Has your view of Chinese people changed since Yao joined the Rox?

It's genetics. After 2225 years of intermarriage, Chinese people are still more genetically diverse than all of Europe.

 

That's pretty much true everywhere, although stats show that the average Chinese would be an inch taller than the average American.

 

Ummm... contradictory statement, eh?

Everyone is GOOD Folks.

 

Yep,

Everyone is good folks.....EVERYONE on the Rockets that is....



DD

 

There are a lot of people want to learn Chinese, but not because of Yao. It is because of economic opportunities. The Chinese economy is advancing at an incredible pace: 7-10% per year. And its being at this pace is because thegovernment is working hard to slow it down. This alone indicates opportunities of making money. We all know that the giants are already in China. Recently, a lot of small business are also looking into moving their production lines to China so that their products can be competitive.

China's capitalization is irreversible, and those who can speak the languahge will have an edge in the near future.

 

Man, we need to get China some Dr. Pepper and Popeye's!!

Paging Dr. Island, Dr. James Coney Island...

 

The average height of Chinese men is much shorter than that of caucasians while taller than blacks - African blacks, that is.

There are little genetic reasons for this fact. It is what it is today because (1) almost 200 years of human mistakes and mis managements and (2) the poor diet of the older generations.

In the late 19th century and most part of the 20th centuray, China was either under the crupted Ching dynasty's or the warlords' ruling. people suffered from that. And then after the war, it was Mao's communist society. In these 200 years, the people were poor. Food was scarce. Hunger was everywhere. People got shorter and shorter in a few generations.

The chinese diet, especial southern diet, was usually rice and veggies. There were usually no milk in any menus. Milk was for babies only. Beef and Pork were only called "by-food" and not the main course. And these were only available to the riches. Northern people concumed more meat than southern people and therefore were a little higher.

In the past 20 years or so, however, things have changed a lot. In major cities, milk has become big part of daily meals. Meat are also more common and available to ordinary people. The Chinese people have gotten a lot of more money to feed their children, and each family usually has only one child. The condequences are: the height of the new generation is higher than the parent generation. This has been true for the past 3 generations. A child taller than the parents has become very common. This is not the case here. In the US statistics indicate that the everge height of a generation is between the average height of the fathers and that of the mothers.

Let's go back to Yao. Yao's dad and mom were both centers when they played basketball about 30 years ago. But now, at their height, they could only play forwards. The current under 18 team and under 20 team of China have a total of 15 players at or over 6'7 tall. If you look at the provincial basketball teams and valleyball teams, almost half of the players are 6'6 or taller. This was unthinkable 30 years ago.

I am not good at typing...sorry for the typos and errors.

 

I never really had an opinion on Chinese people, so I don't think it has changed my views. Because of Yao though, I did have something to strike up conversations with some of my Chinese co-workers. They weren't Rockets fans at all, so they would always come to me and ask various things about the Rockets and Yao. I've since become pretty good friends with some of them, so I guess I should thank Yao for helping me make friends.

 

I learned what part the fortune cookie plays in Chinese culture.

 

Unfortunately, fortune cookies are American products ... You do not see them in China.

 

And I know that because of Yao

I'd like to echo it's stupid to judge an entire culture on one man.

 

I'd like to echo echo this too. A lot of Yao's qualities, and personality are attributed to his culture (such as being polite or non-aggressiveness). I really think this is an unfair judgement. For example, Yao doesn't drink alcohol. So does this mean that Chinese people don't drink alcohol? Of course not.

As shocking as it may sound, a lot of Chinese people aren't polite and aren't humble to a fault. I think Yao's personality was more shaped by his upbringing in terms of his parents and the structured system of Chinese Basketball, than it was by the all-consuming label of "his culture."

 

Need to be careful with any such "judgement" or comparison, of course. With 1.3 billion people, you can be sure there's plenty of uniqueness and diversity in individual action.

But that said, I think Yao does convey a lot of the unique differences that exist between mainstream Chinese culture and mainstream American culture. Denying this isn't any more fair than claiming "all" Chinese are a certain way.

While most Chinese people do drink alcohol, the alcohol culture is very different from that in the United States. There's far less binge drinking amongst the young, but binge drinking has a far more important role in business. I would personally guess that a majority of folks ages 18-24 in mainstream Chinese society do not get drunk more than once a year. And I think that's dramatically different from the United States.

There are plenty of other very "Chinese" things about Yao. His attitude towards relationships with women, with his parents, and with his coaches/teachers are shared by mainstream Chinese society, and differs from mainstream American society. (What percentage of 24 year old NBA stars live with their parents?)

These are just a few limited examples... I could go on all day about the clear distinctions in social/cultural values within Chinese and American societies. Those who argue differently, in my opinion, are influenced by the very American belief that every single one of us is an individual, and that society's influence on us is limited compared to our own innate characteristics. I happen to believe differently. Every single one of us may be individuals, but we're very much shaped by the communities in which we are raised.

 

A great poster.

 

This kid needs to grow some teeth to become aggressive.

 

This thread is crazy. Jeez what are we even talking about?

 

This thread is not crazy. It's just not in the right forum. A very interesting topic which belongs to the hangout.

 

My alcohol example was entirely rhetorical. And in clarification of the rest of my statement, I just think it's a disservice and a copout to explain differences between Yao and other NBA players as "It's his culture". Not to say that there aren't differences between Chinese and Americans but that imposing Yao's personality and demeanor to the whole of Chinese people is unfair. I mean, every little thing that Yao does that might be different than other NBA players is explained away as, "It's his culture." This does two things:

1. It paints the image that all Chinese are like Yao, which isn't true.
2. And it assumes that he couldn't become such a person in the United States. Which is false also, because there are plenty of men in this country that are well mannered or non-aggressive or whatever the Yao label du jour is.

So not only does this shortchange China with regards to diversity, but it does so to the United States also.

China is just too large a country with too many people in order for one man to represent. And if people just ascribe certain personality traits to a country at large then I don't see how we truly can change the "View of Chinese People", which was the original question posed by this thread.

BTW, I'm sure there are some NBA stars that have lived with their parents (or maybe just mother's) during the first few years of their career. Vince Carter?

 

Well the last few posts might make it a D&D thread, but whatever.


Edit: One last point about the alcohol thing. My dad was born and raised in China and emigrated to the US when he was 30. I was born in the US and am thoroughly Americanized. But while my dad drinks a few beers every single day, I almost never drink. Go figure.