As young participants from China and the United States gathered in Kuliang, Fuzhou city of East China's Fujian province, during the Bond with Kuliang: 2026 China-U.S. Youth Baseball Exhibition Games and Sports Festival, something special was happening.
They were not only building new friendships through baseball, but also following in the footsteps of a sporting tradition that began more than a century ago.
The century-old tennis courts in Kuliang. (File photo) [Photo/FZ Evening News]
More than a century earlier, Kuliang had already established itself as one of China's earliest centers for tennis. In the early 1900s, the mountain retreat became a vibrant international community where people from different countries gathered on the tennis courts, forging friendships that transcended national and cultural boundaries.
A statue of a female tennis player stands at the century-old tennis courts in Kuliang. (File photo) [Photo/FZ Evening News]
In 1907, foreign residents built Kuliang's first two public tennis courts on Qitouding. Three more courts were added the following year, and the complex eventually expanded to more than 10 terraced courts built into the mountainside.
During the summer months, the courts buzzed with activity as players gathered for friendly matches and annual tournaments. According to The Kuliang Chronicle, published in 1914, the Kuliang Tennis Tournament featured men's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles — making it one of the earliest documented tennis competitions in China.
The courts also helped introduce the sport to local residents. Children eagerly awaited beside the courts to retrieve tennis balls during matches, earning small rewards while catching their first glimpse of a game that would become part of Kuliang's rich sporting heritage.
Beyond the competitions, the courts were also the backdrop for a touching romance. American Medical missionary Edward L. Bliss fell in love with Minnie May Borate, a teacher, after meeting her in Kuliang.
Knowing that she enjoyed tennis, he had a private tennis court built near her residence, where the two spent summer evenings playing together. Their relationship blossomed and they married in Kuliang in 1902, leaving behind one of the mountain's best-known stories.
Although the tennis courts gradually fell into disuse over the decades, Kuliang's sporting heritage has never been forgotten. As part of the ongoing efforts to preserve the area's historical and cultural legacy, the century-old terraced courts were carefully restored in 2020 and have since become one of Kuliang's most distinctive cultural landmarks.
Today, visitors stroll through the restored courts, imagining the lively matches, cheerful conversations and lasting friendships that once filled the mountainside. The site has also become a popular destination for wedding photographs, symbolizing the enduring bonds that Kuliang has inspired across generations.
More than a century after tennis first brought people from different countries together in Kuliang, baseball is carrying that spirit forward.
As Chinese and American youth compete, learn and connect during this year's sports festival, they are writing a new chapter in a friendship that has endured for generations through the universal language of sport.
