In 2019,

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

estimated that there were around 21 million active baseball fans in China, with most of them having started following baseball in recent years.

History

Early history

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

was first introduced to China in 1864 with the establishment of the Shanghai Baseball Club by American medical missionary Henry William Boone. The

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

then began sending Chinese students to America to learn more about the game. Organized baseball games were established with a game between St. Johns University and the

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

MCA baseball club in 1905. In 1915, China placed second to the Philippines in a Greater Asia tournament, and in the 1940s, Communist forces began using baseball as a way to cultivate discipline and to become better at throwing grenades, with baseball becoming the unofficial sport of the Army.

Contemporary era

In 1959, a nationwide baseball competition began. However, in the same year,

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

disbanded all the teams and outlawed baseball and other Western-origin influences as part of the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

. Baseball activities only restarted after Mao's death in 1976. In 2002, the

China Baseball League The China Baseball League (, CBL) is a professional baseball league under the administration of Chinese Baseball Association, founded in 2002. The league suspended operations in 2012 due to financial troubles after the 2011 season, but retur ...

was formed and in 2019 the

China National Baseball League The China National Baseball League (, CNBL) is a professional baseball league founded in 2019. History The original China Baseball League (CBL) was founded in 2002. The league suspended operations in 2012 due to financial troubles after the ...

. China now participates in the

World Baseball Classic The World Baseball Classic (WBC), also referred to as the Classic, is an international baseball tournament sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the sport's global governing body, and organized in World Baseball Clas ...

. Defeats of the national team to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

may help change the trend as Chinese become more aware of the game's internationalization.

Variations of baseball In sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of part ...

, such as

slow-pitch softball Softball is a variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) permitted. Softball is ...

and

Baseball5 Baseball5 (B5 or BB5) 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). The game revolves around two teams of five player ...

, have helped power the growth of the sport in China. For example,

has been promoted in Hong Kong as a way of reaching new fans, with the 2024 World Cup having been hosted in the city.

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

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.

References

{{World baseball

History

Early history

Contemporary era

See also

References