The thing is the author was not being literal, he was making a large leap, and being slightly sarcastic. I think the Americans that read this realized that the Government did not engineer Yao Ming...that would be an East German thing to do. However, it sounds like at the local level they did hook up Yao's parents.....thus the inference to the Yao experiment. Not literally a government experiment, just hooking two very tall people up. It is a subtelty that gets lost on many foreign readers, but then I can't read subtlety in my 2nd language very well either.....totally understandable. DD
Isn't this a Kelly Dwyer piece? I didn't see anybody giving him credit for it. It is an interesting read ... well crafted. Kudos, Kelly, if it is. Kudos, to whomever, if it is not.
Great. Now somebody is gonna use the Washington Post as a credible source on China (or anything in general). Just great.
Clutchfans is a great forum. The best! But this goes to show how, even here, some subjects cannot be discussed without offence. For me, the steep descent of this thread into name calling is discouraging and I hope it's not indicative of the future. My guess is no, because the moderators will get a grip on it in a hurry. Moderators, please move this to D&D. It no longer belongs in the Rockets forum.
Nice article. However, it did reach when it dropped the "Operation Yao" angle. What's the big deal if it were an arranged marriage? It's tough enough for normal sized people to find their mate, much less a woman who is probably taller than 95% of the population. The reaction from some posters here is bit over the top. You'd think they were George Ming defending his wife's good name.
There's a kind of large leap called pulling something out of one's a$$. Literally or not, simply hooking up two tall people itself has nothing to do with words like experiment and Operation Yao Ming. Rhetorically speaking it's still absurd. Well, the issue can be divided in two layers. One is the government engineered the birth of Yao, another is the sports officials privately arranged dates in hope of producing super athletes. Neither scenerio is backed up with facts. Links are missing everywhere. Until the author does it, he should not make irresponsible remarks about Yao's birth. The grasp of subtelty is not lost in translation or language barrier but in an inclination to believe in what one wants to believe. DD[/QUOTE]
The article was definitely an interesting read, but I wonder how truthful it is. I seem to recall reading about Yao's mom trying to get him into basketball camps and some coach refusing him, explaining that Yao didn't have what it takes to be an athlete and pointing to Wang ZhiZhi and saying he was going to be the star. There just seems to be a lot in this article that doesn't mesh with other things I've read. So either this article is full of lies or stretched truths or the previous articles I've been reading have been. I'm leaning towards believing this author is the one who is full of it. It all seems too sensational.
from Panda: Panda I was tempted to debate whether "making a huge leap" is any different than the metaphor "pulling _____ out of one's **s, but I'll let that one go lest I be guilty of not understanding the subtleties of the English language. Who said anyone believed everything in the article? And I, for one, saw a great deal of flexibility in interpretation in the quotes that have apparently offended some here. It's called artistic license and SI effectively uses it in abundance. BTW, wait for the "Team Lebron" book to come out they'll be enough in there to horrify EVERYONE here. Or if you have the time check out what happened to Amare in his high school years - it was criminal in the literal sense. I can't believe some Chinese people are freaking out about inferences that may or may not have been intended. Drexler22, you're right, that quote was hilarious. We all have Mom's and it does show that above all else Yao Fang is a Mom. Sacks of burgers and fries? I wonder what Yao's body fat was in his rookie year, but I don't know of a mother that would give a damn, even if she were a former athlete. Too cool that Cat busted her.
declan32001: I'm scratching my head as to the different interpretations on "experiment" and "Operation Yao Ming". As a Chinese I didn't take offense or freak out either. The notion of Yao's birth being described as experiment and operation should be backed up with facts, or else it's poor journalism that deserves criticism. I'm not being nationalistic here, I posted the awful side of China in cultural revolution in this thread. It's our right to let people know about the true China, to the best of our knowledge. Hope you guys understand. Peace.
I am Chinese, my parents went through the cultural revolution and are the same age as Yao's parents. My great uncle was a former landowner, as was several of my mother's relatives. My father and his family were all poor peasants, I think I am well educated enough on both sides of the revolution. Thank you though for the suggestion. Thanks to all who saw this article as what it was, and not some sort of consipracy allegation. I hope you all enjoyed the read. To the guys who see a conspiracy motive in the article, let's just move on. Noone is going to agree on this. Let's just focus on how much of a hard ass Yao's mom is =P
You are welcome. I enjoyed it very much. Agreed, let's move on. The comments on Yao's mom are what make the article such an interesting read. The marriage thing is waaaaaay secondary to me.
Panda, first peace here too. I personally could have done without the "Yao experiment" and "Operation Yao Ming" thing too. But I do see why a writer might come up with those phrases in terms of what happened writing for a largely American audience trying to differentiate between what phenoms go through here and at the same time realize that no kid protege should have to be put in the spotlight the way they are everywhere if there's an advantage to be had by somebody. BTW I apologize for those sentences. Yao's just not like any athlete I or anyone (I'm 43) could expect no matter where they came from. He's smart, he's funny and Dime magazine's favorite guy unless they have to admit it. And those writers know Yao's the greatest threat to their livliehood. Too cool and too weird. If he ever starts dressing as well as Dream I project 4 rings.
LOL. I thoroughly trashed this article (or one very similar to this) in D&D a year ago. But for your sake I'll do it again. Since March, university on-line discussion groups have been restricted to students, removing a once popular outlet for Chinese keen to publicize their views on sensitive issues. In the last article, the school BBS in question was SMTH. The organization that closed it to outsiders (NOT shut it down) was the Ministry of Education. Now, SMTH (like any other school owned BBS), is hosted on a server owned by the University, therefore is directly funded by the government, specifically the MOE. But here is the kicker: there are hundreds of possible reasons why it was closed to outsiders. Take your pick, it could be: 1. The MOE actually wanted students to focus on their studies instead of video games, clothing, etc, which is rapidly becoming a problem. This was in fact, the official explanation given. They are not responsible to provide funding and service to anything other than educational needs. This is the most likely explanation too. 2. The MOE (and the universities) was cheap and didn't want people not in its schools to use the servers for free. This is far less likely than the first one. 3. The MOE and the universities are worried about hackers. A bit more likely than the 2nd, not as likely as the 1st. Yada yada yada. Like I said, there are hundreds of possible explanations. Yet Reuters/Washington Post/whoever said it's for political reasons. So forgive me, then why would they not shut down the server altogether as supposed to just closed to outsiders? Do students not talk about politics? Anybody who actually was enrolled in say... Beijing University is well aware that being political is very much a strong part of its school culture. Anybody who also actually visited SMTH knows it got far more information on video game hints (a popular one is FM 2005) and computer/cloth shopping than politics, which accounts for at best, 2% of the contents. I also love the amazingly undisputable proof given by Reuters/Washington Post. Boy, I think I don't see even a single one. I believe the last time I called it a "leap of faith" somewhere between the "server was closed to outsiders" and "the Chinese government routinely shuts down servers for political reasons." Btw, did Kuwait ever get back the incubators stolen by the Iraqis soldiers in the first Gulf War? What about WMD's? Did Rumsfeld ever find them? Gotta love unsubstantiated claims (aka. Bullsh1t until proven). You'd think after the above (and millions of other things in between) y'all would start to ask questions. Guess some people never learn. Your political party and media could make you jump through hoops with some BS, and yet the Chinese are the brainwashed ones. Believe it or not, not everything the CCP does has a political motive.
I have not been here for several days. so just saw this message today. I admit I am not good at English, so what? you know nothing about China but still give opinions like you are native Chinese. I dare you can read or write any Chinese book or article. You are not the author, then how can you say only your interpretation is correct. Truly if you want to learn more about Yao's history in China, better learn some Chinese and read some Chinese books, not just read craps from some people who just fly to China several days and talk everything like he is the authority.
So you already forgot how to read Chinese and you have to depend on English to learn what's going on in China Like Panda suggested, you should "Reading Comprehension 101" too.
Interesting thread. As your average American whitey, the article didn't give me the impression that it was some government program that created Yao. Reading the title alone, I assumed "Operation Yao" referred to the extraordinary efforts made by Yao, his family, the Chinese basketball system and the government in shaping the singularly unique NBA star that we all know and love. But then the article really gives little detail into that journey, so it was an odd choice for a title. I can easily see how the phrase "Operation Yao" could be interpreted as a reference to some sinister program designed to create the ultimate basketball player, even though the article doesn't explicitly make that assertion. From my own perspective, the most sensitive portion of the story to many who have posted in this thread, the portion with regard to Yao's parents meeting, didn't seem scandalous at all. It did not give me the impression at all that Da Fang and Da Yao had been coerced into marriage, but it did give the impression that many people in the Chinese sports world impressed upon them that it would be a good idea to "produce a champion." Being a huge Yao fan and having read every book and article about him in English that I've been able to find, I know that Yao's parents had no interest in "producing a champion," but I'm sure they were still well aware that, as Fang put it, their friends and colleagues in the sports world were very curious to see what gifts the son of "China's tallest couple" might develop. A note on the article's title and tagling: Reporters very rarely come up with titles and taglines for their articles and books. These are handled by their periodicals and publishing companies, and are chosen, quite simply, to attract attention and sell copies. As a journalist myself, I can tell you that they're often pretty frustrating. Obviously I couldn't say if such is the case here, but just an observation. Thanks to all the Chinese posters who chimed in with their takes on the article. I hope you can appreciate why those of us who can't read Chinese are very interested to read articles like this. We here in Houston love Yao and want to know about him, but there isn't a whole lot of information in the United States about his life before the NBA, and so much less about the modern Chinese sports history that he has been a part of. Obviously, no one article or reporter can tell the whole story. When something like this gets posted, please give us your perspective on what is written and endeavor to explain what you feel might be mistakes or innaccuracies and why you believe the way you do. Posting something like "This article is B.S. and I know because I'm Chinese" doesn't help us to understand anything. You have to help teach us, or else we'll simply never know. Writers make mistakes, and the media isn't perfect by any stretch, so we can only rely on your perspectives to help shape our own. With all the content this bbs provides, it's a nice and easy way to give back a bit.
