Bballzone Time No. 28 2012 October Description of the twenty-eighth issue The team of the Bballzone Time is glad to present the 28th issue of our newspaper. We continue giving everything of our strength to present a fresh and interesting newspaper to our readers despite our short group and any other difficulties. So, there is always the presentation of some community in our game. We will present the Chinese community in this issue. You'll be also able to read some interesting interviews, and couple interesting facts related to the real basketball game. Also you„ll find reviews about the 31th regular season's standings of the major national leagues. In addition, there will be an interesting article about the arenas and tips for renting them. Furthermore, you can read some interesting all-time records in Bbalzone. You can also read some good jokes and funny quotes relative to the sport of basketball in our "Jokes section". You can participate in our traditional contests "True or false" and "History of Basketball". You will be able to find the answers and results from the last issue of the newspaper, and also the questions for the next rounds. There is also our fresh contest, "Bet n' Joy", that is about virtual betting on Bballzone matches. We hope that our readers will support this effort as well. Announcement from the editors! You are invited to join Bballzone Time team. All you have to do is write an interesting article and give it to the editors. Or maybe you think you could improve the appearance of the newspaper? You have a chance to receive Premium package (from 1 week to 1 month, depending on number and complexity of articles you write). Important! We are also looking for the head editor of the Lithuanian version. This position involves all the organizational tasks as translating articles or finding translators, preparing the newspaper according to the template (MS Word) and etc. Just write a message to the head editor of the English version of our newspaper – redmadness7 (team Redmadness BC, Elláda.1.1 league) and he will explain everything more detailed. Bballzone Time 1 Articles Description of countries 3-5 - China. 31th regular season's standings of the major national leagues 6 - Lithuania, Greece, Italy, France, USA, UK, Latvia and Russia. Game's Corner: Help and Tips for Bballzone 7 - Arenas. Help and useful tips about renting them. Interesting Facts 8 - Several records in Bballzone. Leisure section 9 - Jokes about basketball and funny quotes. Contest "History of Basketball" 10-11 - Results and questions for the next tour. Contest "True or false" 12-13 - Results and questions for the next tour. Contest "Bet n' Joy" 14-15 - Virtual bet contest on Bballzone matches. - Results and winners of previous tour. In the next issue of the newspaper 16 - Summary of the next issue of the newspaper Bballzone Time 2 Description of countries China (Article by: redmadness7, dimtsal) China, officially the People's Republic of China world—and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East (PRC), is the world's most populous country, with a and South China Seas. population of over 1.3 billion. Covering approx. 9.6 million square kilometres, the East Asian state is the The nation of China has had numerous historical world's second-largest country by land area, and the incarnations. The ancient Chinese civilization—one third- or fourth-largest in total area, depending on of the world's earliest—flourished in the fertile basin the definition of total area. of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. China's political system was based on hereditary The People's Republic of China is a single-party monarchies, known as dynasties, beginning with the state governed by the Communist Party of China. It semi-mythological Xia of the Yellow River basin exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five (approx. 2000 BC) and ending with the fall of the autonomous regions, four directly controlled Qing Dynasty in 1911. Since 221 BC, when the Qin municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Dynasty first conquered several states to form a Chongqing), and two mostly self-governing special Chinese empire, the country has expanded, fractured administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau). Its and been reformed numerous times. The Republic of capital city is Beijing. The PRC also claims China, founded in 1911 after the overthrow of the Taiwan—which is controlled by the Republic of Qing dynasty, ruled the Chinese mainland until China (ROC), a separate political entity—as its 23rd 1949. In 1945, the ROC acquired Taiwan from Japan province, a claim controversial due to the complex following World War II. political status of Taiwan. The PRC government denies the legitimacy of the ROC. In the 1946–1949 phase of the Chinese Civil War, the Chinese Communist Party defeated the China's landscape is vast and diverse, with forest nationalist Kuomintang in mainland China and steppes and the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts established the People's Republic of China in Beijing occupying the arid north and northwest near on 1 October 1949. The Kuomintang relocated the Mongolia and Central Asia, and subtropical forests ROC government to Taiwan, establishing its capital being prevalent in the wetter south near Southeast in Taipei. The ROC's jurisdiction is now limited to Asia. The terrain of western China is rugged and Taiwan and several outlying islands, including elevated, with the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu. Since 1949, the Tian Shan mountain ranges separating China from People's Republic of China and the Republic of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow China (now widely known as "Taiwan") have Rivers, the third- and sixth-longest in the world, remained in dispute over the sovereignty of China have their sources in the Tibetan Plateau and and the political status of Taiwan, mutually claiming continue to the densely populated eastern seaboard. each other's territory and competing for international China's coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 diplomatic recognition. In 1971, the PRC gained kilometres (9,000 mi) long—the 11th-longest in the admission to the United Nations and took the Chinese seat as a permanent member of the U.N. Bballzone Time 3 Security Council. China is also a member of 2004 Olympics China, coached by Del Harris, numerous formal and informal multilateral advanced to the final eight after a 67–66 win over organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, defending world champion Serbia and Montenegro. the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the BCIM and the G-20. As of August 2012, all but 23 At the 2006 FIBA World Championship, China, countries have recognized the PRC as the sole coached by Lithuanian Jonas Kazlauskas also legitimate government of China. advanced to the second round from Group D, earning two victories (against Senegal and Slovenia) Since the introduction of economic reforms in 1978, in five group play matches before falling in the China has become the world's fastest-growing major round of sixteen to eventual silver medallist Greece, economy. As of 2012, it is the world's second-largest 95–64; the team's overall placing from amongst the economy, after the United States, by both nominal twenty-four competing sides was fifteenth. GDP and purchasing power parity (PPP), and is also the world's largest exporter and second-largest In 2008, some questions surrounded whether the importer of goods. On a per capita income basis, recently injured Yao Ming could captain the squad. China ranked 90th by nominal GDP and 91st by In mid-July, it was confirmed he would. GDP (PPP) in 2011, according to the IMF. China is a recognized nuclear weapons state and has the In recent years, team China faced major struggles world's largest standing army, with the second- with injuries. In 2008, top NBA prospect Xu Yong largest defense budget. In 2003, China became the had to end his career at age 19 after being diagnosed third nation in the world, after the former Soviet with osteosarcoma. In December 2010, Yao Ming Union and the United States, to independently was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his left ankle launch a successful manned space mission. China – the injury is related to the ankle sprain that he has been characterized as a potential superpower by suffered earlier that year. Speculations arose whether a number of academics, military analysts, and public China´s basketball icon would ever be able to play policy and economics analysts. again. The Chinese men's national basketball team is the When Yao Ming's retirement was finally announced basketball team representing China in international in July 2011 it was a big strike to Team China, competitions. The governing body of Chinese whose success had largely depended on the 7-6 (226 basketball operations is the Chinese Basketball cm) giant for many years. Yet, many critics predict Association. Based on the number of tournament team China to keep improving its international titles, China has by far the most successful performances. Currently, its major threat is Yi basketball program in Asia. Jianlian. When healthy he can compete with the world elite. Other major forces are former NBA- China has traditionally been the basketball power in players Wang Zhizhi and Sun Yue, who has Asia, and won the FIBA Asian Championship 14 out improved his performances in recent years. of 16 times from 1975 to 2005. Future hopes are based on players such as NBA However, China failed to defend its championship at prospects Zhou Peng, Li Muhao and Guo Ailun. the 2007 FIBA Asian Championship. This was due to the automatic berth at the 2008 Summer Olympics The Chinese community in Bballzone is consisting 7 as the host nation, thus China sent its "B" team to the divisions (127 leagues), with a total of 3248 clubs recent FIBA Asia Championship 2007 and finished and its development was very swift by the moment 10th while its primary "A" team participated at the the Chinese language was introduced in the game.