Basketball is the most popular sport in China. Popularity of basketball in China has been supported by the Chinese Basketball Association which hosts professional play in China. In international competition, the Chinese men's national team has won 16 titles of the FIBA Asia Cup between 1975 and 2005 and is the dominant force in Asian basketball.. Six Chinese nationals have played in National Basketball Association. The most famous Chinese basketball player is Yao Ming who became the first player to score an average of 20+10 in his freshmen season, an elected member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and the Chief Executive of The Chinese Basketball Association. In October 2019, tensions grew between China's basketball market and the National Basketball Association. Daryl Morey, general manager of the Houston Rockets, made a pro-Hong Kong re-tweet on Twitter referencing the Hong Kong-Mainland China conflict. Several Chinese sports broadcasters, including state-run China Central Television, announced the cancellation of N.B.A. broadcasts involving the Rockets. Followup comments from league commissioner Adam Silver resulted in further tensions between the N.B.A. and China.
History
The Youth Men’s Christian Association brought basketball to China when they established the first YMCA in Tiajin in 1895, four years after the first game of basketball was played at Spring Field College in Massachusetts, United States of America. The sport spread quickly due to it not requiring many resources to play. The growth of basketball throughout China spread fast enough that it was an event in the 1910 and 1914 National Games, only 15 years after the first YMCA in China. This can also be due to the YMCA’s heavy involvement in the preparation of the events due to the failings of the Late Qing Dynasty. During this time, China started competing internationally in basketball. This started with the First Far Eastern Championship Games in 1913. This event, where they competed in basketball, was held in Manila, Philippine between three nations: China, Japan, and the Philippines. By 1935, basketball was voted upon by the citizens of China to be one of the two national sports alongside ping pong. After the formation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, China looked to sports, including basketball, as a way to create diplomatic relations. It started within the Socialist Bloc where China sent teams to compete against other socialist nations such as Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Romania. It eventually spread to other countries such as Switzerland and France in 1959. Teams were eventually travelling around the world including the United States post ping pong diplomacy in the 1970s. China captured their first Olympic medal in 1984 in Los Angeles when the women’s team brought home a bronze medal defeating Canada. The sport has reached its maximum popularity with the emergence of the National Basketball Association’s popularity in large part due to Yao Ming becoming a hall of fame player in the United States. China hosted the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
National League
is the national professional basketball league in China.
Wang Zhizi — a retired player professional basketball player who is currently the head coach of the Bayi Rockets. He was China's first player to compete in the NBA.
Mengke Bateer — a retired player who played parts of three seasons in the NBA and majority of his career competing in the Chinese Basketball Association.
Yao Ming — basketball executive and retired professional basketball player who played in the Chinese Basketball Association and National Basketball Association. He is the only player from outside of the United States to lead the NBA in All-Star votes.
, widely considered to be the greatest Chinese basketball player in history.
Arenas
Wukesong Arena also known as the Cadillac Center in Beijing. It was originally built for the 2008 Summer Olympics basketball preliminaries and finals.
