Can anyone tell me again who that General Tso guy was, and how he came to be known more for his chicken than his military expertise? I know someone answered this in an old thread, but I forgot the answer.
Here is a link which can answer most of your questions: http://www.echonyc.com/~erich/tso.htm Interesting enough, restaurants in China don't offer General Tso's chicken. Shrimpie
zenithnadir: Amazing pic!!! Is that you in the picture? Where is it? Cant wait to go to Shanghai. Last time I went was four years ago, the whole city was like a construction site. Houston might look shabby to Yao. No offense, houston ppl.
Well, basically he was a General, and his name was Tso. He lived long time ago, earlier than the Chinese brought their chiken to America. The guy is known for confusing his enimies by sending a lot of chickens. I hope this answers your curiosity.
Well for anybody who might be worried about the Rockets not signing Yao I would think this guarantees he will be a Rocket.
Thanks for the info, Shrimpee, Feishen. Shrimpee, when I click the website, I get the error message that the site can't be found.
http://www.bartoninc.com/tsingtao/brewery.htm Tsingtao Brewery The Tsingtao Brewery was founded by German settlers in Qinqdao, China, in 1903. The brewery brews and bottles Tsingtao Beer, which is sold in more than 30 countries worldwide and accounts for more than 90 percent of China's total beer exports. In fact, Tsingtao is the number-one branded consumer product exported from China. Today the Tsingtao Brewery is the most prestigious of approximately 800 breweries operating in China. See below for its location.
I think you have just offended Rudy T. He might be the one who initiated the whole thing to Les Alexander.
that was me in shanghai last summer. I'm going back again to study abroad. Shanghai is pretty amazing, or at least parts of it. The pic I posted is in the parking lot of the Jin Mao Kaiyue Dajiudian (Grand Hyatt Hotel), the biggest hotel in the world, and I think the 3rd tallest building in the world. <img src="http://students.washington.edu/divinity/CIEE/ShangHai02.jpg"> Shanghai is pretty nice now, but China is still 3rd world. Living conditions are rapidly improving, but not a first world yet. Some Shanghainese are amazingly rich. Richer than anyone on this board. Others are dirt poor. I think Yao will feel that houston is nice.. but small. Shanghai is very large (the Korea could fit into shanghai) and things are very condensed. Buildings are tall.. very tall. Open spaces are not to be found in the city.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/1599620 Oct. 1, 2002, 9:51PM Rockets throttling up marketing campaign By DALE ROBERTSON Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle This was a first for Rockets media day. Yao-hoo, free beer! Not for consumption on the premises, though. Reporters leaving Monday's interview/schmooze session that preceded the team's leaving for its Austin training camp were handed six-packs. Had it been plain ol' Bud or Miller Lite, such a gesture would have stunk of graft, corruption even. Instead, these were fancy brewskis to sample -- Yanjing Ale, the new official imported beer of the Houston Rockets. Offhand, we don't remember what the old official imported beer of the Houston Rockets was, or if they had one. But the fan-strapped organization is determined to exploit its most fresh-faced commodity in every way possible. If the Rockets, three seasons removed from their most recent playoff adventure, aren't exactly hip in Sharpstown or Bellaire these days, they're certain to be happenin' in Shanghai and Beijing. So, voila, a marketing deal was struck with one of China's largest breweries before a contract could be finalized with one of China's largest persons. But the Rockets have assured us Yao Ming is on his way, not to worry, and they are banking on the notion a billion Chinese do care. The corporate name that eventually will adorn their under-construction downtown arena is certain to reflect the Rockets' significantly enhanced international stature. It probably won't be a Chinese or Asian company per se, but it will be one with a global reach, one that does or plans to do gobs of business in the world's most populous country. The same goes for all those courtside advertisements. After all, every Houston game will be shown on China's single state-run TV network. Talk about a captive audience. "That's a pretty good way to get your product seen by a lot of people," Rockets chief operating officer George Postolos said of the signage. If everything goes according to plan, Leslie Alexander might make enough off the rotating ads to give every reporter a Ming vase at next year's media powwow. Nonetheless, the task of putting people in Compaq Center's seats to see the rotating billboards up close continues to be a challenge. Although the Rockets insist they drafted Yao No. 1 for all the right reasons -- because he's 7-5 with a shooter's touch -- their dwindling customer base hasn't paid much heed to the team's Yao-inspired marketing campaign imploring us to "be a part of something big." The Houston Asian community is intrigued by his arrival, but the interest has been more curious than overtly commercial. Postolos reports he's on the verge of selling between 5,000 and 10,000 tickets to fledgling Yao fan clubs -- the Yao-zas? Ming's Maniacs? -- but considering the Rockets have 1,319,652 seats total to move in the NBA's farewell to the 27-year-old Greenway Plaza venue, that barely registers as a measurable uptick. The worst-attended games in the NBA in 2002-03 might continue to be those in Houston, unless Yao's game is far more evolved than it appears to be. And his missing training camp, then coming in exhausted after a full year of international competition, doesn't figure to hurry along his development. Yao's raw materials indicate he can become a force in the NBA, somewhere between a good and a great player, but the process of leading him there figures to be protracted. Give the Rockets credit, though, for grasping the many nuances of the task. General manager Carroll Dawson is in the midst of interviewing Mandarin-fluent candidates to serve full-time as Yao's liaison with the team and as his interpreter. "All I speak is East Texas," C.D. said. "We want somebody Yao feels completely comfortable with. The happier he is, the smoother his transition will be." And the quicker he fits in, the easier Rudy Tomjanovich's job becomes. The coach is in a strange place as he begins his 11th full season. Although he appears to have the unwavering support of Alexander and is a leading local sports icon, much of the city's ennui stems from his coaching style, in tandem with those high ticket prices. Rudy Ball was OK when the Rockets were winning NBA championships, but the tediousness of losing has exacerbated the tediousness of his tactics. Tomjanovich's oft-plodding "isolation" game has come to bore people, and in this market, boring can be fatal. Houstonians have notoriously short attention spans. Fact is, we inherently suffer from attention deficit disorder. The Astros sold half a million tickets fewer in 2002 than they did in 2000, the season their downtown park opened. And for all the buzz about the Texans, they're having to offer unsold luxury suites for sale on a game-to-game basis. The Rockets are frantically trying to drum up interest in the 92 suites they have coming on line next fall. By all accounts, the corporate types aren't lining up around the block to put their money down in the post-Enron economic climate. The Rockets find a measure of solace in not having to compete against an NHL team, too -- Houston is the largest city in the country that lacks a presence in all four of the major sports leagues -- but they've still got a fierce fight on their hands for our shrinking expendable income. The sooner Yao arrives -- and that doesn't mean his just showing up for practice -- the better their chances of rebuilding their dwindling fan base. In the interim, they really should keep the Yanjing for themselves. To help kill the pain.
Not at all since Yanjing Beer is the offical IMPORT beer and Miller Lite is the offical DOMESTIC beer. Now if their deal is up with Miller Lite it might mean they can get a better deal now. B
