Chinese+Basketball



=Chinese Basketball=

History
Basketball in China first started as YMCA was first established in 1895. As the first national athletic competition in China was formed, basketball was included and it started to become more recognized. In 1921, China achieved the first ever gold medal in the Far Eastern Games. In the Berlin Olympics, China finished with a record of 1-3. Although western influence was opposed by most of the population, basketball was welcomed. It was embraced, and it was continuously developed as the Communists achieved triumph in 1949 (Hoopedia).

Current Situation
Ever since then, basketball has become one of the most popular sports in China. Currently, more people play basketball than soccer in China. Also, so many people have access to NBA games and other basketball markets that even US recognized China as one of the biggest markets in Asia for basketball. Unlike Korea, basketball courts can be easily found in towns. While Korean men play soccer and Japanese men play baseball, Chinese men spend time and exercise through a game of basketball. While soccer is the national sport of Korea, basketball is highly played by youth in China. It is easy to learn and requires little equipment, making it easily accessible. Also, the high exposure to NBA and NCAA has created a huge market for Nike, Adidas and Reebok. In addition, a NCAA-like organization has been set up and a tournament like Final Four is ran (Fay).

Currently, the government pours an immense amount of money in discovering and developing basketball at youth level. Scouts roam around the country, looking for children with potential, or with tall parents. They scan the child’s hands to predict the future height of the child. If chosen, the child is placed to after school programs where they compete against other selected children. And if chosen, they are enrolled to a full time sports academies to develop them into basketball elites who will play for China in the future. Due to this process, current Chinese national team has an extremely tall roster; 8 of the 12 players are over 2 meters, and their shortest player is still 185 cm. Compared to Japan and Korea, their team is huge–nearly as big as European teams. This is where the strength of Chinese basketball team comes from (Hays).

So what is the problem?
So what is the problem with this amazingly improving team? One of the problems is that the CBA wants to keep their talented athletes at home. Instead of sending off their players to Europe for a more competitive game experience, Chinese players are strongly recommended to stay at home.

Another problem China is facing is about their manners in games. Home advantage is something that all countries must understand, but there has been several incidents where Chinese team led the game to violence. In August 2005, the game between China and Puerto Rico ended up in a mass. Although China was winning by a huge margin, a hard foul on a chinese player maddened the bench and led to a fight. Also, there has been violence in games such as China versus Lebanon and China versus Brazil.

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