As part of its first batch of inductees, the China Basketball Hall of Fame recognized nine basketball legends on Sunday at the Young Men's Christian Association of Tianjin, a historic building in the Tianjin Municipality that once hosted the country's very first basketball game over a century ago. 

A grand ceremony was held Sunday  at the first indoor basketball arena built in the country in Tianjin, where the sport of basketball first came to China in the late 19th century. 

The China Basketball of Fame Class of 2022 consists of seven basketball players (four men and three women athletes) and two coaches. 

The nomination process started in July 2022, after which a total of 30 nominees were picked by 100 basketball-­related parties and reviewed by a committee to decide the final nine members.

Among the new inductees was Mu Tiezhu, the rock-strong center of the Chinese men's basketball team in the 1980s who helped the team secure four Asian Championship titles in his prime. 

Mu was followed by Wang Zhizhi, China's first National Basketball Association (NBA) player, who still leads in the China Basketball Association (CBA) in blocks and dominated four Asian Championships as well as three Asian Games throughout his career from the mid-1990s to 2010s. Wang also helped the national team set its best Olympic record of eighth place at the 1996 Olympic Games and repeated that at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. 

"The only thing I believe in is hard work. And the only thing I invest in is sweat," Wang remarked during his speech at the ceremony. 

Hu Weidong and Liu Yudong, who are the best scorers in Chinese basketball history with multiple CBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) titles, were also included in the class of 2022.

Photo: Deng Xiaoci/GT

Standing over two meters tall, Chinese women's basketball legend Zheng Haixia, who claimed an Olympic silver medal in 1992, was World Championship runner-up in 1994 with the Chinese team and played for the Los Angeles Sparks in 1997, was also enshrined. 

Cong Xuedi and Song Xiaobo are two other legendary woman players who shared the honor with Zheng.

Jiang Xingquan and Xu Limin, who led the Chinese men's and women's national basketball teams and achieved historic breakthroughs as head coaches, also became Hall of Famers as part of the first batch. 

Jiang Xingquan and Xu Limin, who led the Chinese men's and women's national basketball teams and achieved historic breakthroughs as head coaches, also became hall of famers as part of this first batch. 

Jiang, in his speech, said that he remembers every player he has coached, continuing to recall stories about Liu and Hu while they were on the men's national youth basketball team decades ago.

"Our basketball, compared to those American and European teams, came up short in skill and experience back then. I believed that we only stood a chance to win through better stamina, which comes from painful training," Jiang said, after which he received a round of applause from the audience. 

Fifteen legends from Chinese basketball were also introduced to the Hall of Fame through a "special tribute," including game pioneer Qian Chenghai.

A collective comprising the "outstanding new China basketball 50" also entered the Hall of Fame.

Photo: Deng Xiaoci/GT

When asked by the Global Times if the China Basketball Hall of Fame would consider introducing and including foreign basketball players or coaches in the future, Yao Ming, former Houston Rockets star center and now president of the CBA, responded that "in the game of basketball or any other sports, heroes are never questioned where they come from. And as long as they are worth calling heroes, they are welcome in China's Hall of Fame." 

Yao also said that the CBA is open to naturalized players but this must proceed in line with China's laws and regulations and conform with rules of basketball's world governing body FIBA while taking players' cultural identity into consideration.

Photo: Deng Xiaoci/GT

Zhang Qing, who is on the working panel to oversee the construction of the China Basketball Hall of Fame, told the Global Times that the history of basketball in China was written by great individuals and their legendary stories. Therefore, the aim of building the Hall of Fame is to establish a more complete evaluation system for Chinese basketball and prevent these legends from being forgotten.  

The Sunday ceremony is only a start, Zhang vowed.

"There certainly will be more and more names to be enshrined." 

"The heritage we want to pass on through the generations are many. First and foremost is that we should never forget the virtues of perseverance and the spirit of teamwork on and off the basketball court," Xu Jicheng, the vice president of the CBA, told the Global Times.