This isn't exactly a sports-focused post... but it's close. Hope we can let it stay in this newsgroup. From the South China Morning Post, the premier English-language paper from Hong Kong, and a great independent voice on China: (http://www.scmp.com) Standing tall: Yao Ming's China PHILIP CUNNINGHAM Prev. Story | Next Story After feasting on homemade noodles, Sichuan pork and freshly sauted vegetables, the Beijing dinner party moved to a table crammed with watermelon seeds, tangerines, peanuts, chocolates and bottomless cups of tea. The conversation ranged far and wide. "You think there is going to be war? China is definitely the best place in the world right now," said one diner. "Yeah, nobody's going to try any terrorism here," said another. "That's not the point," came the reply. "What matters is that China is not involved in the clash of civilisations between the West and Islam." Listening to my cosmopolitan Chinese dinner companions talk made me realise how much times are changing. Even after a taste of the good life abroad, for these people, Beijing is still the place to be. This is due partly to nationalism, inculcated or self-taught, and ethnic pride. But that is not to say China is an easy first choice. Nearly everyone present had family histories reflecting China's terrible tendency to devour its own - grandparents uprooted by revolution, patriotic overseas Chinese returned only to end up in jail, Red Guard idealists tested by years of feeding pigs, living in cowsheds. Most of this 30-something group came of age with the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. Despite all this, there seems to be widespread agreement - at least among young urban professionals - that China is a fine place to be. Put China's improved living conditions, domestic peace and material plenty in the context of a world on edge due to terrorism, imminent war, religious strife and countries at risk - coded orange and red - China, indeed, offers a haven, a separate peace. In a world limping from economic depression and staggering indebtedness, China's robust growth continues to amaze, with housing construction alone exceeding 50-fold the best year of recent US growth, though speed and greed are no guarantees of high-quality construction. In a world where, not so long ago, a Chinese passport was an impediment to travel, one country after another is wooing Chinese tourists to fill the gap left by increasingly travel-shy Japanese and Westerners. Who could have imagined that US President George W. Bush, who jump-started his neo-conservative drive by making an enemy of China, would now be pleading with President Jiang Zemin to support his position on Iraq? That US finance officials would beseech China to delink its currency from the dollar to give American manufacturers a chance? That China might hold the key to peace on the Korean peninsula? On the cultural side, China has growing cachet, from Hollywood to Madison Avenue. That Beijing would eventually host the Olympics was predictable, but who would have guessed a polite Chinese basketball player, Yao Ming, would not only be a contender in the NBA, but outpoll and outplay America's behemoth rapster Shaquille O'Neal? Superlatives come to mind when trying to describe China today, both good and bad. There is unprecedented growth and unprecedented waste, booming cities, endless suburbs and dirt-poor villages, denuded mountains and sewer-sludged rivers. China has the world's worst air pollution, the world's biggest dam, the longest steel bridge, the most construction cranes, the fastest train. Beijing alone boasts more than 4,000 hotels. Hundreds of millions of people rushed home to celebrate the Lunar New Year, dubbed the biggest movement of human beings in the history of mankind. Bigger, better, taller, faster, it is all happening at such a dizzying rate. Forget about Lei Feng and the diminutive heroes of yesteryear. China is in the Yao Ming era. And while he would probably be the first to say that he owes it all to his darling motherland, China could learn a few things from her oversized son as well. He is talented, but humble, works hard, but has a sense of humour. He is forgiving, he is loyal and, not incidentally, he has good public relations. China is standing taller and prouder than ever before. Tall players have particular strengths and weaknesses - all the more reason to be a good sport, play a fair game and keep the eye on the ball. Philip Cunningham is an Asia-based writer.
Interesting article. Glad that his parents are in Houston to cook food for Yao. It seems as though Yao doesn't like the the "Chinese" food in America. I mean, he even made the comment to one of the Rockets staff that he (staff memeber) never ate real Chinese food, so how can he make a recommendation of Houston Chinese restaurants. I've also heard that Yao gets an upset stomach when he eats certain foods in the US.
A good point. At least Yao Ming was voted over the Big Toe in All-Star race, while China's current and future presidents were all arranged behind scene. Bush has a reason to look down upon his Chinese counterpart. How can you sit side-by-side with me, because a man who died 6 or 7 years ago said so?
Maybe the Chinese counterparts have a reason to look down upon Bush as well, "how can you sit side by side with me just because you were born in a wealthy and politically influential family?"
lol. Well said. US has lots of reasons to criticize China, but probably won't be a good idea while this adminstration is in power. Half of the world would side with China just to spite Bush.
