Nicholas Netzer
Contemporary China 370
Dr. Charles Hammond
Journal #3
The NBA finally brought in a player which the East Asian-Americans/Canadians and China watch with enthusiasm, Yao Ming. In years past the NBA has never really grabbed the attention of the East Asian culture, as basketball is not very popular in East Asia. There were definitely East Asians whom followed the National Basketball Association closely, but after Yao arrived in America and began to play for the Houston Rockets, the amount of attention given to the NBA and more specifically the Rockets by East Asia and Asian-Americans/Canadians increased dramatically.
Last year, when the Rockets played the Toronto Raptors, at Toronto, one would have expected the game to draw only an average crowd, but due to Yao Ming, the game was sold out, and the majority of the ethnic population in the crowd was Asian-Canadians. Not only were they in Yao’s presence, but they were cheering for him adamantly and waving signs written in Chinese. Much of the crowd was wearing red and navy, the Rockets’ team colors.
In Ming’s first year in the NBA he averaged 13.5 points a game, 8.2 rebounds per game and 1.8 blocks a game, but he received the most votes to the All-Star game, and started over Shaq, a perennial All-Star and three-time champ with the Lakers. Yao is looking to be an excellent pro, but is not one yet. Yao Ming, being the first power player from China in NBA carries a lot of weight on his shoulders, and his expectations from his fellow people of China are great. He can only prove them correct if he continues to improve, but it will be interesting to see how he changes the game.
