A three-day event combining a historical exhibition and a street shooting contest in Shanghai wrapped up on the evening of Nov. 8, according to 中国新闻网. The program, titled "Shanghai Basketball Championship Road — Lan Yao Shencheng Special Exhibition and Shangguan League Huaihai Road Shooting Star," paired an indoor display of the city's basketball history with an outdoor fan competition and a pop-up store. It was organized by the Shanghai Basketball Association together with Shanghai Jiuhai Industrial Co. and Shanghai Jiushi Basketball Club Co., and was timed to the Jiushi Sharks' 2025–2026 CBA title win, 中国新闻网 reports.
Why it matters
The event is being framed by its organizers as a bridge between the city's professional success and its amateur game. 中国新闻网 describes the goal as letting residents see the championship trophies up close, experience the culture around the sport, and take part in mass competitions themselves — while giving the Huaihai Road commercial district a basketball-themed destination where visitors can look, play and shop.
It also serves as a curtain-raiser for the remainder of Shanghai's mass basketball season. The five-a-side final of this year's Shanghai Basketball Championship League is scheduled for Nov. 14 at Luoke Guangda, and the league is positioned as the main vehicle carrying the city's basketball tradition from elite achievement into broad public participation.
Relics of two CBA titles draw former players and a veteran coach
The exhibition gathered a large collection of archival photographs, among them images from the two occasions on which the Shanghai men's team won the CBA championship. In several of the older pictures, figures such as Yao Ming and Liu Wei appear as young players. Three current Shanghai men's team players — Yan Pengfei, Xie Liyongwei and Yuan Tangwen — stopped to look at the displays, according to 中国新闻网.
Two championship trophies from those CBA wins and two CBA Club Cup trophies were also on show at the venue. Li Qiuping, a celebrated figure in Shanghai basketball and head coach of the Shanghai Jiushi men's team, described the photographs as happy memories. He said his teammates, coaches and team managers all appear in the images, that many of the pictures were ones he had never seen himself, and that looking at them left him deeply moved, 中国新闻网 reports.
A rainy Sunday and a 12-year-old champion on Huaihai Road
Outside the exhibition hall, the final of the Shangguan League Huaihai Road Shooting Star contest ran at Jiuhai Plaza. Light autumn rain fell through Sunday evening, but according to 中国新闻网 the enthusiasm of fans and competitors was undiminished and the atmosphere stayed lively throughout.
After three days of competition, three amateur players finished level at the top of the final with eight baskets from 15 attempts. The tie was settled by a "golden ball" shootout, and the winner was 12-year-old Xing Kun, referred to in the report as the "kid brother." He took the title ahead of the two other finalists.
League finals next, and a push into shopping streets and neighborhoods
Shanghai's public basketball season is not yet over. The five-a-side championship final of the Shanghai Basketball Championship League is set for Nov. 14 at Luoke Guangda. The league, described by 中国新闻网 as a significant mass-participation event brand in the city, reaches across all of Shanghai's districts and links the professional game to neighborhood courts.
Organizers say the league will continue to act as a platform for bringing basketball into commercial districts, residential communities and street-level spaces, with the aim of turning more residents from spectators into players and allowing the city's championship heritage to keep developing through grassroots competition.
Watch for the Nov. 14 five-a-side final at Luoke Guangda, which will close out this year's Shanghai Basketball Championship League.
