At the NBA’s Chinese New Year celebration in 2025, held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, a handmade cotton basketball from a remote village in Guizhou, China, captured the spotlight. This modest symbol of grassroots sports marked the first official cultural exchange between Guizhou’s Village BA and professional basketball in the United States.
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A Handmade Ball’s Journey Across the Ocean
Eighty-three-year-old Lu Dajiang, a villager from Taipan, proudly showcased a cotton basketball passed down through his family. “My brother made this in the 1950s out of cotton. We used it for games back then,” he recalled. Though unassuming in appearance, the ball embodies the legacy of Village BA. In the 1950s, faced with a lack of resources, basketball enthusiasts in rural Guizhou crafted their own balls from cotton. This handmade ball has since borne witness to the birth and rise of the Village BA tradition.
The Spirit of the Soil on the Streets of New York
Village BA may have started in the countryside, but its influence now reaches far beyond the mountains. Today, it resonates with basketball fans around the world, especially among overseas Chinese youth eager to experience its unfiltered energy.
With no grand arenas or professional gear, Village BA thrives on pure passion for basketball and the villagers’ dreams of a better life—becoming a cultural emblem of rural China.
A Moment of Cultural Exchange on the NBA Stage
At the NBA’s Chinese New Year celebration, the cotton basketball was passed through the crowd, hand to hand. This cotton basketball opened a new window into China’s rural sports culture. With Village BA gaining global traction, its story as a cultural export is only just beginning.
Media Contact
Company Name: Guizhou Radio TV Station
Contact Person: Chen Xin
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Country: China
Website: http://www.gzstv.com