<div class="quote_poster">Quoting superman32:</div><div class="quote_post">so Canada now has only 260 000 people? are you on crack? last time i checked it was 32 million</div> Umm. 1 300 000 000 / 100 = 1 300 000 1.3 million. Somehow I'd added an additional zero, but thanks, now China has 1.3 million people above 6 feet compared to the previous calculation of 130 000.
This is straight from the article, proving that while Yao may be able to choose his partner, his parents definetly didn't. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The responsibility for arranging marriages among the most gifted retired athletes often fell to the coaches. "We had to do a lot of work as matchmakers," says Wang Yongfang, the former sports-institute leader who coached Da Fang early in her career and, after a long stint of hard labor in the countryside, was rehabilitated as the leader of the Shanghai women's team. "These girls spent far more time with the coaches and team leaders than with their own parents. Who else was there to make sure everything was O.K.?" Before Da Fang even started to look for a husband, Shanghai officials had identified a suitable partner for her: Yao Zhiyuan. Yao, an active player who was two years her junior, was an agreeable man whose ready smile and love of a good quip contrasted sharply with Da Fang's grim demeanor. For several years the two players had eaten in the same cafeteria, lived in the same dormitory and practiced on adjoining courts, but, Da Fang says, "we didn't know each other very well." </div> http://premium.si.cnn.com/pr/subs2/siexclu.../09/19/yao0926/
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting bryce40ww:</div><div class="quote_post">This is straight from the article, proving that while Yao may be able to choose his partner, his parents definetly didn't. http://premium.si.cnn.com/pr/subs2/siexclu.../09/19/yao0926/</div> Yao's parents were not "forced" to marry each other. Matchmakers, common in China at the time for adults who were not married, introduced them to each other. They fell in love after the matchmaking, but they had the choice to marry each other. Dating services in the Western World do the same thing.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting dingking:</div><div class="quote_post">People like to believe some plausible things and like to make up things.Especially media person, they made those stuff for money. In your opinion, Yao's parents were arranged to be married by the officials and so will Yao? They are all oversized people,so male and female basketball players suit each other better. Imagine if yao marry a normal sized girl, it's definitely gonna be a joke. To me, it's absolutely normal for two oversized people to marry each other. More than that, whatelse can Yao do when he was 6'1 tall and only 9 years old other than B-Ball? The best thing for him to do is getting some basketball training and trying to be a b-ball player. B-BAll is the best profession for Yao</div> I'm not going to say that the media is always 100% accurate, but ask yourself who would know more on the subject, investigative reporters with first-hand sources, or you. Don't try and pretend you know about the underdealings, and illegal actions of a communist country. Remember that scandal with all those gymnasts awhile back. Science is so evovled these days, that it's so easy for a doctor or scientist enhance the abilities or genetics of an athlete.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting virve119:</div><div class="quote_post">I'm not going to say that the media is always 100% accurate, but ask yourself who would know more on the subject, investigative reporters with first-hand sources, or you. Don't try and pretend you know about the underdealings, and illegal actions of a communist country. Remember that scandal with all those gymnasts awhile back. Science is so evovled these days, that it's so easy for a doctor or scientist enhance the abilities or genetics of an athlete.</div> No two people think exactly the same. Now that the news laks of credible source, you can either take it seriously or just forget it. If this information makes you happy, just believe it.
I personally would trust someone neutral who lives in China more than a bunch of no-proof, argumental, American-based (remember, America isn't exactly China's best friend) articles. I would trust the basketball fans in China because chances are, they'd know more to confirm this matter through possibly their friends who play basketball at a high level there. When you're taller than 6 feet as a 9 yr old, you don't need the gov't to tell u to play bball, heck, I'll play bball for free and out of my own will. By the way, you guys need to relax about this whole bred for bball issue. People generally marry other people with the same interest/hobby/profession, that's all there is to it. Yao's parents happen to be tall. So Agassi married Stefi Graf, can we all scream and shout "OMG OMG OMG BRED FOR TENNIS! AMERICAN GOV'T IS MESSED UP!" together? Yeah, that's what I thought.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting durvasa:</div><div class="quote_post">The Chinese government is repressive and authoritarian. I'm not saying that the allegations in the book are true, but they certainly seem plausible.</div> That is probably the worst case of over-generalization "let's believe what everyone else thinks" I've ever seen. Have you ever been in China? Have you ever lived there? News flash, the media in countries like the US also very often paint skewed images of other countries (just like the media in China) so the mass blindly believe whatever they're being told. I find very often the case that many people think China is a terrible, oppressive place to live, not true at all, but yet people still have the image of the communists ruling with an iron fist kinda regime. I don't buy this guy's stuff, more likely a scheme to make some money than based on actual facts. I would trust Yao's autobio over some hearsay any time of day, lol. Yao's parents both played basketball at a national level, so it's not a far stretch of the imagination that they married. Yao and Yao's gf both play for the national team, again not a stretch of the imagination for them to meet. The training was probably gruesome, but if NBA players trained like that over hear (which some probably do), it'd probably be called dedication, not gruesome. Lastly, I just find people that believe this kind of Big Brother conspiracy crap to be insults to their own intelligence, after all, Chinese people are still people, not mindless robots following orders. PS: In a country of 1.3 billion people, I wouldn't be surprised there's tall people... pure chance, simple as that. I always get a good chucle when people are amazed that he's Chinese and 7'6. PPS: The article that Bryce posted that supposedly "proves" his parents didn't choose their mates is not necesssarily proof (the article itself doesn't explicitly state anything of the nature, I don't see how anyone can direct that Yao's parents were forced from that article), back in the days in China it is very common for coaches, elders, etc. to matchmake and set up people that they believe have a common interest/to be good for each other, and I believe the article says something along the lines like that the kids spend all their time devoted to basketball, sometimes the older people help them retain some sort of normal life by introducing them to potential partners. I don't think it directly said anything about the gov't pulling strings and directing this whole thing. *running on no sleep, bare with me, sorry.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting yudalicious:</div><div class="quote_post">That is probably the worst case of over-generalization "let's believe what everyone else thinks" I've ever seen. Have you ever been in China? Have you ever lived there? </div> No, I read. Is that not a valid way of forming opinions on other political systems any more? <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">News flash, the media in countries like the US also very often paint skewed images of other countries (just like the media in China) so the mass blindly believe whatever they're being told. I find very often the case that many people think China is a terrible, oppressive place to live, not true at all, but yet people still have the image of the communists ruling with an iron fist kinda regime.</div> Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are not solely based in US. Does China have freedom of religion? Freedom to publicly protest the government? Is it not true that China leads the world, by a wide margin, in state executions? In 2004, China executed over 3,400 people, and second place was Iran with 159 (source). I'm sure you think China is a great place to live, but that doesn't change my statement that it has a repressive government. It's not like China has never been part of any sports scandals involving drugs: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/indepth/drugs/stories/top10.html#6
If you guys want to debate about politics, I would love to as well but let's do it over PMs and in the lounge. This thread has gotten way off topic and gotten to a point where flaming would be unavoidable. Therefore, I'm closing it now to get rid of future problems.
