The signing ceremony of the General Annals of Chinese Basketball program was held at the Balitai Campus of Nankai University on April 8.

Chen Yulu, President of Nankai University, and Yao Ming, President of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), signed a cooperation agreement on behalf of the two parties.

Also present at the ceremony are Guo Zhenming, Chief of Basketball Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sport of China and the CBA and Vice Chairman of the CBA; Wang Fang, Vice Chairman of the CBA and winner of China's basketball outstanding contribution award; Xu Jicheng, Vice Chairman of the CBA; Li Yuanwei, a member of the Expert Group of the Chinese Basketball Hall of Fame Committee; Zhang Yuanlong, a former member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, former Deputy Director-general of the Standing Committee of the Tianjin Municipal People’s Congress,; Li Kemin, Director of the Tianjin Municipal Bureau of Sports; Yao Songping, former dean of Shanghai University of Sport; Zhang Runqi, president of Tianjin Basketball Association; Niu Wenli, Vice Chancellor of Nankai University; Yu Xinzhong, dean of the Faculty of History of Nankai University; winners of China's basketball outstanding contribution award including Wu Xinshui, Huang Pinjie, Guo Yonglin, Wang Fei, Kuang Lubin, Li Xin, etc.

The General Annals of Chinese Basketball, a major project jointly undertaken by the CBA and Nankai University, is a program in the form of annals that systematically and completely records the history and current development status of Chinese basketball. It consists of 16 volumes with 6 million Chinese characters, including general category, competitive basketball, popular basketball, school basketball, national basketball teams, professional basketball and basketball industry, basketball technology and training of professionals, basketball culture and media communication, international exchanges, basketball developments in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions, characters, general chronicles, literature, miscellaneous records, and pictorials. It is planned to be completed in five years.

Nankai University has established the “Nankai University Chinese Basketball Historical Annals and Culture Research Center” to organize and manage the General Annals of Chinese Basketball program.

Nankai University will take advantage of the compilation of the high-quality General Annals of Chinese Basketball to promote the development of basketball and sports history and culture research, generate new academic areas for historiography, and increase the cultivation of compilers of sports history annals.

The informal talks of basketball legends were held after the signing ceremony. Xu Jicheng and Yu Xinzhong presided over the talks, and Zhang Yuanlong, Li Kemin, Yao Songping, and representatives of the China's basketball outstanding contribution award winners spoke at the talks.

Yao Ming said that General Annals of Chinese Basketball centers around the topic of “where does it come from”. Tianjin is the birthplace of Chinese basketball and is home to Nankai University, a century-old university founded by Mr. Zhang Boling, a great patriotic educator and sports important pioneer in modern China. Therefore, Tianjin and Nankai University are the best places to compile the General Annals of Chinese Basketball. It is hoped that this signing ceremony will be a prelude to in-depth cooperation with Nankai University and Nankai Historical Studies.

Chen Yulu said that Nankai has a glorious patriotic tradition, and has always attached importance to sports and basketball. Guided by the sportsmanship and educational concept advocated by the founding president, Mr. Zhang Boling, Nankai University has produced Nankai Five Tigers Basketball Team, a legendary team that goes down in the annals of Chinese basketball. History discipline is the traditional pillar discipline offered at Nankai University. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Nankai Historical Studies. The university will fully support the Faculty of History in effectively and efficiently implementing the program. He hoped that this would serve as an important opportunity to foster cooperation with the CBA.

Before the signing ceremony, Chen Yulu met with Yao Ming and his entourage.