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发帖数: 27535 | 1 【 以下文字转载自 Basketball 讨论区 】
发信人: chemphys (physchem), 信区: Basketball
标 题: China's new sports problem - Stop the Linsanity?(zz from the economist)
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Tue Feb 21 01:28:15 2012, 美东)
EARLY this morning—for viewers in China—the New York Knicks of the new
Taiwanese-American hero Jeremy Lin played against the Dallas Mavericks and
with them China’s current standard-bearer in the NBA: the 7-foot-tall Yi
Jianlian, a high draft pick who has proven a disappointment in America. Mr
Yi's Mavericks lost the game, 104-97, but the bigger loser was Chinese soft
power.
Mr Lin has quickly amassed a huge following among Chinese basketball fans (
and this country does love basketball). This poses a bit of a conundrum for
Chinese authorities for a number of reasons. The most obvious is that Mr Lin
is an American who is proudly of Taiwanese descent, which would seem to
complicate China’s efforts to claim him (and oh how they have tried already
—on which, more below).
But there are three other reasons Mr Lin’s stardom could fluster the
authorities. First, he is very openly Christian, and the Communist Party is
deeply wary of the deeply religious (notably on those within its own ranks).
Second, he is not a big centre or forward, the varietals which are the
chief mainland Chinese export to the NBA, including the Mavericks’ Mr Yi;
and of course he came out of nowhere to become a star, having been educated
at the most prestigious university in America, Harvard.
Mr Lin is, put plainly, precisely everything that China’s state sport
system cannot possibly produce. If Mr Lin were to have been born and raised
in China, his height alone might have denied him entry into China’s sport
machine, as Time’s Hannah Beech points out: “Firstly, at a mere 6’3”—
relatively short by basketball standards—Lin might not have registered with
Chinese basketball scouts, who in their quest for suitable kids to funnel
into the state sport system are obsessed with height over any individual
passion for hoops.” Even when Mr Lin was still a young boy, one look at his
parents, each of unremarkable stature, would have made evaluators sceptical
. Ms Beech’s other half happens to be Brook Larmer, the author of the
fascinating book “Operation Yao Ming”, which details how Chinese
authorities contrived to create China’s most successful basketball star, Mr
Yao, the product of tall parents who were themselves Chinese national
basketball team players. The machine excels at identifying, processing and
churning out physical specimens—and it does so exceedingly well for
individual sports, as it will again prove in London this year. But it
happens to lack the nuance and creativity necessary for team sport.
What of Mr Lin’s faith? If by chance Mr Lin were to have gained entry into
the sport system, he would not have emerged a Christian, at least not openly
so. China has tens of millions of Christians, and officially tolerates
Christianity; but the Communist Party bars religion from its membership and
institutions, and religion has no place in its sport model. One does not see
Chinese athletes thanking God for their gifts; their coach and Communist
Party leaders, yes, but Jesus Christ the Saviour? No.
Then there is the fact that Mr Lin’s parents probably never would have
allowed him anywhere near the Chinese sport system in the first place. This
is because to put one’s child (and in China, usually an only child at that)
in the sport system is to surrender that child’s upbringing and education
to a bureaucracy that cares for little but whether he or she will win medals
someday. If Mr Lin were ultimately to be injured or wash out as an athlete,
he would have given up his only chance at an elite education, and been
separated from his parents for lengthy stretches, for nothing. (One must add
to this the problem of endemic corruption in Chinese sport that also scares
away parents—Chinese football referee Lu Jun, once heralded as the “
golden whistle” for his probity, was sentenced to jail last week as part of
a massive match-fixing scandal). Most Chinese parents, understandably,
prefer to see their children focus on schooling and exams.
In America, meanwhile, athletic excellence actually can open doors to an
elite education, through scholarships and recruitment. Harvard does not
provide athletic scholarships, but it does recruit players who also happen
to be academic stars. There is no real equivalent in China.
So China almost certainly has its own potential Jeremy Lin out there, but
there is no path for him to follow. This also helps explain, as we have
noted, why China fails at another sport it loves, football. Granted, Mr Lin
’s own path to stardom is in itself unprecedented, but in America, the
unprecedented is possible. Chinese basketball fans have taken note of this.
Mr Lin’s story may be a great and inspiring proof of athleticism to the
Chinese people, but it is also unavoidably a story of American soft power.
Some authorities in China have responded, as might be expected, by trying to
appropriate Mr Lin. The Chinese city of Pinghu, in coastal Zhejiang
Province, sent a missive to its recently remembered former resident, Mr Lin
’s grandmother on his mother’s side; officials crowed that she was pleased
by the attention her hometown is paying to her grandson’s success. Xinhua,
China’s official news service, published a fanciful article urging Mr Lin
to take Chinese citizenship and join the national team of the People’s
Republic.
Mr Lin’s Taiwanese family background seems to pose a special problem. China
Central Television (CCTV), the national monopoly that broadcasts NBA games,
has not joined in Linsanity. A game featuring Mr Lin a week ago, against
the Minnesota Timberwolves, was broadcast on Beijing TV’s sport channel,
but the broadcast included the forbidden image of the Taiwanese national
flag, held proudly by fans in the stands. (The flag is typically blurred in
China if it must appear in news footage). Chinese netizens noticed, and
wondered if that would bring a punishment, or a tape delay. CCTV, for its
part, told Netease, a Chinese internet portal, that most Knicks games couldn
’t be shown due to the “time difference”, “but if time allows, games of
the Knicks will definitely be broadcasted preferentially.”
That remains to be seen. Fortunately for Chinese sport fans, the internet
provides a ready-made alternative to the state television system. Most of Mr
Lin’s games are being made available by live stream on the portal Sina.com
. This morning’s game against Mr Yi’s Mavericks was a rather interesting
exception, a mysterious little black hole on Sina.com’s NBA schedule.
Frustrated Chinese fans had to go looking for dodgier streams elsewhere
online. What they found was a closely fought game between the two teams,
with Mr Lin again starring and leading the Knicks to victory. More
poignantly, they found their countryman, Mr Yi, remain on the bench for the
entire game, reduced to the role of spectator. It was a glimpse of the
Chinese sport system versus American soft power. Perhaps it was not fit for
viewing. |
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