i think you misread something. noone forced them to do anything, they were just hoping they woudl get married, ut there wasnt a gun pointing at anyone.
"The responsibility for arranging marriages among the most gifted retired athletes often fell to the coaches. "We had to do a lot of work as matchmakers," says Wang Yongfang, the former sports-institute leader who coached Da Fang early in her career and, after a long stint of hard labor in the countryside, was rehabilitated as the leader of the Shanghai women's team. "These girls spent far more time with the coaches and team leaders than with their own parents. Who else was there to make sure everything was O.K.?" Before Da Fang even started to look for a husband, Shanghai officials had identified a suitable partner for her: Yao Zhiyuan. Yao, an active player who was two years her junior, was an agreeable man whose ready smile and love of a good quip contrasted sharply with Da Fang's grim demeanor. For several years the two players had eaten in the same cafeteria, lived in the same dormitory and practiced on adjoining courts, but, Da Fang says, "we didn't know each other very well." I dont see anything form this passage that suggests a forced marriage of any kind. arranged marriages are very frequent in some places, just because they meet their mates in a way we're not used to doesnt mean it s a bad thing. Some would say the West's attitude on this kind of stuff encourages promiscuity =P
I htink everyone needs to relax, especially the Chinese posters getting into a frenzy over this. I didn't find anything insulting at all about the article with respect to Yao's parents. There is NOTHING in the article that says sports officials put a gun to Yao's parents head and forced them to marry. My parents didnt like my last gf cuz she was shorter than me by a foot, they tried to introduce me to taller girls, does this mean they forced me to break up with my last gf? Some of you are reading too much into things. Your overblown reaction to the article does more damage to your image as Chinese people than anything this guy oculd have written or implied in his article.
I see a few did not like the "arranged marriage" part. Let this old red guard tell you something: It happened more often than you thought. Of course, it is not officially from the government. Rather it was usually from the leader of a "unit" or a department. While you were the leading performer of some sort, they considered the only choices for becoming your spouse. They would talk you into it while talking the other party into it as well. Then a marriage was born. As described in the article, Yao's mom dedicated her entire youth and adult years before age 28 to baseketball and revolution. She needed help in finding a husband, espacially she was tall. Friends and her supervisors of course were willing to help. They of course were looking at tall men. Unfortunately in a city where an average man was 5'7 tall, it was not an easy job to get her a husband 6'2 and higher (even a 6'2 or 6'3 man would look sharter than a 6'2 woman). So I applaud that they did a good job and got her Yao. I am also happy that they created Yao Ming.
This articel is BS and fiction. How come China only create one Yao till now. If this SI theory is true, China would had created thousands of players like Yao. I called this article paranoid!
Actually it is not the "arranged marriage", but the "conspiracy" the article applied. I think those matchmakers had a good intention to introduct them to each other, instead of some kind of "conspiracy" or "Operation YAO" It is perfectly normal in China for your colleagues, or your boss to be matchmakers. Even nowadays, it is still popular. But to say "Yao is a planned product of the government" is way out of bound. Even China does not have much freedom as US, I still dont think any Chinese would like to think they are "arranged" to be in this world.
I didn't read the article, I'm at work. but i will say this is an interesting discussion. This isn't the first time I've heard that the marriage was sort of arranged if I remember correctly. I have very little knowledge of China and from what you hear about their history I never really questioned whether the marriage was truly arranged. We Americans hear the stories of people not being able to have as many children as they want in China and other things so I just accepted the story about Yao's parents as fact.
Where does it say it is a consipracy or panned product? Thats strictly from your own reaction. The govt HOPED for it. There was no gun to the parents heads, no spiked drinks, no hidden semen injections or forced pregnancies. They encouraged the two to marry, there was no consipracy of any kind. That, as I said, is strictly from your own reaction. Moderator: Just lock this thread up or move it to somewhere else. I posted this article for people to get an insight on Yao, not for some over sensitive, ultra-nationalistic individuals who obviously 1) have a problem with the language or 2) didn't read the entire article
I regret using the term "forced marriage". Even so, I don't understand the hypersensitivity on the issue. Am I the only one more fascinated by the very negative portrayal of Yao's mother?
I dont see it as a negative image actually, she's just someone who cares a lot about her only son. My mom is like that also, as is a lot of my friends' moms. Just something you grow up with.
I seldom posted here. Usually as an silient observer. However after reading the first 5 paragrahes, I already smelled consipiracy all over the place. For instance: News of Yao Ming's birth was quickly relayed across town to the top leaders of the Shanghai Sports Commission. They were not surprised. These men and women had been trying to cultivate a new generation of athletes who would embody the rising power of China. The boy in the maternity ward represented, in many ways, the culmination of their plan. The experiment had no code name, but in Shanghai basketball circles it might as well have been called Operation Yao Ming. The wheels had been set in motion more than a quarter century earlier, when Chairman Mao Zedong exhorted his followers to funnel the nation's most genetically gifted youngsters into the emerging Communist sports machine. Two generations of Yao Ming's forebears had been singled out by authorities for their hulking physiques, and his mother and father had both been drafted into the sports system. "We had been looking forward to the arrival of Yao Ming for three generations," says Wang Chongguang, a retired Shanghai coach who played with Yao's father in the 1970s and would coach Yao himself in the '90s. "That's why I thought his name should be Yao Panpan." Long-Awaited Yao. Anyone who knows how to read English should know the implications of these highlighted sentences. I stopped reading this article right away.... Don't blame Chinese who are sensitive to this issue. Blame the author who wrote this piece of crap and try to mislead readers. In order to sell books, the author has to add some spricy and juicy stuff. Otherwise, who is going to read his book... Peace out...
I read those lines as much as anyone, and I didn't see anything about a conspiracy nor did it leave me with a bad image of the Chinese sports system. The only thing negative about the entire thing is the people who started bringing their hypersensitive reactions to it. Maybe the author should write a glowing fluff piece next time about the openess of the Communist sports program during the 60s and 70s.
only if that's objective and accurate insight, but this article is anything but. and btw don't use "problem with the language" as an mean to argue with ppl. most of the posters here are more than capable of it, chinese or not. if you agree with everything the author said, say so and move on. but in the mean time you should also allow ppl voice different opinion. after all, this is what this bbs is for.
Ok, let me break it down for you. This first senstence suggests that it is a systematic action otherwise why use a new generation? Which means: they did it with a definable objective, the sole purpose is to cultivate (a term often used in biological experiment) a new generation (means there are many similiar actions) otherwise wont succeed without their concious and purposeful planning.
then all i have to say is the RESPECTED journalist did a really really poor research, this time. agreed it doesn't make yao any less of a man but it doesn't help understanding what yao's homeland is really like either, especially for those who don't know china well.
Hotballa, You do not feel conspiracy, Because you has been "educated" by this silly writers. Please not try to block other people's feeling again and again. We already know your "feeling".
Wait till Yao's mom (I think Yao's mom deserves a capital letter) Yaos' Mom finds out that the SI writer is a freind of Yao's.
