The Chinese Basketball Alliance (Chinese: 中華職業籃球聯盟; CBA) was a men's professional basketball league in Taiwan that existed from 1995 to 1999. Also abbreviated as "CBA", the defunct organization based in Taiwan was distinct from the Chinese Basketball Association of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ^[1] and was also not to be confused with the Continental Basketball Association of the United States. In this article, "CBA" refers to the first organization if not otherwise specified.

Overview of organizational history

Founded in 1994 with four champion teams from Taiwan's amateur Division A conference (甲組聯賽), the CBA was Taiwan's second professional sports league next to the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), and was among the earliest professional basketball leagues in Asia.^[2] Following the regnal year tradition in East Asia, the CBA officially named its first season, 1994–1995, the "CBA Inaugural Year" (職籃元年), the 1995-1996 season the "CBA Second Year", and so forth. Four seasons were completed before the game was suddenly halted in 1999 in the middle of an unfinished fifth due to financial difficulties.

Having had survived the 1995-1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis, the CBA was viciously affected by the repercussions of the Asian Financial Crisis two years later. Decreased attendance aside, a factor that had a direct bearing on the sudden close down of the CBA was the dispute between the organization and its television partner, the Eastern Broadcasting Co., Ltd. (東森電視; ETTV), over the proper level of the broadcasting royalties. Shortly after the latter ceased to make royalty payments as contracted, the CBA ran out of financial means to sustain its operating budget and had to stop its operations.

Participating clubs and champions

Since its second season, the CBA had expanded to include a total of six clubs. They were: Yulon Dinos (裕隆恐龍), Hung Kuo Elephants (宏國象), Tera/Kaohsiung Mars (泰瑞/高雄戰神), LUCKIPar(幸福豹) (幸福豹) in addition to the incoming Hung Fu Rams (宏福公羊) and Chung-Hsing/Dacin Tigers (中興/達欣虎). The history of the CBA was marked by a "Hung Kuo dynasty" (宏國王朝) where the Elephants won three consecutive championships. The champion team and runner-up of each year are listed below:

Caught in the economic turbulence of the late 1990s, the corporate owners/sponsors of various CBA clubs decided to withdraw from professional sports. Consequently, the Hung Kuo, Mars, LUCKIPar, and Hung Fu teams came under the danger of disbandment around the same period when the CBA closed down. At the turn of the 20th century, only two out of the six clubs that had participated in the CBA, namely, Yulon and Dacin, had managed to survive with the original organizations. Whereas the Mars was allowed to kept its roster and its name under new ownership by the Broadcasting Corporation of China, most of the original Hung Kuo Elephants were able to continue playing together as the Sina Lions (新浪獅) after their new corporate owner, Sina.com. These four clubs subsequently became founding members of the Super Basketball League (SBL) when the semi-professional league was created in 2003. Many have viewed this new league as the successor body to the CBA.

Less fortunate, the LUCKIPar and Hung Fu teams disappeared permanently.

Policy and rules on imported players

The CBA distinguished the origin of a player as an array of height and playing chance limitations would be applied to imported players—the so-called yáng jiàng (洋將; literally, "commanders/warriors that come through the sea") -- but not to local players (本土球員). In implementing this, however, players with "Chinese consanguinity" (華裔球員) -- however vague such definition was—could be regarded as if they were local upon consensus among all member clubs. Such exemptions had allowed a number of players from mainland China, Hong Kong, and the United States to play without height and number limitations.

Initially, each team was allowed to register 3 non-Chinese foreign players and put up to 2 of them onto the court. No height limitations were in place in the first three seasons. Beginning from the CBA Fourth Year, however, non-Chinese imports were divided into the "bigger" and the "smaller" categories by height. Foreign players who were 201 cm (6'7") or taller were regarded as "big", and only one such player would be allowed to play on the court for a team. In the meantime, no more foreign players 208 cm (6'10") or taller could be signed—although in previous seasons several seven-footers had made their appearances in the game. This was a response to some watchers' complaint that the league was dominated by foreign players, especially by those oversized imports from inside the paint. In the 1990s, native Taiwanese players who were two metres or taller were rare, and, as reflected in the statistics, local players had rarely turned out to be a leading rebounder or shot-blocker on a CBA team.

Most Valuable Players and other notable figures

See also

• Asian Financial Crisis (1997)
• Chinese Basketball Association (mainland China)
• Chinese Taipei men's national basketball team
• Dacin Tigers
• List of basketball leagues
• Pure-Youth Construction Basketball Team
• Sport in Taiwan
• Super Basketball League (SBL)
• Taiwan Mobile Clouded Leopards
• Women's Super Basketball League (WSBL)
• Yulon Dinos

Notes and references