A question to Chinese and other Asian Clutchfans. Has Yao's popularity been dropping in Asia? Travelling in the PRC and Hong Kong I noticed a lot fewer Yao jerseys, posters and ads than T-Mac, Lebron, Kobe and even Melo.
I wouldn't be shocked, most CHinese people I know tend to put black basketball players on a pedestal and Yao second, even if they don't say it =P I think it comes form our "a 98!? what happened to the other 2 points" mentality.
I think most chinese would simply go "Yao Ming? Isn't he that huge basketball player?" and that's probably it. If you ask any chinese basketball player, they would be much more likely to put black players ahead of Yao. I have absolutely no idea why, it just is.
Because of the sterotype that black players are the strongest, most athletic people on the planet. So in terms of sports + black = best.
Just like the general american public, most chinese people also like the thunderous dunks, AND1 cross-overs, and the "get-outta-here" rejections, so the players with fundamentals (Duncan, KG) were never very popular in China. But if u ask a chinese to name one NBA player, the first player that will come out of his/her mouth would probably be Yao Ming (since CCTV-5 carry mostly Rockets game)
not sure about hongkong and taiwan, but in main land china, Yao makes Rox as China's national team. 75% - 90% of NBA games broadcasted by China's national sports TV (CCTV5) are Rockets games. More than half of the basketball online news are simply about Yao and Rox, just go to glance any chinese sports website, i ain't kidding u. His popularity drops? NO, you can't judge by the number of jerseys. He is a hero. Moreover, the government wants to make him a hero, and they are doing so by using every resources they can to help. That's probably the reason I don't like to listen CCTV4 Rockets game commentaries, because they never talk about the positive side of the opposite team. It's all about how great Yao is, a typical communist party talking, really sick, although I personally like Yao a lot, but the way they praise Yao just makes me sick. If Cuban didn't criticise on Yao all-star selection, his poor mavs players might have some votes from chinese fans. Now, mavs will have none. All-star is all about fans' choice, not selecting the MVP or first team in NBA. I guess the reason Cuban made those comments is that Josh Howard might not make all-star because of Melo, and he tries to put the pressure on Stern to make it happen. The league should fine him for this.
At least in China, when compared T-Mac, Lebron, Kobe and even Melo, or whoever to Yao Ming, it is not something about popularity. He is "too popular", so nobody needs Yao's jerseys to be his fan. On the order hand, only those rich die-hard NBA fans buy NBA jerseys in China. Most chinese NBA "watcher" won't buy NBA Jerseys.
then tell me how come a chinese guy hold the world record in 110m hurdles in olympics then? there is so much racism, it's disgusting when people believe it's the truth. tell me why that black sprinters in africa don't run as fast as black sprinters in US? a short answer is the combination of funding, training, science... i could go on to argue tons of things how asian people are better at sports... but then most of you will think i'm racist (but i'm not) just trying to make a point that black does not equal the best in sports... about yao ming's popularity in china, everyone knows him so it's not a big deal anymore... of course he is the most popular bballer in china, but people can have 2nd favorite, 3rd, 4th.. what you see is probably ranked in those order
because NIKE, addidas, and AIR Jordan spent so much to get pics of melo lebron kobe garnet tmac duncan up... and yao is with rebbok...
I am a Chinese.Maybe a statics can show this.when CCTV5 broadcast Rockets' play the audience rating is 70%,but other teams are 30%.The audience rating twice than others'.
I meant this in the sense of getting All-Star votes for his players. I understand his point but mentioning Yao by name was a bad idea.
I agree. The idea that blacks are inherently better in sports has much more to do with culture than innate biology. If blacks were innately better then there would be a lot more great black tennis players, great black hockey players, and swimmers and other sports.
