Basketball has become a part of people's daily life in Dongguan City of south China's Guangdong Province, a host city for basketball matches of China's 15th National Games.
The Games, co-hosted by Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao, will officially open on Sunday evening.
Inside the Dongguan Basketball Center, basketball competitions for the Games are in full swing in Dongguan, with players battling it out on the court as fans cheer passionately from the stands.
The excitement is felt not just in the professional courts but across local neighborhoods.
In Bajiaowo Community of the city's Wanjiang Subdistrict, a friendly basketball match organized by residents drew excited crowds of spectators, including a young mother with her five-month-old baby in her arms, watching her husband taking an active part in the game.
From the professional courts of the National Games to the brightly lit village playgrounds, basketball in Dongguan is more than a sport but a lifestyle. The city now boasts nearly 6,000 basketball courts, enabling residents to find a place to play within a 15-minute walk.
Well-developed sports facilities and a thriving basketball culture have laid a strong foundation for Dongguan to host the National Games.
Many students begin systematic training from a young age.
"The games I watched when I was younger inspired me to play basketball myself," said Chen Feng, a member of a basketball team from Dongguan Guangming Middle School.
"Here we have games every month or even every day. Parents are happy to see their children put what they learn in training into more competitive and formal competitions," said Zhang Jianqiang, an official with the Dongguan Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism, and Sports.
Basketball craze spreads in Dongguan hosting15th National Games' basketball match
The 6th China Media Group (CMG) Chinese Language Video Festival held at Palace of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, on Friday to mark the 2026 United Nations Chinese Language Day.
Co-hosted by CMG, China's Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva, and the UN Office at Geneva, the event brought together over 350 guests from more than 30 countries.
At the event, Tatiana Valovaya, director-general of the United Nations Office at Geneva, said as one of the six official languages of the United Nations, the Chinese language is an important link between China and the world, and between Chinese civilization and other civilizations, which not only reflects its great value to human society, but also highlights the significance of the Chinese language in multilateral diplomacy.
Addressing the event via video link, Shen Haixiong, vice minister of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and CMG president, said that as a world-class mainstream media outlet, CMG has always been committed to spreading Chinese culture and promoting civilizational exchanges. It has carefully produced a large number of cultural programs that make China's fine traditional culture shine with new brilliance in the new era.
Shen said CMG will continue to advance "5G plus 4K/8K plus AI" innovation and build more pragmatic cultural exchange platforms.
Jia Guide, China's permanent representative and ambassador to the United Nations Office at Geneva and other international organizations in Switzerland, said that the establishment of UN Chinese Language Day not only protects linguistic diversity, but also promotes the exchange of ideas and the mutual understanding of concepts.
He expressed the hope to take this event as an opportunity to integrate historical experience, institutional advantages and innovative vitality of countries, show their strategic vision and political wisdom, and jointly inject positive energy into building a more just and rational global governance system and a better future.
During the event, many Chinese and international youths were invited to share their understanding of Chinese characters. Through this activity, young people from different cultural backgrounds can intuitively feel the emotional resonance and civilizational connection behind the language.
Many cultural television programs produced by CMG, including "The Chinese Calligraphy Conference" and "Crafted in China," were screened during the event. CMG also specially set up a creative products booth and an interactive experience area, allowing guests to experience traditional Chinese culture — such as calligraphy, embroidery, and paper-cutting — and try out intelligent interactive devices.
Chinese Language Day, established by the United Nations in 2010, is celebrated annually on Guyu, or Grain Rain, the sixth of the 24 traditional Chinese solar terms, to highlight the global significance of the Chinese language.
CMG Video Festival held in Geneva to mark 2026 UN Chinese Language Day
