The Harmonious Countryside Basketball League, aka the Village BA, has been a huge hit with communities in Zhuji, Zhejiang province. [Photo/China Daily]

Grassroots league enriching the lives of locals in Zhejiang province

On a balmy summer night in Hejiashantou village, Zhuji, East China's Zhejiang province, a basketball venue is abuzz with local hoops fans eagerly awaiting the action to tip off.

Hundreds of spectators — from young parents cradling infants to spirited pensioners in their 90s — cheered on the players from the sidelines as a blend of local dialect and Mandarin reverberated around the venue.

The vibrant atmosphere would be befitting of the CBA Finals, but this was not a professional match. Rather, it was the thrilling final stage of the inaugural Harmonious Countryside Basketball League in Zhuji.

An intense battle unfolded between teams from the towns of Fengqiao and Yaojiang, with Fengqiao emerging victorious on a 75-73 scoreline.

The players come from diverse backgrounds, as Shou Kejiong, the 34-year-old captain of Yaojiang, explained.

"Our team members include a student, teacher and doctor, and I work in e-commerce. We train together every week, but due to our different locations, not everyone can always be in attendance," Shou said.

"However, once there is an important basketball game, everyone rushes back to their respective villages in Zhuji to participate. Basketball is a kind of social glue for the community," he added.

On June 7, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, together with the General Administration of Sport of China, jointly issued a notice to organize the National Harmonious Countryside Basketball Tournament (informally known as the Village BA), aiming to highlight the exemplary spirit of farmers in the new era and showcase the rural charm of local areas.

As a renowned hotbed of hoops, Zhuji took the lead in establishing and promoting the Harmonious Countryside league, with the inaugural season tipping off in April this year.

Huang Shenghua, head of Zhuji Basketball Association, said the league connects the previously scattered Village BA, both geographically and in terms of scheduling, to ultimately result in a more exciting and more meaningful rural basketball season.

A total of 273 teams, comprising nearly 4,000 members, participate in the competition, which features around 680 matches.

The first stage of the competition was completed on May 31, with 13 regional winners progressing to the second stage. The final took place on Sunday in Zhuji.

The competition has also earned the backing of the Chinese Basketball Association, with CBA chairman Yao Ming recording a video message to extend his congratulations to participants.

Zhuji has long been a basketball stronghold, with its hoops heritage extending back through the decades. "In the 1950s, the peasant basketball team from Zhuji won the Zhejiang provincial championship," Huang noted.

In 2011, the headquarters of Guinness World Records in Shanghai awarded the Education and Sport Bureau of Zhuji a Guinness World Records Certificate for "the most standard basketball courts in a county-level city — 2,232".

In December 2000, Zhuji was designated as one of the first eight so-called "National Basketball Cities" by the General Administration of Sport of China.

Furthermore, Zhuji is the only county-level city in the history of the CBA to have hosted both the league's All-Star Weekend and a complete season of CBA matches in the same campaign, Huang said, referring to the city's time as a host of games inside a bio-secure bubble during the pandemic.

For local people, the Village BA is more than just a competition — it's a festival-like celebration for hoops enthusiasts.

"Farmers, students, doctors, e-commerce professionals… the participation in this event is diverse, with people from a wide range of backgrounds," Huang said, adding that this year's competition has extended to villages, schools and companies, and attracted fans from nearby cities such as Hangzhou and Jinhua to watch the action.