Vote Yao. He’s Chinese.
I’m feeling a bit left out. Earlier this week, China Law Blog put up a post on the recently deceased Gerald Ford, saying the 38th president epitomizes American values. Who, Dan then asked, is China’s Ford? Who encapsulates what China is or wants to be?
Then Jeremiah over at the Granite Studio jumped in with his own historical take on it. These being two of my favorite blogs and both daily reads, I was all set to put my own thoughts into the discussion. I did manage to get one comment onto CLB, but since then I’ve been cut off.
Despite being in one of the most hooked-up countries in the world, I seem to be stuck in the one room with internet connectivity worse than what I had in China. For some reason, I can’t get a comment up on either CLB or the Granite Studio, mostly because of their comment spam filters. I don’t begrudge their want of security; it’s my connection that’s lagging. I would have just let the conversation go it’s own way without me, since it’s been interesting enough without me dragging it down, but Dan put a comment on my last post asking me to jump back in, so here goes. I’m recapping as best I can:
This was my semi-serious foray into the running discussion:
To which Dan of CLB replied:
Yao Ming is an interesting choice. Very interesting.
Reminds me of Korea’s Chan Ho Park during his heyday in the mid-1990’s. Everywhere I went in Korea, people would mention him. EVERYWHERE. I would sit down at the sushi restaurant in my hotel, and the sushi chef would say “Chan Ho Park. Best Pitcher” and give a thumbs up sign. To which I would ALWAYS say, “Chan Ho Park. Good pitcher. NOT best pitcher.” Those who spoke better English would sometimes try to tell me he was the best pitcher ever. To which I would say, he is a good pitcher, not even a great pitcher and nobody in the United States thinks he’s a great pitcher. They would then tell me that the Korean papers were saying he was the best pitcher in the United States. I finally tired of telling the truth about Park and bursting everyone’s bubble and just started flashing my own thumbs up in response. Park faded fast in every way.
Yao Ming is better than Park ever was and he has tremendous potential. But I mention Park because it is not clear to me that China’s love of Ming goes beyond Korea’s fleeting love of Park. Do the Chinese respect/love Ming himself or, like the Koreans and Park (and I have no doubt this was true of Park) do they simply like basking in the fact that a Chinese person is at the top of an American (worldwide) game? Does Ming symbolize China or just Chinese pride? What are China’s views on his character? What would happen if you were to ask your class to name China’s greatest figure from among Zhou Enlai, Sun Yat Sen and Yao Ming? Would they laugh or just start answering.
I am asking these questions because I have no idea of the answer and I would actually love to know. Sorry for “assigning you a 20 page essay, but wouldn’t you love to know too?
And I meant to reply. The questions are indeed interesting, and nationalism and identity issues were my bread and butter during undergrad, so I’ve been following this discussion at every step. But, as I mentioned, I can’t seem to get a comment up on either site, so hopefully this will suffice for both Granite Studio and CLB:
First off: Chan Ho Park. Did you really have to bring up that painful memory? The last thing I remember him doing was giving up two grand slams to the same player in the same inning in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals. Sometimes it’s just hard being a Dodger fan.
Anyway, here’s my unqualified and generally unresearched thoughts. Keep in mind that my students are now in another country and I won’t see them until March.
Do the Chinese respect/love Ming himself or, like the Koreans and Park (and I have no doubt this was true of Park) do they simply like basking in the fact that a Chinese person is at the top of an American (worldwide) game?
I’d say it’s nationalistic first and personal second. While Yao definitely gets credit for being a stellar player, there are a lot of stellar players in the NBA. While I occasionally hear other names mentioned, what I get a lot is how much better Yao is than Kobe or Shaq.
Does Yao Ming symbolize China or just Chinese pride?
Not sure how to answer this one. Offhand, I’d say pride more than the country itself, since China is just too plain big to wrap up in any individual (much as Mao tried).
What are China’s views on his character? No idea. Will ask around when I’m back in China.
What would happen if you were to ask your class to name China’s greatest figure from among Zhou Enlai, Sun Yat Sen and Yao Ming? Would they laugh or just start answering.
Again, couldn’t say, but definitely something to bring up next semester.
I think Dan and Jeremiah said it best in comparing Yao’s newfound assertiveness with China’s recent realization that it is, in fact, a world power. Yao is a symbol, not a leader. He’s not setting policy and no one is likely to appoint him to a government post, but as an icon, he works. He’s someone the Chinese, either the CCP or just plain everyone, can build a myth around because, one, he’s succeeding internationally, and two, he’s from the mainland, not Taiwan or Hong Kong. He’s all PRC.
This seems to be getting farther and farther away from Gerald Ford. Here’s my attempt to bring it back:
As Yao excels on the international stage, especially against American players, he gives the Chinese some symbolic cover to be more chauvinist in their personal nationalism. He’s not a national healer, like Ford, so it’s not a direct parallel, but by being where he is and doing what he does, he’s giving the Chinese a way to talk about moving from “up and comer” to whatever’s next. Again, it’s all symbolic. He isn’t actually doing anything besides playing basketball. Does that make sense? I’m pushing 2 a.m. here.
I’d be curious to see what would happen if there were another equally successful Chinese NBA star (or several). Would Yao still be the one? Or would every Chinese player get the same attention?
At this point, I’m going to again plead my lack of qualification and say that this is sooo the Granite Studio’s department. Jeremiah’s got a post on Chinese-ness going and he actually knows what he’s talking about.
