In 2019, MLB estimated that there were around 21 million active baseball fans in China, with most of them having started following baseball in recent years. [1] [2]
Baseball was first introduced to China in 1864 with the establishment of the Shanghai Baseball Club by American medical missionary Henry William Boone. [3] The Qing dynasty then began sending Chinese students to America to learn more about the game. [4] Organized baseball games were established with a game between St. Johns University and the Shanghai MCA baseball club in 1905. In 1915, China placed second to the Philippines in a Greater Asia tournament, [5] and in the 1940s, Communist forces began using baseball as a way to cultivate discipline and to become better at throwing grenades, [4] with baseball becoming the unofficial sport of the Army. [6]
In 1959, a nationwide baseball competition began. [7] However, in the same year, Mao Zedong disbanded all the teams and outlawed baseball and other Western-origin influences as part of the Cultural Revolution. [3] Baseball activities only restarted after Mao's death in 1976. [6] In 2002, the China Baseball League was formed and in 2019 the China National Baseball League. China now participates in the World Baseball Classic. Defeats of the national team to Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea may help change the trend as Chinese become more aware of the game's internationalization. [8]
Variations of baseball, such as slow-pitch softball and Baseball5, have helped power the growth of the sport in China. [1] For example, Baseball5 has been promoted in Hong Kong as a way of reaching new fans, with the 2024 World Cup having been hosted in the city. [9] Major League Baseball has put significant effort into spreading the sport in China, such as by starting the Play Ball initiative that has reached over 5 million school children since 2008. [8]
Lin Li-hui, better known by her stage name Shu Qi, is a Hong Kong–Taiwanese actress and model.
Chinese television dramas, sometimes colloquially known as C-dramas, are Chinese-language television drama series originating from mainland China, sometimes including co-productions with the Greater China region. Popular drama series genres in mainland China include fantasy romance, period costume, contemporary urban and thriller dramas. These dramas are also subjected to stringent regulatory supervision from the Chinese government.
The Football Association of Hong Kong, China Limited is the governing body of association football in Hong Kong. Its current chairman is Eric Fok.
Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai is a senior Hong Kong politician. She was the first President of the Hong Kong SAR Legislative Council from 1998 to 2008 and a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC).
Kitchee Sports Club is a Hong Kong professional football club based in Kowloon. It was founded in 1931 and currently competes in the Hong Kong Premier League.
Gary John White is an English football coach and former player who is the head coach of Chinese Taipei.
Sports in China consists of a variety of competitive sports. Traditional Chinese culture regards physical fitness as an important characteristic. China has its own national quadrennial multi-sport event similar to the Olympic Games called the National Games.
Anti-Japanese sentiment in China is an issue which has modern roots (post-1868). Modern anti-Japanese sentiment in China is frequently rooted in nationalist or historical conflicts, for example, it is rooted in the atrocities and the war crimes which Imperial Japan committed in China during the First Sino-Japanese War, the Boxer Rebellion, the Siege of Tsingtao, the Second Sino-Japanese War and Japan's history textbook controversies.
Association football and basketball are the most popular sports in Asia. Cricket is the third most popular sport in Asia, and is most popular in South Asia. Other popular sports in Asia include baseball, badminton and table tennis among others. There are also some traditional sports that are popular in certain regions of Asia, such as the South Asian sports kabaddi and kho-kho, and sepak takraw in Southeast Asia. Top sporting nations/regions in Asia include China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Events in the year 2008 in China.
Allied Pacific Sports Network ("APSN") was one of the earliest over-the-top content OTT companies in Asia. Founded in 2009, APSN was the first provider of multiple live streamed sports in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. APSN ceased operations in 2012. In 2011, APSN streamed more than 5,000 hour of live sports. These sports included Major League Baseball, the Premier League, Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, and the National Hockey League. APSN was based in Beijing, China and Hong Kong and operated Major League Baseball websites throughout Asia under and exclusive license from Major League Baseball Advanced Media LLC and the Premier League, Bundesliga and National Hockey League websites throughout various countries in Asia as well as APSN.TV.
Book censorship in the People's Republic of China (PRC) is mandated by the PRC's ruling party, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and is currently widespread in China. Enforcement is strict and sometimes inconsistent. Punishment for violations can be arbitrary many times leading to long sentences for crimes against censorship laws.
Mass surveillance in the People's Republic of China (PRC) is the network of monitoring systems used by the Chinese central government to monitor Chinese citizens. It is primarily conducted through the government, although corporate surveillance in connection with the Chinese government has been reported to occur. China monitors its citizens through Internet surveillance, camera surveillance, and through other digital technologies. It has become increasingly widespread and grown in sophistication under General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Xi Jinping's administration.
The China–Hong Kong football rivalry is a sports rivalry between the national association football teams of the People's Republic of China (mainland) and Hong Kong. The rivalry has been exacerbated by Hong Kong's status as a Special Administrative Region of China, with major political and ideological differences than on the mainland, a legacy of having been under British colonial rule until the transfer of sovereignty in 1997.
Baseball5 is a simplified variation of baseball and softball which is governed at the international level alongside those sports by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC).
In sports, the term diamond sports refers to recreational variantsof baseball, a bat-and-ball sport. The most popular and closely related sport to baseball is softball, with the two sports being administered internationally by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), alongside Baseball5.
The South Korea national Baseball5 team represents South Korea in international Baseball5 competitions.
The Hong Kong national Baseball5 team represents Hong Kong in international Baseball5 competitions.
The 2024 Baseball5 World Cup was the second edition of the Baseball5 World Cup, the mixed-gender Baseball5 (B5) world championship organized by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). It was held in Hong Kong from 7 to 12 October 2024. Twelve teams took part.