In China, it has become commonplace for the Chinese to adopt English names in addition to their Chinese names. Most popular are the really ordinary American names like Kevin and Lisa. Chinese youths are normally given these names by their parents or teachers, assuming their parents or teachers speak English. But every so often, I will meet someone who has clearly selected his own Chinese name, such as my co-worker, Mr. Iverson Xue. Yes, Iverson. His name is an homage to his favorite NBA basketball player, Allen Iverson. He took the name because, “he liked it.” He is also a massive Iverson fan and wears a different Ive shirt to work everyday. So every time I run into this guy, I ask myself the same thing, right after I make a point of saying “Hey, Iverson.” How did the American sport of basketball make it’s way here? This week in China Ball, I will explain, to the best of my ability, why it is that the game of hoops rules China.
Many Americans only became aware of China’s basketball scene with the introduction of Yao Ming to the NBA in 2002. As the first pick in the NBA draft, Yao began his American career as the Chinese ambassador to the game. He was tall, quiet and brought a different brand of hoops to the NBA, where centers, for the most part, could not shoot jumpers or pass. However, Yao’s arrival to the NBA is more of a conclusion to the story of Chinese basketball than a beginning. The history of basketball in China is quite rich and the American-centric basketball fan often forgets that the Chinese have been playing the game for as long, if not longer, than in America.
Some historians believe the game of basketball was invented in China as an offshoot of a game called shouju, which is an ancient Chinese handball that pre-dates basketball. Shouju was played in the streets, similar to how basketball is played now and the aim of the sports was to shoot a ball into a circular goal. However, the accepted view in sports is that basketball was invented in 1891 by Canadian James Naismith who invented the game while teaching phys-ed at a Y.M.C.A in Springfield, Massachusetts. Naismith wrote 13 rules for his game, made a ball, and used peach baskets as hoops. A year later, Doc Naismith published “The 13 Rules of Basketball,” the game became quite popular and the rest is history.
While most people know James Naismith and they know Springfield because of the present-day Basketball Hall of Fame, what most people do not know is the importance of the Y.M.C.A. in the proliferation of the game. The first spreading of basketball was not global, but rather from one Y.M.C.A. to another. Within a few year’s of the game’s inception, it had become a regional past-time for men in these Christian schools. And as the 19th century drew to a close, these young Christian men began to prepare for the largest missionary movement to Asia in American history. China, moving through a dynastic transition period, was a hotbed for Americans looking to Christianize the Far East. Not coincidentally, the beginning of the 20th century, post-warlords, pre-Mao, is known as the Golden Age of Christianity in China. American missionaries brought to China the word of God and the rules of basketball.
From there, the game developed similarly to the way it did in the U.S., people spread the word and basketball gained popularity throughout the early 20th century. Basketball survived through China’s period of civil war and came to a crossroads when Mao took power in 1949. As Mao began to rid China of all foreign influence, he could have easily outlawed basketball. He didn’t for two reasons. The first is that he believed basketball was a Chinese sport and not the result of Western influence. And the second reason is that Mao loved this game! He saw basketball as a way in which to demonstrate China’s dominance. And while China certainly doesn’t dominate basketball today, it is the world’s second oldest basketball-playing nation. Or first, depending on who you ask.