China has the most followers of basketball than anywhere in the world. Roughly 300 million people in China play the game of basketball in some fashion and that number is not counting the amount of people who watch and support it. Studies show that number can be anywhere from 450 million to 600 million people easily. NBA stars like Kobe and Lebron are household names in China and Yao Ming is a God to his people of China. His first game in the NBA reportedly has 200 million Chinese watchers, which is a record. The reason basketball is so popular is because the People's liberation army of China actually supports the sport 100% because they feel like it builds brotherhood and camaraderie amongst its people. This caused the sport to boom in the early 60's and 70's and at that point the Chinese people did not even know Americans had anything to do with basketball. It was not until the NBA gave China free rights to broadcast in 1987 that the Chinese public realized America was the founder of basketball. From 1987 until 2015 basketball has and always will be China's biggest and most profitable sport. Chinese players like Jeremy Lin make sure the sport will never die down, but as long as basketball still is allowed the Chinese will play it, that is a fact.
CBA vs NBA
Over the past 20 years, professional basketball has turned into a major spectator sport in China. Nowadays, Chinese basketball fans can choose between watching the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) or the one we all know best, the National Basketball Association (NBA). Jonathan Casper and Chadwick Menefee proctored a study that compared two competing professional basketball leagues in China. The sample included 549 spectators from four different CBA games. Each spectator responded with their favorite NBA and CBA teams along with how much they watched NBA/ CBA on TV. They also stated how much merchandise they had for both leagues. The results came back showing Chinese fans were more in favor of NBA teams then CBA teams. Weird! Maybe the fans like the NBA more because the talent level is higher or maybe for the superstars like Kobe Bryant who is beloved in China. Whatever the case may be basketball will continue to remain strong with Chinese citizens because of the CBA and NBA collectively.