia, a 6ft 10in, 240lb player, half a foot taller than the tallest woman on the American team, who had amazing results - once scoring over 60 points in one game.
The national team was coached by Lithuanian head coach Jonas Kazlauskas and assistant coach Donny Nelson, who was officially with the Golden State Warriors.
Many people think that China will be one of the top four teams in the world in about ten years. Team USA coach in 2008 Mike Kryzewski said: “They are a good team and they will continue to get better. They have too many resources and passion to get better. They will commit to getting better because they live for the game."
The Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) is the main organizing body for basketball in China and the name of the professional league it administers. Among the 12 teams in the CBA League are the Peking Ducks, the Guangzhou Southern Tigers, the Hong Kong Flying Dragons, the Hubei Cranes and the Shanghai Sharks. The latter is jointly owned by the Shanghai government and the state television station. Other sponsors include the People's Liberation Army. By 2015, it is planned to transfer 12 teams to private ownership.
The practice is very tough. When Yao Ming first turned professional at age 13, his coach spent four sessions a day with the Sharks: the first at 6:30 am, the last one ending at 8:30 pm.
Under CBA rules, each team is allowed no more than two foreign players on the court at any one time, and they may play no more than five quarters in each game. Some have experience in the NBA. Many have played at US universities with good teams and have some experience playing in Europe, Argentina, Turkey, Israel or elsewhere.
Americans who have played in the CBA include Mike McGee, former LA Laker, Tyrone Dolemna and Maurice Barnett, both former Harlem Glotters, and Michael Hudson, once an All-Star Magic Johnson. Mediocre basketball players in the United States have become big stars in China. Former NBA star Steve Francis played in the Peking Ducks.
American players and coaches communicate using hand signals and interpreters.
The Chinese league "will lose huge support from fans if it refuses American imports," Bruce O'Neill, president of the United States basketball academy, told the Washington Post. The USBA is an Oregon-based organization that helped send Americans to China and also trained Chinese coaches and young players. For all of China's growing nationalism, he said, "They still love America."
Chinese teams are much more popular and richer now than they were in 1994 when the GBA started, but fans still want to watch American players.
Fearful of being swamped with talent from the NBA and other foreign leagues, China has imposed a $20,000 per month salary cap and limited each team to two foreigners. That limit was later raised to $60,000 and has now faded into the background, O'Neill said. Foreigners, especially former NBA players, are "definitely good for our league" because they "attract fans and attract sponsors," said Bai Xilin, a senior official in Chinese basketball's governing body.
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Why basketball is so popular in China
The Sportbox.ru observer tells how and when China began to love basketball, as well as the reasons for the popularity of the NBA in the most populated country in the world.
According to a survey by the China Basketball Federation, in 2015, about 307 million people play basketball in Podnesnaya. For reference, the entire population of the United States is 327.3 million. And if Chinese basketball players have a lot to learn from their overseas counterparts, then in terms of enthusiasm, it is ordinary American fans who are lagging behind.
It is generally accepted that the love for basketball broke through among the Chinese relatively recently. Yes, the moment when 200 million Chinese people watched live as the Houston Rockets selected center Yao Ming in 2002 with the first pick in the draft can be considered a peak. Yao was followed by Yi Jin Lian, Mengke Batyr, Song Ye, Jeremy Lin, who, although he grew up in America, was still strongly associated with his Asian roots. But, the choice of Yao was more likely a confirmation of China's involvement in world basketball than a discovery for the Chinese themselves. On the contrary, after 2002, the world saw how much Asians are in love with basketball, and what a huge potential the Chinese market has.
The people of the Celestial Empire were introduced to basketball almost 100 years before the momentous draft. Just a few years after James Naismith invented his brainchild in 1891, missionaries from the YMCA (Christian Youth Association) brought the game to China. The NBA became a global brand in the late 80s and early 90s thanks to the duel between the Magic and Byrd and the emergence of Jordan. Until then, most people in China did not even associate basketball with America.
In the courtyard behind the Great Wall, he was an integral part of the health camp program, army training and, most importantly, communist ideology. On a political level, basketball was considered the only alternative to table tennis. But unlike ping-pong, basketball is a team game, which was immediately seized upon by the party bosses, who famously fitted the concepts of brotherhood and socialist collectivism into this scheme. Demonstrations of military, labor and sports power almost never did without an impromptu basketball match. Gymnasts lined up bizarre figures resembling rings, and gutta-percha players threw balls at them. And so on for several kilometers of the procession.
After Mao came to power in 1949, the government began to burn away all signs of the pernicious influence of the West with a red-hot iron. Everything was subjected to the most severe repression: art, literature, fashion, food. Everything except basketball. Moreover, the Great Pilot ordered the construction of basketball courts next to each large production facility so that workers could improve their physical fitness and the concept of mutual labor during the break.
But if in the factories playing basketball was a relatively voluntary initiative, in the army it was quite the opposite. In each branch of the military, at each hierarchical level, teams were organized, which in total represented a huge championship. Whether you were a simple private or "a person close to the emperor", you were obliged to play in a team. The refusal, at best, aroused suspicion, at worst, it was regarded as disrespect for the political system of the state as a whole and for Mao Zedong personally.
Starting in 1949 and ending in 1980, it was the military clubs that provided the best basketball personnel in China. The best military men were accumulated in the Bayi Rockets team, which at that time was practically a sub-government department. Later, it was she who would raise Won Zhizhi, the first Chinese basketball player to enter the NBA.
The picture began to change closer to the onset of the 90s. It became obvious that the old militaristic control system was losing its effectiveness. In addition, after the death of Mao, in fact, there was no character adequate in strength and charisma who would defend his views so vehemently. China gradually began to move away from the position of a political anchorite. Teams from American universities began to come to the country more and more often. This allowed the Chinese to form a basketball championship in their education system, similar in structure to the American NCAA.
In 1987, China received the rights to broadcast central television from the United States for the first time. Together with the beginning of the "Golden Era of the NBA" and the presence of such talents as Jordan, Barkley, Olajuwon, O'Neal, Ewing, this created a real sensation in a country where basketball was not only popular entertainment for a long time, but actually part of the ideology, social system . It was China that became the first country that led the NBA to a conclusion that was stunning in its simplicity and significance: the future of the league is in globalization.
Members of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) founded one of the country’s first domestic teams, the Bayi Basketball team, which went on to become one of the country’s most celebrated basketball franchises. The team’s name, “Bayi” (八一), literally “eight one,” was named so after the founding date of the military organization, on August 1.
Over 200 million Chinese viewers tuned in to watch Yao’s first head-to-head with Shaquille O’Neal on the court. Not long after, the NBA started hosting annual preseason games in Chinese cities for fans to watch in person.
co/article/jeremy-lin-basketball-chinese-youth"> <div> <div> <img src="https://imagedelivery.net/WLUarKbmUXuuhDC7PG5_Qw/articles/b1877532e5c4b075d8ae74279fc2d8a5.jpg/public" alt="jeremy lin with children in china"/> </div> <div> <div> <span>“I’ve Always Known My Journey Would End in China”: Jeremy Lin’s Off-Season Grind Benefits Chinese Youth</span> </div> <div> <span>In an exclusive interview with RADII, Jeremy Lin talks about his basketball schools in China and his motivation to get back on the court</span> </div> <div> <span>Article</span> <span>Aug 14, 2019</span> </div> </div> </div> </a> 
Homegrown stars within and outside the CBA have gained a following in their own right, as evidenced by the popularity of streetball tournaments and reality TV shows such as Dunk of China with stacked lineups of celebrity judges. (After Jeremy Lin and Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou fronted the first season of Dunk of China, the new series has brought in the likes of Dwyane Wade and Nick Young.)
The government has gradually allowed corporations like Nike, Li Ning and the NBA to play an increasingly greater role in developing the market and the basketball talent.
It was Yao Ming. The first Chinese-born athlete to play successfully in the NBA.
As entertainment, basketball is quite widespread in China, for example, in China, the last season of the NBA was watched by almost half a billion people, which was facilitated by the technology giant Tencent, which on July 28, 2019extended its exclusive digital partnership with the NBA for another five years. 
Under the leadership of David Stern, in 1987 the NBA began giving away free recorded broadcasts of games on CCTV. Two years later, this agreement quickly grew into a full-fledged live-to-air deal, which few media companies were able to pull off at the time. 
An injured Yao retired from professional basketball in July 2011. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016 and he became CBA president the following year, having been president and franchise owner of the Shanghai Sharks CBA since 2009of the year. 
The USBA is an Oregon-based organization that helped send Americans to China and also trained Chinese coaches and young players. For all of China's growing nationalism, he said, "They still love America." 
Why basketball is so popular in China 
But, the choice of Yao was more likely a confirmation of China's involvement in world basketball than a discovery for the Chinese themselves. On the contrary, after 2002, the world saw how much Asians are in love with basketball, and what a huge potential the Chinese market has. 
On a political level, basketball was considered the only alternative to table tennis. But unlike ping-pong, basketball is a team game, which was immediately seized upon by the party bosses, who famously fitted the concepts of brotherhood and socialist collectivism into this scheme. Demonstrations of military, labor and sports power almost never did without an impromptu basketball match. Gymnasts lined up bizarre figures resembling rings, and gutta-percha players threw balls at them. And so on for several kilometers of the procession. 
It became obvious that the old militaristic control system was losing its effectiveness. In addition, after the death of Mao, in fact, there was no character adequate in strength and charisma who would defend his views so vehemently. China gradually began to move away from the position of a political anchorite. Teams from American universities began to come to the country more and more often. This allowed the Chinese to form a basketball championship in their education system, similar in structure to the American NCAA. 
