Alibaba’s Fliggy Boosts Rural Chinese Girls’ Basketball Dream with Yao Ming Charity Match and Digital Campaign

The team at the centre of the story is the girls’ basketball squad of Shankou Town Middle School in Lishui, Zhejiang. Most of its members are “left‑behind children” – youngsters whose parents have migrated abroad for work, leaving them in the care of grandparents or relatives. With no proper gymnasium, the girls have fashioned their training routine around an open‑air concrete slab and the cramped corridors and stairwells of their school. Their ascent from local defeats to a fourth‑place finish in a national competition would already have been an inspiring headline. What made it a viral sensation was the way Fliggy Travel, the online travel arm of Alibaba Group, mobilised its membership base to give those girls a taste of the professional basketball world and a platform to showcase their talent.

Fliggy’s intervention began with the Yao Foundation Charity Match, an annual exhibition organized by the former NBA star Yao Ming’s foundation that pits Chinese basketball legends against each other while raising funds for youth sport programs. By sponsoring the Shankou squad’s tickets, Fliggy ensured that the girls could watch the game live, an experience that many rural children only glimpse on television. The organization went a step further, inviting Fliggy members to become part of the narrative. Users of the Fliggy app who typed “篮球助梦” (Basketball Dream Aid) could use their accumulated mileage points to bid on a 20,000‑renminbi ticket to the Yao Foundation charity dinner. Successful bidders were not merely passive donors; they attended the dinner as representatives of the Fliggy community, mingling with the girls and the foundation’s officials.

The campaign’s second milestone arrived on August 11, when the team took part in the #杭州超级派# (Hangzhou Super Party), a large‑scale cultural and sports carnival held in the provincial capital. For the Shankou players, stepping onto a professionally prepared court, surrounded by crowds cheering for the sport rather than the setting, was a dramatic departure from the narrow hallways where they had learned to dribble, pass and shoot. The event also gave the Fliggy members who had won the mileage auction a chance to cheer from the sidelines, closing the loop between online participation and real‑world impact.

Beyond the logistical details, the initiative resonated because it tapped into a broader cultural conversation about gender and opportunity. Actress and comedian Jia Ling, a vocal advocate for women’s empowerment, lent her voice to the campaign with the exhortation “女孩请正视自己的才华” – “Girls, please recognize your talent.” The slogan appeared on promotional material and social media posts, foregrounding a message that the girls’ athletic abilities were worth celebrating, irrespective of their rural origins. In a country where sports participation among young women is still expanding, that public affirmation struck a chord.

Netizens across mainland China flooded the Fliggy app’s comment sections and micro‑blog platforms with praise. Many highlighted the girls’ perseverance, noting that they had turned a concrete back alley into a training ground and a makeshift stairwell into a launchpad for their ambitions. Others lauded Fliggy’s “phygital” approach – blending digital engagement (the mileage bidding) with physical experiences (the charity game and the Hangzhou Super Party) – as a blueprint for how e‑commerce brands can embed social responsibility into everyday user interactions. The campaign’s popularity was evident in the volume of mileage bids, the surge in searches for “篮球助梦,” and the steady stream of heartfelt messages urging more people to support left‑behind children in rural areas.

Industry observers see the Fliggy effort as a signal of evolving brand strategies. Where once travel platforms competed chiefly on price and route coverage, they now vie on purpose and community impact. By coupling the membership program with a cause that is both emotionally resonant and socially relevant, Fliggy adds tangible value to its loyalty scheme, fostering deeper ties with a younger demographic that expects brands to take a stand. The initiative also underscores the growing importance of “O2O” – online‑to‑offline – experiences in Chinese marketing, proving that a simple app search can translate into a seat at a high‑profile charity dinner and a day on a professional basketball court.

The societal implications stretch beyond commerce. For the girls of Shankou, the experience is likely to reshape their self‑image and future possibilities. Exposure to professional athletes, interaction with patrons from across the country, and the simple validation that their talent matters can boost confidence and broaden horizons that might otherwise remain limited by geography and family circumstance. Moreover, the campaign shines a spotlight on the plight of left‑behind children, a demographic that accounts for millions of Chinese youths and whose emotional well‑being has been linked to educational outcomes and community stability. By publicly aligning with that cause, Fliggy reinforces governmental priorities surrounding rural revitalisation and poverty alleviation, subtly weaving corporate goodwill into the fabric of national development goals.

While the Yao Foundation’s involvement lends credibility through its own reputation in youth sport philanthropy, the partnership also exemplifies how private‑sector initiatives can complement, rather than replace, public policy. The cooperation illustrates a model of soft power: by investing in the aspirations of rural youth, a commercial entity contributes to social cohesion and a shared sense of progress, outcomes that resonate with both citizens and policymakers.

As the Shankou girls continue their season, the echoes of their basketballs now travel beyond the stone‑lined corridors of their school. They carry with them a narrative that blends determination, community support, and a modern brand ethos that values purpose as much as profit. Their story, amplified by Fliggy’s digital platform, reminds us that when technology, corporate resources and heartfelt advocacy intersect, even the most remote dreams can find a court on which to shine.