Shanghai has the World Financial Center and the Shanghai Tower in the Lujiazui financial district in Pudong.
Team China has Han Xu and Zhang Ziyu.
Han, at 211 cm (6 feet 11 inches), was a dominant force in the FIBA Women’s World Cup in Berlin, where she averaged more than 18 points and 10 rebounds per game.
Born in Shijiazhuang in Hebei province, she was coached by parents (210 cm father Han Fashun and 181 cm mother Chen Zhiping) who both played pro basketball in China. From age 6, Han attended a special elementary school for young athletes in her native Shijiazhuang. She moved to Beijing at age 11 and attended the prestigious Tsinghua University High School, where she lived in a dormitory away from her parents. She grew 30 cm in height and led her school to national titles in 2014 and 2015.
In 2018, she became the first graduate of the NBA Academy’s women’s program in Shandong, where she developed strength, agility, ball-handling and a soft shooting touch. The Academy flew her overseas to play against top youth of national and NCAA teams. Instead of college, she turned pro at age 18 and played for the Xinjiang Magic Deer in the WCBA (Women’s Chinese Basketball Association).
She played for the WNBA’s New York Liberty, and also led Sichuan to WCBA titles in 2023 and 2024. She has also played for Perth Lynx and Geelong Venom in Australia. She repped China at the Olympics in Tokyo and Paris and led her country to silver at the 2022 FIBA Women’s World Cup, where she was named to the tournament’s top five All Star team.
While Han is truly a tower of Chinese basketball, she looks small compared to Zhang. Everybody does.
words and images copyright Christopher Johnson Globalite Media all rights reserved
Zhang, at 223cm (7 feet 4 inches) and 150 kilograms, was born and raised in Jinan city in Shandong province, where she plays in the WCBA. Her father Zhang Lei (213 cm or 7 feet tall) and her mother Yu Ying (198 cm or 6 feet 6) both played pro basketball in China. Zhang, like Han, also attended Tsinghua University High School. Zhang’s mother, a former national team player, taught her from an early age. Zhang was reportedly 160 cm by age 6; about 210 cm by age 12; and then 220 cm by age 14, when she became the tallest female player ever, surpassing Margo Dydek.
Only 19 years old, Zhang could be a towering force in women’s basketball if she can improve her skills and stay healthy.
She is still learning to use her size. At the World Cup, she was almost unstoppable on in-bound plays where opponents couldn’t reach the ball in her hands near the rim.
She’s also learning to post up smaller defenders and pass out of double teams.
Her shooting form at the free throw line is even better than some NBA bigs who find it challenging to get a feel for the ball in their giant hands.
Han, who knows something about being tall, has helped to mentor Zhang. “She’s a young girl,” said Han after leading China over Czechia in Berlin. “In life, she’s just a little girl, and this is her first national team game (at the World Cup level). For her, it’s very special and difficult and we all know that. She always plays her best.”
But Zhang, understandably, struggles to get her giant frame up and down the court. Her faster opponents often seek to punish China at the other end by going 5 on 4 while Zhang lumbers back into position.
Either way, Zhang attracts a lot of attention. She was the first Chinese woman to dunk in an official game. She was crowned MVP at the FIBA U18 Women’s Asia Cup two years ago by averaging 35 points and 12 rebounds per game. She then debuted for the senior Chinese team at the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup 2025 and averaged more than 15 points per game. She also impressed at the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2026 Qualifying Tournaments in March before a cheering home crowd in Wuhan. She then had 13 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocks against USA in her first World Cup match in Berlin.
“This was a different type of basketball game than I’ve probably ever played in my entire life,” said USA shooting guard Caitlin Clark. “I’ve never played against a woman of that size and she obviously presented some challenges for us. I think she’s a wonderful player and, and you see how young she is. You can tell she’s still growing and learning how to play and how to leverage her advantage, which is her size. There’s not much you can do to stop her when she gets it really close to the basket. I thought she was really efficient from the free throw line as well.”
“I think there’s a lot of upsides with her,” Clark added. “She’s still a very young player, but to be this young and to be in a World Cup and to go up against the top players is only gonna help her continue to grow.”
words and images copyright Christopher Johnson Globalite Media all rights reserved
words and images copyright Christopher Johnson Globalite Media all rights reserved
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