As a player, he was part of the China sides that competed in the 1988 Summer Olympics and the 1990 FIBA World Championship.

[1] Following his retirement from playing, he became a coach and led the Chinese national team in the 1996 Summer Olympics, with an eighth-place finish.

He coached the national women's side at the 2004 Summer Olympics but they failed to make the last eight after being defeated by New Zealand.

[2] He would finally return to coach the Chinese national men's team in early 2014 with the task of rebuilding the team after a dismal 2013 FIBA Asia Championship that had cost his predecessor Panagiotis Giannakis his position after a quarterfinal exit.

[3] Gong resigned from his post as the head coach of the Chinese national team on January 6, 2017.