New star
There's a new Chinese sports star to look out for: Zheng Jie.
If you've been watching Wimbledon you'll know that Zheng knocked out the top seed Ana Ivanovic in the first week of play.
It's not a bad achievement for someone who's ranked 133 in the world.
China doesn't us give huge amounts of access to its athletes - but Zheng Jie was on an athletes' panel at a press conference I went to in April at a sports academy in Beijing.
She sat rather shyly on the right of the stage. An official in the middle did most of the talking.
But Zheng Jie did get to talk for a bit.
Why she took up tennis: "When I was a kid, I was very naughty and active. My parents wanted to find a sport that I could take up to keep fit. One of my cousins played tennis at the time. She took me to the tennis court. I loved the sport from the very beginning."
Interests: "My hobbies are listening to music and reading." (Each of the athletes on the panel was asked this question - each had a suitably low-key, non-energy-sapping interest.)
Tennis isn't (yet) a big sport in China - this country focuses on other sports such as ping pong, basketball, badminton, gymnastics, and diving.
But now that might change. Zheng Jie is through to the Wimbledon semis - the first Chinese player ever to reach this stage of a Grand Slam.
Her quarter-final match was broadcast live on state TV (watched by many millions late into the night here). Huge excitement in her home province Sichuan - which is still recovering from the earthquake in May.
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Oh dear oh dear oh dear... I can see all the abuse coming up very soon.
James you poor lad. Why not do some basic research before you write? I realise you've got a habit of making assumptions and guesses, not a good habit for a journalist, is it?
FYI, "Li Ting and Sun Tiantian won the doubles gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
In 2006, more tennis history was written when Zheng Jie and Yan Zi won doubles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. Li Na at the same Wimbledon year, became the first Chinese player to reach a Grand Slam singles quarter-final and also the first player from China to be ranked in the world's top 20. Li Na and Zheng Jie were also the first players to compete in an all-Chinese final - in Estoril (Portugal) in 2006."(source: wikipedia)
If by big you mean hosting your own Grand Slam tournament, then no, tennis isn't big in China, nor is it in any country that's not the US, Britain, France or Australia. If by big you mean having players ranked top 5 or ten in the world then maybe you have a point.
Talking of world rankings, Zheng Jie's ranked 133 because she didn't play at all after the French Open last year where she injured her ankle. Her career high ranking was 24th in August 2006 in women's singles and 3rd in women's doubles(July, 2006), so it wasn't THAT much of a surprise that she beat Ivanovic, although it was a heck of an achievement in her singles career.
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Well my wife is Chinese and is currently in China. I can assure you that the Chinese take their sport very seriously. The Euro 2008 was broadcast live. My wife reckons that Chinese will be the top in every sport come the London Olympics. Having watched Zheng this afternoon who can disagree. Also please remember that China has now got some very good football players, some talented snooker players and as for swimming, well the US and Aus better look out.
Jim
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Unfortunately I could not get a ticket for her next match, even I am living just miles away from Wimbledon.
Anyway, come on Zheng Jie, you can win it!
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James, I believe that you should make as many friends as possible with people like galezhang who might be very helpful to your career in China.
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Congrats Zheng Jie....
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Chinese has to learn the world, the changing world.
It seems the West has yet to learn to live with this changing China.
There are some gut feelings that Europeans have deep inside. For every race, there is a root, in lanaguage, in culture, in Music.
It does not feel good to Englishman when An Indian or Parkistan worte better English than they, a Black person swim faster, or lang lang plays the piano stronger ( not better) , and even given a chance a Korean or African may become the Pope ( if every catholic on earth can vote ).
Perhaps oneday a white man can be the new dalai ( one movie suggested that before), a Koprean become the Pope and solve all the problem.
With Obama to be the US president, anything is possible.
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"each had a suitably low-key, non-energy-sapping interest"
James, this shows you have no idea of Chinese people and Chinese culture and does not want to make the effort.
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Chinese people in China have some bad habits, one of them is save face first and another is never ever fight or play to win.
Just trying is ok for them.
Playing hard to win is not a Chinese way.
One time, Zheng please beat a Williams sister, you may lose in the finals if you like.
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Quoting James, "each had a suitably low-key, non-energy-sapping interest" - apparently got lost in translation, in context. Chinese language is very literally. Context is something Chinese find it difficult to grasp. As you can see, the Chinese bloggers always write in simple declarative sentences. The context here is that tennis is a high intensity sport, but the Chinese players are low key in personality as a contrast. I hope you Chinese stop attacking James at every turn and learn to read and write and think contextually. May be there will be less regurgiting the same lines in you messages without much substance. As for Zheng Jie, I hope she becomes a tennis champion someday without too much personal sacrifice of her body and mind. China starts training her athletes in a very one dimensional way from a very tender young age. The regiment of training is so demanding that these athletes have very little time to be normal children.
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I been reading BBC reports on China for over ten years now, and my parents who have lived in the UK for 20+ years have done so for an equal amount of time.
We notice that the quality and accuracy of the reporting is falling drastically. Maybe China is developing too quickly for journalists to fully grasp it (compared to the 90s), or perhaps the quality of BBC journalism is falling. Mostly likely we feel, it is both.
A few years ago, I felt BBC narratives and blogs to be so apt and accurate, now I feel uneasy about every other sentence I read. I can't put my finger on what the underlying reason is, but it feels like you are not or never been to China, James. Yet, there you are, sitting in China, travelling all around and writing your blogs.
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'Tennis isn't a big thing in China."
How do you know? James. How can you judge whether something is big or not? Any research? Or just something out of the mind that does not understand Chinese language?
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Tennis can only be played by rich people where I have lived in China (south coast and east coast). It costs too much to learn, so has not become mainstream just yet - friends and associates that play consider it a kind of status symbol.
Whereas badminton, table tennis, basketball, soccer, various martial arts, and yoga/aerobics are all very commonly played/practiced, especially the first four.
I love that sport is so commonly used as a social event in China and I miss it when in the UK.
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Quoting democracy101 “Chinese language is very literally. Context is something Chinese find it difficult to grasp.”
Just a reminder, a Chinese word can be pronounced 10 different ways, and mean 10 different things - all dependent upon context.
Your remark is false. Your second sentence is generalization.
Quoting democracy101 “The regiment of training is so demanding that these athletes have very little time to be normal children.”
One of my closest friends is one such child. To put it simple, it is not like that. I find your remarks generalization.
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Reply to churchgore:
"a Chinese word can be pronounced 10 different ways, and mean 10 different things - all dependent upon context". Do you mean same sounding but different word, therefore different meaning? If that is what you mean, you are right. Chinese language is pictoral, formed from simple glyphs of early times. Chinese language is limitted to a common vocabulary usage of over two thousand words, and therefore meaning, not context, is drawn out of an entire phrase. In Chinese language, new terms are formed constantly to add new meanings, e.g. computer in Chinese is electric brain. It hardly describes the real function of "computing and computers", the word psychology in Chinese is known as reason or way of the heart, that does not connote the true meaning of psychology. However, Chinese language for its directness in meaning can enhance logical step-by-step scientific thinking and writing. Perhaps, Chinese take to science and math like ducks to water? Hong Kong has a very vibrant Chinese usage. I believe this comes from the blending of English with people's creative usage of Chinese.
Re. normal childhood, these athletes are plugged out of their family to be boarded at a training center run by the government at a very young age. They do not have time to find out their own personhood other than the athlete they have been assigned to become. This is not exactly a Chinese phoenonmenon. Ambitious parents foster or imposed the same on their potential star athletes ouot of their own ego. So, why do Chinese bloggers never concede to anything that is not so possitive taking place in their society? Are you willing to live a life with blind folds and ear plugs? That goes back to the question of the possibility of democracy for China in the future. As long as Chinese are not pushing for openness, there is no hope. James Reynolds is merely pointing out the obvious for all to see. Your dismissal of "gai-lou" - foreign devil, barbarian's opinion is hindering democratic change in China.
By the way, I am an overseas Chinese having travelled and lived in different places and have lived and gathered a wider perspective on life.
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To post 12:
Even though I agree with you that the quoted remark from James does not show disrepect or bias, etc, I do find your comment a generalization. Look at what you said, "Context is something Chinese find it difficlut to grasp." "Chinese language is very literally." "Chinese bloggers always write in simple declarative sentences." These generalizations weaken your argument.
I'm not familiar with the regiment of training for Chinese atheletes, but I do know a lot of the retired atheletes do have a normal and happy life (look at what Li Ning has achieved), and I believe the environment is becoming more and more friendly to them.
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I have been following James' reports for some time. Though every now and then he does write something that is rather subjective, on the whole the quality of his work is fairly good.
I can't understand why some readers are unhappy about this particular blog entry of James. And it seems to me that the following three sentences are especially contentious.
“It's not a bad achievement for someone who's ranked 133 in the world.”
“each had a suitably low-key, non-energy-sapping interest.”
“Tennis isn't (yet) a big sport in China”
From my personal point of view, I don’t find any of them against the fact. It is a truth that ZJ is ranked 133 in the world, in spite of various reasons. And I feel that James is not supposed to list these exact reasons one by one in his own blog, as he is not a sports commentator in the first place.
As regards the second sentence, my interpretation of James’ words is that Chinese athletes tend to keep a low profile and live a quiet life, as opposed to some big names in the West who always enjoy the spotlight of the media. What’s wrong with that? I don’t see it offensive at all.
The third and last sentence is as much self-clear as the first two ones. Indeed, tennis is still not as popular as other traditional sports such as soccer and basketball in China. And he even put the word “yet” in a pair of brackets, which pretty much indicates that he has some faith in the future of this game getting popularized there.
Sincerely hope James can continue to maintain high-standard professionalism in the future and objectively report on my home country.
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Quote democracy101 “e.g. computer in Chinese is electric brain”.
Computer in Chinese is “Ji Suan Ji” – which translates “Computing Machine”.
Got it?
There is another name called “Dian Nao” – which translates “electric brain”. "Dian Nao" is mostly used in Southern dialects, such as those from Fujian and Taiwan.
Your inability in Chinese discredits yourself.
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to churchgore:
I did not know that Fujian and Hong Kong are not part of China like Taiwan is and that they have a different language other than Chinese. Or, is it that only the northerner's version is the only accepted Chinese term for computer.
Let's take another translation from English to Chinese - cell phone becomes hand- machine. Do you think that truly describes the function of cell phone? When I said Chinese language is a graphical language which was evolved from glyphs of ancient times, which makes it difficult to form new words to describe new objects or meaning. The simple word "good" is formed from the character of girl plus boy.
But, it is your priviledge to stay deaf and dumb in all comments related to China
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http://news.myshantou.net/multimedia/slideshow/The_kids_growing_with_diving_Photo_by_Yanxian_Zhao/
Can't find the correct post now but there has been some debate about the lives of young potential athletes. Here is a photo-article by a Chinese site in English that is interesting
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