Mengke Bateer (pron. "Mung-kuh Bah-tur") (born November 20, 1975 in Beijing, China) is a professional basketball player from Inner Mongolia, People's Republic of China. He was the second man from China to play professional basketball in the American National Basketball Association. Bateer was a member of the San Antonio Spurs 2002-2003 championship team, and has also played for the Denver Nuggets and Toronto Raptors. However, his playing time was very limited. Bateer is an ethnic Mongolian, one of the 56 recognized ethnic groups in China.
After being waived by the New York Knicks in September 2004, he played for the Huntsville Flight of the National Basketball Development League for a while. He rejoined the Beijing Ducks of the Chinese Basketball Association in mid-February 2005, a couple of weeks before the end of the 2004-2005 regular season, and was named MVP of the 2005 CBA All-star Game (played at the end of the regular season, before the playoffs). He continues to play for the team in the 2005-2006 season.
At 6' 11" and over 300 lbs, he was considered one of the stronger centers in the NBA.
The trio of 7' 1" Wang Zhizhi, 7' 6" Yao Ming and Mengke Bateer were known as the "Walking Great Wall" of the Chinese national basketball team.
