lol it's spelt as Yao Ming though because he's Chinese and his name is Chinese, if you sort of get what I'm trying to say here. And if you go to China, no they will not call a foreigner by their last name, unless you ask them to or something :S I don't see how respecting their culture or whatever, is alienating them?
So are you chinese? have you ever worked in any asian country? not just china. anywhere you work they will call you by your last name unless they mistake your first name for your last name. the only time they will call anyone by their first name is if there are 2 or more of the same family name in your workplace or group. it's alienating to "respect their culture or whatever" when they are in your country. when in rome act as the romans do. people dont like being the odd man out especially asian cultures where its all about conforming. do you remember when Yao first came into the league and they had "Ming" on the back of his jersey? why did he change that? why didnt he just go with that? hell, why dont they just put his name in chinese characters on his jersey?? i mean respecting his culture and all. and if you are not chinese.. then for that reason it will not be offensive to call them by their first name. in fact it shows that you are comfortable enough around them and accepting of them thus showing respect. and it's not spelt Yao Ming. he is called Yao Ming because it just works better and sadly (myself included) it's more fun to call him Yao than Ming because Yao sounds like Yowzerz. it isnt rocket science or quantum physics. it's sociology. people generally like to be accepted and treated like their peers. in America your peers are generally referred to by their first names and on their basketball cards and profiles it generally has their first name then last name.
