Tiananmen Square cagers abuzz as NBA China Games loom

NBA China volunteers (from left to right) Xiao Xiao, Faye Penpng and Katty Lee hand out flyers for the upcoming games.

All photos by Zachary Franklin

Zachary Franklin writes for City Weekend Magazine in Beijing. With the Golden State Warriors and Milwaukee Bucks playing the first of two preseason games in China tomorrow, we asked him to gauge the level of excitement around town.

Walking into the entrance of the Dong Dan Ti Yu Chang basketball courts this past weekend, one would have been accosted by Katty Lee, Xiao Xiao and Faye Penpng, three NBA China volunteers who run up to anyone trying to get into the courts. Here is an NBA China sticker. Here is a flyer for the upcoming China Games. "Watch the game. Buy tickets!" they shout.

As if those coming to the courts didn't already know about the NBA, Lee, Xiao and Penpng make sure one associates the upcoming preseason NBA games with three emphatic Chinese women wearing Warriors T-shirts.

Dong Dan is a place where American-born NBA basketball stars are the talk of the town. Where pickup games last for hours and Michael Jordan is synonymous with God.

Really? God? Isn't that taking it a little too far? The man is retired.

"No, he's God," reiterates 31-year-old Li Zhao Hui.

Why is Jordan God?

"He was so skilled and could control the game so well. That's leadership. I don't think anyone in the NBA can ever match him."

The basketball courts sit on the corner of Jian Guo Men Wai Da Jie and Changnei Da Jie streets, just east of Tiananmen Square and across the street from the enormous Wangfujing shopping complex. They're considered the most famous courts in Beijing, hence they're always packed, and one of the few places in the city where one can play a game of basketball other than at a high school or university gymnasium.

The price of admission: 30 RMB, or less than $5.

"If I can get a ticket, I will be there," says Zang Dung Sheng, a 22-year-old from Capital Normal University in Beijing. "Everyone wants those tickets."

Sheng is referring to the upcoming NBA China Games between the Golden State Warriors and the Milwaukee Bucks taking place at the Beijing Olympic Basketball Arena Saturday, Oct. 18. The two NBA teams will play a pair of preseason games in the People's Republic of China. The first game takes place Oct. 15 at the Guangzhou Gymnasium in Guangzhou, China.

Indeed, everyone wants tickets, which range from 200 RMB to 2,800 RMB. But everyone at the Dong Dan courts will most likely be watching the games from their home couches or with their pickup game teammates.

"There are not a lot of fans in China of the Bucks or Warriors. Many basketball fans prefer other teams," says Sheng. "I'd be much happier seeing New Jersey because of Yi Jianlian. That's part of the reason I wanted to see the Bucks in the first place."

Kong Rui stands by waiting for a chance to get into the game.

Jianlian is the one connection the Bucks and Warriors had to China, before Milwaukee traded him to the New Jersey Nets for Richard Jefferson. On adjacent courts, others would prefer seeing the Boston Celtics or Los Angeles Lakers -- teams where players such as Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant hold more influence in China than current Chinese players in the NBA.

"If Garnett were in Beijing playing the game, there would be no question, I would have a ticket," says Kong Rui, a 22-year-old from Beijing Sports University. "KG wants to win every game every time he steps out to play. I like that."

Rui sports the No. 5 Celtics jersey as he stands by the second-best court in Dong Dan, waiting for an opportunity to get into the game. There is a hierarchy to playing on the courts. The hoops closest to Jian Guo Men -- the street that also cuts between Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City -- are for the less-skilled athletes.

"The po' [poor] players are on the far courts," says Wang Yu, laughing as he points toward the direction of Jian Guo Men where Hui and Sheng are playing.

Yu, a 24-year-old who just came back to Beijing after graduating from the University of Singapore, gets down to Tiananmen at least once a week. He lumbers up and down the courts, all 6-foot-4, 210-plus pounds of him. When he's not in the game, he's squatting by the sidelines smoking a cigarette.

He plays on the better courts, separated from the Jian Guo Men courts by a football field. The more skilled playing courts run from the entrance of the facility to Changnei Da Jie. The far courts seem to look like a scrum for the basketball when compared to the top court in the complex -- situated next to the entrance -- where no-look passes and shooting 100 percent from behind the arc are just about prerequisites to get in the game.

Skill differences aside, all those playing on the courts have a message for the NBA: We love this game too, so share some of it. "Chinese football [soccer] sucks," says Yu. "As fans, we want to see more NBA games in China."