'Village BA': 'NBA' with Chinese characteristics is taking China by storm

While the National Basketball Association (NBA) is globally renowned with a large fan base in China, Chinese basketball fans have found a new local favourite over the past couple of years - Guizhou's rural basketball league, also known as the "Village BA" (村BA).

In July 2022, a video featuring the "Village BA" began circulating on social media, showing an outdoor basketball court surrounded by stands packed with spectators cheering for their favourite teams by banging on pots, pans and water bottles. The players are clearly not professionals, but their enthusiasm is palpable, and the competition is intense. And in place of the American-style cheerleading performance at halftime, there are traditional ethnic minority songs and dances instead.

The sports commentator does not speak English, but switches between Mandarin, Guizhou dialect and Miao dialect. Meanwhile, the tournament prize is not a trophy or cash, but livestock such as cows, sheep and pigs.

Netizens have described the competition's lively atmosphere as being comparable to the NBA and affectionately dubbed the event the "Village BA" given its modest style.

"I wasn't there, but I could feel the excitement from the video!"

"This is really a competition with Chinese characteristics!"

Chinese basketball superstar and former NBA player Yao Ming also said that he would like to experience the event firsthand if he had a chance. He even joked that "it looks like tickets are hard to come by, I'm not even sure if I'll be able to get one."

However, according to videographer Yao Shunwei who shot the video, the clip does not fully capture the intensity of the competition. In an interview with lifeweek.com.cn, he said, "I only captured a fraction of it... Whether they scored or missed, the players ran the full court and were shooting the ball the whole time. There was not a single sound of booing from the crowd."

Yao Shunwei recalled that he stayed from afternoon until dawn the next day, but the venue remained crowded throughout the night. "Some people were dozing off but still insisted on staying on," he shared.

Besides the packed live crowd, the game reportedly garnered over 100 million total online views, peaking at more than one million viewers at one time.

This "Village BA" in Taipan village, Guizhou province, traced its history to as early as 1936. According to a report in Xinhua Daily Telegraph on 22 August 2022, the village of fewer than 1,200 people has held various annual sports events such as bullfighting and bird fighting during the Double Sixth Festival (六月六) on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month. The basketball tournament has been held till these days as the most popular sport among both players and audiences.

In order to hold the tournament, every family in Taipan Village contributed to the event, with each household contributing anything from 10 RMB to thousands of RMB. Last year, Guizhou Radio and Television Station quoted Xue Kaisheng, a village resident and one of the organisers of the tournament, as saying that young people in the village also participate in organising the activities and maintaining order every year.

Xue added that since the Village BA tournament became popular, they have encountered various problems such as the small stadium size and the lack of cleanliness. "Some spectators who came specially for the tournament had to leave because they couldn't even enter the stadium. We want to expand the venue, but finances are relatively tight," he said.

The government of Taipan township where Taipan village is located reported last year that the four-day competition saw an average of over 15,000 spectators per match. Due to the limited capacity of the venue, more than 10,000 people were turned away and had to stay outside.

Taipan village expanded the size of the stadium this year to ensure its safety and standardisation, increasing the seating capacity from 10,000 to more than 20,000. Facilities have also been constructed, including media interview reception rooms, guest lounges, changing rooms and lounges for players; and the public toilets were renovated. The car park was also expanded, with the parking spaces reorganised.

Some netizens commented that "such big moves must be due to the potential economic benefits."

In an interview last year, Taipan village resident and Village BA commentator Wang Zaigui said that during the tournament, dozens of stalls were set up around the stadium for villagers to sell snacks, even the small stalls could earn 10,000 to 20,000 RMB per day.

Henan TV also reported that the influx of tens of thousands of fans also drove consumption demand for catering, accommodation, supermarkets, agricultural products, and other goods in Taipan village.

The report quoted a supermarket employee surnamed Xie in Taipan, who said she never thought that step ladders would sell so well, explaining that fans would stand on them to get a better view. Some people also bought adult diapers because the games were long and crowded, and they were afraid of losing their spot if they went to the toilet.

Indeed, these reflect that China has a huge basketball fan base. A report on the development of basketball in China (《中国篮球运动发展报告》) released at the end of 2021 found that 125 million people in China played the sport. Basketball is also recognised as the top-ranked team ball sport among the country's top three team ball games, namely football, basketball and volleyball.

On the other hand, the reason why basketball is so popular in China is also related to the world-renowned NBA.

The New York Times reported in October 2019 that basketball's roots in China date back to the late 19th century when Christian missionaries introduced the game to the country. In 1979, the Washington Bullets went to Beijing for two friendly games with the Chinese military and became the first NBA team to play in China.

Later in 1985, then NBA commissioner David Stern invited the Chinese national team to the US for what later became known as the NBA-China Friendship Tour. In 1990, the NBA signed its first big revenue-sharing deal with China Central Television to air NBA games in China. Since then, the NBA became one of the must-see games for countless basketball fans in China, and also the ultimate goal for those who long to fulfil their basketball dreams. The basketball fever that swept across China when Yao Ming was drafted by the Houston Rockets in 2002 is the best example of this.

However, the performance of China's men's national basketball team has been disappointing despite its huge popularity in the country. In fact, its performance has been going downhill.

For example, the team lost all five games at the 2012 London Olympics, the worst-ever showing at the Olympics. At the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, the team fell out of the top four teams and lost its Asian dominance. The team was again without a win at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. In 2021, it lost a direct qualification for the Olympics due to its poor performance at the FIBA World Cup. After consecutive losses at the Olympic qualifying tournament, China's men's national basketball team missed out on the Olympics for the first time since 1984.

In response, Sina Sports in July 2022 quoted retired professional Chinese basketball player Ma Jian as saying that the poor performance of China's men's national basketball team is in fact a systemic problem. On the technical and tactical level, Ma believes that the development of Chinese basketball lags behind global basketball development. He thinks that systematisation starts with having the right mindset about basketball and setting clear achievable goals, along with continuous refinement every step of the way.

He added that at present, only the US is capable of combining basketball as a sports event with a sound business model - from high school, to college and professional games - and choosing from the world's best players, forming a complete system. "Just look at the values and knowledge of each NBA player, as well as the professionalism of the management team, it's no wonder Chinese basketball is lagging further and further behind," Ma said.

In terms of developing Chinese basketball, Ma said that concentrating efforts on the national team is not good enough, as the foundation of Chinese basketball's future growth lies in the establishment of a comprehensive youth training programme.

A concerned netizen wrote on the Chinese forum Zhihu: "The future of Chinese basketball does not depend on systemic reforms or youth training but on changing the understanding of national basketball. How can we inspire youths to think big and play the sport, and help the public recognise the necessity of developing the basketball industry? I feel it is necessary to professionalise, commercialise, and patent professional leagues. And it has to go hand in hand with the establishment of a comprehensive youth grassroots league."

Officially, the 14th Five-Year Plan for sports development released by China's General Administration of Sport put forth the country's grand dreams, such as aiming to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics with a five-member men's national basketball team; narrowing the gap with the world's top teams; upgrading the branding of the Chinese Basketball Association; improving the construction of a comprehensive professional basketball club; and so on. But realistically, this grand blueprint remains a pipedream to the common people.

Indeed, the self-developed bottom-up "Village BA" that is packed with primitive and down-to-earth qualities has instead filled the tens of thousands of Chinese basketball fans with a genuine and passionate love for basketball. And it is not far away either - it is right there in China and with the Chinese people.

This article was first published in Lianhe Zaobao as "中国"村BA"在国内媲美美国NBA".

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