Nine Chinese basketball legends were enshrined into the China Basketball Hall of Fame on Sunday becoming the first class to receive the honor. The ceremony was held in north China's Tianjin Municipality. They are:

Wang Zhizhi, Hu Weidong, Liu Yudong and Mu Tiezhu of the men's event, Zheng Haixia, Songxiaobo and Cong Xuedi of the women's event, as well as two coaches, Jiang Xingquan and Xu Limin.

What does Wang Zhizhi mean to Chinese basketball?

Before Wang appeared, China's big men could be divided into two categories: the quick, undersized ones who could shoot, and the slow, full-sized ones who were solid defenders.

Wang became the revolutionary big man to Chinese basketball. As a 2.13-meter, 115-kilogram giant, he is athletic enough to drive from outside to charge the rim and has a shooting range that covers nearly everywhere within the 3-point line. Meanwhile, he is a skillful low block attacker and a solid defender who made the "Moving Great Wall" with Yao Ming and Bagatur for the Chinese national team.

Hu Weidong, a combination of dominance and fun

You have to be at least 30 years to have watched Hu play basketball. He was China's scoring leader in the FIBA World Championship (today's FIBA Basketball World Cup) in 1994 and the Olympic Games in 1996. He led the CBA in scoring, 3-point shooting and steals during the 1990-2000 CBA season, three-time CBA scoring champion and two-time CBA Most Valuable Player (MVP).

Hu was able to pull up, shoot quick 3-pointers by exploiting teammates' screens, and, most importantly, make them consecutively. When he drove in, unlike his teammates during that era, Hu was athletic enough to take off outside the restricted area and then "flew" to dunk or made double pumps. In a suffocating game, one play by Hu could light the whole arena.

Why is Liu Yudong known as the 'God of War?'

Before Yao went to the NBA in 2002, he had played five seasons in the CBA. Though he was already an unstoppable individual attacker from 2000, Yao only won one CBA title, because Liu was always there stopping him. Even during the 2001-02 campaign when Yao averaged 30 points and 19 rebounds at 70 percent from the field per game and won the championship, Liu outscored him by six points per game.

As a two-meter, 110-kilogram forward, Liu is not known for having a complete arsenal of offensive skills, but when he pulled up to shoot jumpers in the high block, fans of both his side and his opponents always assumed that he would make them. That's why the defenders would rather watch him go for a slow layup than shooting in the middle range. They knew that Liu shoots to kill.

Mu Tiezhu, China's first basketball tower

Mu was 2.28 meters tall, taller than most of the players of his time. He was a solid defender and rebounder, but with very rough offensive skills. Moreover, to many people's surprise, Mu was an underestimated pass in the high post.

One of Mu's biggest career highlights was in the Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1978. As the defensive spine of the Chinese national team, he made key contributions for China to win the first Asian title.

Zheng Haixia, China's winning formula

What did Zheng achieve before she went to the WNBA in 1997? In her Olympic debut in 1984 in Los Angeles, 17-year-old Zheng helped China secure the women's basketball bronze medal while shooting 59.6 percent from the field. Eight years later, though burdened by a series of injuries, Zheng took the team further by bringing the silver medal home from Barcelona.

The Chinese women's national basketball team upheld the tradition of playing fast game in the 1980s and 1990s, but Zheng was their ultimate weapon during the slow half-court offense. While she dominated the paint like Shaquille O'Neal, Zheng was immune to the tactic of being fouled and sent to the free throw line because she kept a free throw rate of around 80 percent there.

Song Xiaobo, China's first world-class player in women's basketball

Back in 1983, China claimed the bronze medal in the FIBA World Championship for Women in Brazil. As a member of the team, Song was the top scorer and the MVP of the tournament, becoming the first Chinese player to receive honors like these.

At 1.82 meters, Song has both the athleticism and skills to play in every of the five positions on the court. Though she retired early at 26, Song played over 100 games for the national team between 1976 and 1984 to make China a four-time Asian champion in that era.

Cong Xuedi, 'John Stockton' of women's basketball

Cong, Song and Zheng were teammates in the Chinese national team when they secured the Olympic bronze medal in Los Angeles in 1984, but Cong's peak came after that.

Despite her 1.66-meter height, Cong was the best back-court orchestrator in Asia with a remarkable court vision and the guts to take and make big shots in clutch time. In the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992, Cong was China's second scorer and dropped 20 points in 23 minutes in the semifinals against Cuba, making key contributions to the team's advancing to the final.

Jiang Xingquan, 'founding father' of Chinese basketball

When China reached the quarterfinals in the FIBA World Championship for the first time in 1994, Jiang was the team's head coach. Having coached the team three times, he helped them win five FIBA Asian Championship (today's FIBA Asia Cup) titles and the gold medal in the Asian Games in Hiroshima in 1994.

Over half of the coaches in today's CBA used to work under Jiang, as players, assistants, or both.

Xu Limin, the severe coach that makes a brilliant team

As the former head coach of the Chinese women's national team, Xu has been known for his strictness with players. No matter how big a lead China had built, Xu never hesitated to call a timeout to wake the team up as long as there were signs of them losing focus. He learnt the lesson the hard way when his team lost to Japan in the Asia Cup in 2017.

China were the runners-up in the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup in Australia last year under coach Zheng Wei, but the team's core players of Li Yueru and Han Xu were both recruited by him when they were young.