PUSHING INTO YAO'S HOMELAND, NBA LAUNCHES CHINESE-LANGUAGE WEB SITE BY AUDRA ANG Associated Press Jan. 15, 2003 1:48 p.m. BEIJING (AP) — Now China's 1.3 billion people can follow the exploits of favorite son Yao Ming, as well as the Chicago "Male Cows," the Miami "Hot Fire" and the Golden State "Brave Soldiers." The NBA launched a Chinese-language Web site Wednesday, saying the Houston Rockets' big rookie center is leading the way. "Our timing couldn't be better. Interest in the NBA in China is growing, driven in major ways right now by Yao Ming," said Michael Denzel, the league's vice president and managing director for Asia. For two decades, the NBA has tried to spark an interest here in American basketball. Only recently, though, has it begun to see results: It just opened an office in Beijing and now publishes a Chinese-language version of its official magazine. And NBA exhibition games could debut in China this year, Denzel said. Star players visit regularly, including Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, and Chinese broadcasters have signed on to show games, reaching nearly 300 million households so far. The NBA wants more. "Basketball in China is still a virgin land," said Jin Yong, who runs a fan club for the Shanghai Sharks, Yao's former team. "The more you spend to explore the market, the more you will get." The Web site was a natural progression, Denzel said - a combination of the growing popularity of the Internet in China, which has 60 million users, and the popularity of the 7-foot-6 Yao. Like its American counterpart, the Chinese site features game stories and results, player stats and bios, team rankings, transactions, schedules, lots of pictures - and, naturally, a link to the NBA merchandise store. Creative adjustments to accommodate the language barrier also have been made. NBA team names were translated to their closest approximations, with sometimes poetic results: "Hot Fire" for the Miami Heat, "Brave Soldiers" for the Golden State Warriors, "Male Cow" for the Chicago Bulls and the phonetic "Ni Ke Si" (pronounced "nee-kuh-suh") for the New York Knicks. "We're providing a one-stop shop for everything you'd want to know about the NBA," Denzel said. The league is running the site with the help of Sohu.com, one of China's largest Internet portals. Charles Zhang, Sohu's chief executive officer and president, said a test version of the site has received 1.2 million hits in its three-week existence. More than 40 percent of hits on the main nba.com Web site come from outside the United States, and China's 7 percent makes it the largest contributor. Specially designed Web sites also target audiences in Latin America, Spain, Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom. Yao already was a star at home before becoming the NBA's No. 1 overall draft pick. He is only the third Chinese player in the NBA, after Wang Zhizhi of the Los Angeles Clippers and Menk Bateer of the San Antonio Spurs. Yao leads Shaquille O'Neal for the starting Western Conference center spot in fan balloting for the NBA All-Star game, and they will square off for the first time Friday when the Rockets host the Los Angeles Lakers. On the new Web site's home page, Yao is shown wearing a bright red Houston Rockets "Authentic Shooting Shirt." One click sends users to the online store, where it can be bought for $59.99. "I don't think the NBA has much appeal to us without Chinese players like Yao Ming," said Fei Fusheng, a member of the 100-strong Shanghai Sharks fan club. But Fei acknowledged that increasing NBA promotions in local markets will attract Chinese audiences. "Compared with the Chinese Basketball Association, the NBA cares more about their fans. They know much better how to draw audiences," he said. "Their posters, advertisements, commodities are all different. If they can put all these colors on Chinese players, I am sure they would win more hearts in China." Jin, the fan club's president, sees a bright future for the NBA in China. "NBA is true basketball, but it is still unknown to most Chinese fans," he said. "If it comes closer to China, I am sure it will have the biggest population of NBA fans in the world." --- On the Net: Chinese-language Web site: http://china.nba.com/index.shtml
I just took a quick look. If you look at the team rosters, they've got every NBA players name written in Chinese! I wonder who had to do that tranlation job.
"And now...your Chicago Maallllle Cowwwwws!" Not quite the same sound and not quite as menacing. Funny though, I always did think Scottie looked like a cow!
It seems some information is not up-to-date. KT is still in Roctet's roster. But I can't find Posey from there.
