I have never once said anything bad in my blog about China... in fact I have never even mentioned China in my blog, yet they have chosen to block blogspot just cause they can. Well you know what? I am currently blogging in China and I'd like to talk a little bit about their sports in this post. The Summer Olympics are approaching, meaning that there is an international fervor about the upcoming event. This doesn't exclude China. The Chinese have been looking forward to the Olympics a bit more than most countries, considering their successful results from Beijing 2008, where they won the most gold medals. An extremely popular sport here in China is basketball. Their national team is not that good at basketball and neither are most Chinese citizens; however, Yao Ming has left a permanent footprint on the Chinese sports culture since many Chinese people still follow the NBA and are even willing to wake up early in the morning and watch the NBA Finals. Ping-pong, badminton, tennis, soccer, and golf are also relatively popular sports in China, since the Chinese appreciate skill-sports as opposed to physical-sports, such as baseball, hockey, and football. Especially football. I brought a football to China and they won't allow me to throw the ball since they think it's dangerous. The Chinese have such little interest and exposure to this sport that they think the violent aspect of football is the simple action of throwing. It also seems that they have little loyalty for the sports that they actually appreciate, such as soccer. The Chinese National Soccer team is seen as a joke to most Chinese people. When I walk into the Adidas store, I'll spot a Rajon Rondo jersey, a D. Rose jersey, and the world-famous Kobe Bryant jersey. I'll even see all of the countries whose soccer teams sport Adidas (including Japan, whom the Chinese are not too fond of); however, a Chinese soccer jersey is nowhere to be seen. The Chinese would rather support other winning soccer teams, such as Spain, rather than their own country. A few hours after the Spanish won the Euro Cup, all of the Spanish Adidas Soccer jerseys were sold out. The culture is simply different here. Children are focused on school rather than sports, which makes some sense, but I still think that there needs to be a healthy balance of sports and education in China. Strengthen your mind AND your muscle.
