The 2025 Chinese Baseball League kicks off in Zhongshan.

Zhongshan, a modest industrial city in China’s Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, may seem an unlikely center for baseball. Yet on a recent spring afternoon, the stands of the newly completed Zhongshan International Baseball and Softball Center filled with hundreds of fans as the 2025 Chinese Baseball League kicked off its season opener. The venue, gleaming with fresh turf and sustainable lighting, wasn’t just hosting a game—it was making a statement.

Baseball, once less prominent compared to the widespread enthusiasm for basketball and soccer in China, is witnessing a notable resurgence in Zhongshan. This revival is the result of deliberate efforts.

Liang Fuchu, known as  “Father of Chinese Baseball” (File photo)

Reviving baseball from a family dream to national legacy

The city has a forgotten legacy. In 1905, Liang Fuchu, a young man from Zhongshan’s Shiqi District, formed one of China’s earliest baseball teams in Yokohama, Japan, symbolically adopting a lion as the team’s emblem—a call for national awakening during a time of foreign humiliation. He would later be called the “Father of Chinese Baseball.”

That legacy lay dormant for decades until 2006, when Dongsheng High School launched the city’s first modern baseball team. Two years later, Liang’s son, Liang Youwen, returned from the U.S. to volunteer as coach. In 2011, he founded the Zhongshan Panda Baseball & Softball Club and resurrected the family dream with the launch of the “Panda Cup,” a youth baseball tournament that now draws teams from across the country.

Group photo of the Panda Team in 1950, with Liang Fuchu (BR1) and Liang Youwen (FR2) (Photo provided by Liang Youwen)

The city government took notice. Framing baseball as a signature cultural asset, Zhongshan rolled out its “Five-in-One” strategy, namely, build elite facilities, cultivate players, host marquee tournaments, nurture a sports economy, and brand itself as China’s “Baseball Town.”

It wasn’t just rhetoric. Zhongshan now boasts U8, U10, U12 and U18 teams, with several national championships under their belts. The U12 team has dominated China’s Asia-Pacific qualifiers for five consecutive years. “We’ve built a full pipeline from elementary to high school,” said an official from Xiaolan Town, the current home of the Zhongshan Panda club. “Baseball is no longer a niche—it’s a system.”

Baseball stadiums upgraded for more grand events

Zhongshan International Baseball and Softball Center (Photo provided by 中山日報社)

From 2011 to 2024, the Baseball Town hosted or organized 97 baseball and softball events, including 3 Asian-level, 16 national-level, 25 provincial-level, and 53 town-level brand events. In November 2025, the 15th National Games which is set to hold in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao, will have its baseball and softball events  debut at the Zhongshan International Baseball and Softball Center.

Xiaolan Town has two international - standard baseball stadiums, namely, Panda Junior Baseball Stadium (熊貓少年棒球場) and Panda Memorial Baseball Stadium (熊貓紀(jì)念球場). The Panda Memorial Baseball Stadium, completed in July 2019, was named to commemorate "Father of Chinese Baseball" Liang Fuchu and the 1941 - founded Panda Baseball Team.

To host the baseball and softball events of the 15th National Games, the Zhongshan International Baseball and Softball Center was newly built, consisting of the existing Panda Memorial Baseball Stadium and a new stadium. The new stadium includes a baseball field, a softball field, an indoor training complex and a grandstand that can accommodate thousands of spectators.

The new center has completed construction in 2024. It’s not just a sports facility—it’s a platform for talent, for branding, and for international exchanges

According to Zhongshan, the stadium boasts first-class facilities and a grandstand that can accommodate thousands of spectators, providing an excellent viewing experience, while featuring advanced sound and lighting systems. Moreover, it incorporates multiple green and energy-saving technologies, emphasizing environmental protection and sustainability.

Analysts say the Zhongshan case offers a glimpse into how second-tier Chinese cities are leveraging sports to define identity in an increasingly crowded urban economy. For young players like 12-year-old Lin Rui, the sport is personal. “I want to play for China one day,” he said, moments after stepping off the field at Panda Memorial Stadium. “My coach says baseball is 30 percent skill and 70 percent heart.”

In Zhongshan, that equation seems to be working.