Basketball Emergence In China

Emergence Into China

Basketball was introduced to China in 1896 via outposts of the Young Men's Christian Association.
China finished 16 (out of 22 teams) in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games.
Basketball participation never flagged during the Chinese civil war in the 1930s and was eventually given a prominent place in society at the birth of the People's Republic of China when Chou En Lai, the first prime minister, endorsed the game for its contribution to fitness and promotion of teamwork.

With 300 million people playing basketball in China, it is far and away the NBA's number two market in the world.
China has a rich basketball history and the NBA's relationships with the Chinese go as far back as 1979.
The NBA has been delivering content to China as part of its broad TV distribution strategy since 1987.
The NBA is now broadcast on 24 networks reaching an average of 42 million viewers weekly, up 34% from last year.
The NBA’s partnership with China Mobile provides access to 240 million mobile subscribers.
Twenty percent of NBA.com’s 2.6 million daily visitors are from China.
Tracy McGrady, not Yao Ming, has the best selling jersey in China.
In October of 2004, the NBA brought the Houston Rockets and the Sacramento Kings to Shanghai and Beijing to play in a series of exhibition games.