Category Archives: Culture

A shot of Fenway Park during a night game in Boston. One of the things I was most looking forward to coming home from China was going to a baseball game. It's really an American sport and pastime. In fact, it is so "Western" that China decided to ban it during their Cultural Revolution because they considered it a symbol of the "cruel" West. But, baseball does have precedent in China (some leagues formed towards the end of the 19th century, and the game is currently played in Taiwan, South Korea and Japan). There is in fact a small baseball league in China now that supports 7 teams including the Beijing Tigers and the Sichuan Dragons. An estimated 4 million people play baseball in China, a paltry figure next to the 300 million who play basketball. But, Major League Baseball wants to turn things around. It supports a development league in Wuxi, China where young Chinese with promise split their time between baseball and highly regarded academics. Will China ever fill up baseball stadiums like Fenway Park? Maybe not, but it could send a few players to the Major Leagues one day.