Made in China
Brook Larmer, Newsweek’s Shanghai bureau chief and the author of Operation Yao Ming, on basketball sensation Yao Ming, sports in China, and writing his first book.
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texasmonthly.com: Why do you think sports have become “the center of the world”?
BL: I wouldn’t say sports are the center of the world, but the universal language of sports gives them a unique ability to cross the barriers of race, culture, dialect, and nation. Today, that process is being accelerated by the forces of globalization. Satellite television, the Internet, transnational capitalism: these have helped turn sports into a phenomenally lucrative global enterprise. The historian Walter LaFeber has even estimated that, aside from illegal drug trafficking, sports are the number one global industry. The secret, I think, is that sports carry with them an element of cool, hip youth culture that needs no translation. I can’t recount all the times I’ve traveled to remote villages in places like Madagascar, Brazil, or China only to find a kid wearing an NBA jersey with the name of his hero emblazoned on the back.
By the way, I think your question refers to a play on words that is sometimes used not for sports but for Yao Ming himself, who as the NBA’s most cherished international big man in considered “the center of the world.” The pun’s extra punch comes from the fact that the Mandarin word for China is “zhongguo,” meaning “Middle Kingdom”—or “the country at the center of the world.”
texasmonthly.com: What is your favorite thing about Yao Ming, the person? Why?
BL: It’s gotta be his equanimity. I will never cease to be amazed at how lightly Yao Ming has borne the burdens of a nation of 1.3 billion people—and a league that desperately wants to ride him into the China market. Few people on either side of the Pacific let Yao forget that he is more than a basketball player. But Yao himself never seems to let the praise or the pressure get to him. He is somehow able to block out the noise and focus on the things that are important to him: his game, his girlfriend, his family, and, of course, his cars.
texasmonthly.com: What is your favorite thing about Yao Ming, the basketball star? Why?
BL: Some fans around the NBA complain that Yao’s game is boring. He doesn’t fly above the rim like LeBron James or knife to the hoop like Kevin Garnett. But I love the fact that Yao is a throwback to another era. He’s a clean-cut, lunch-bucket player who wears a macramé love bracelet, lives with his parents, and sends Christmas cards to his teammates and rivals. In today’s world of preening athletes, Yao is, in essence, the anti-superstar.
texasmonthly.com: How was writing your first book different from writing your first magazine article?
BL: A former colleague of mine—a veteran magazine writer and author—says he tricks himself into writing books by pretending that it’s just like writing a series of long magazine articles. For me, at least, it’s much harder than that—and much more gratifying. Writing the book required digging much more deeply into the research and painstakingly teasing out the texture of history, place, and character. The greatest challenge was weaving together the many strands of the story into a single textured narrative over 330 pages. Perhaps because of the difficulty, that process also gave me the greatest thrill.
texasmonthly.com: Who will be the next superstar basketball player in the U.S.?
BL: If you’re asking about Chinese players, I don’t see any more Yao Mings coming down the pipeline. There is a very athletic seven foot center named Yi Jianlian who might have a shot at the NBA—if the Chinese authorities give him a chance to enter the draft. Another young player, Sun Yue, may be China’s first guard to enter the NBA—if he’s allowed to have more exposure to Western-style guards. (The Chinese have put so much emphasis on cultivating tall players that they’ve virtually neglected the one position—point guard—in which their quick, agile athletes might have a natural advantage.) The Chinese authorities are proud that Yao has done so well in the NBA. But they are wary of releasing lesser players who may end up riding the bench—or, as in the case of Yao’s old rival, Wang Zhizhi, refusing to come home.
texasmonthly.com: With players getting taller and taller, do you think the height of the basket will ever be raised?
BL: I doubt that will happen any time soon. Such a decision would change the dimensions of the game and deprive fans and players of their favorite shot: spectacular dunks. If there is any pressure for such a move, it is not coming from the tallest players in the league; Yao may be seven six, but his vertical leap is so limited he is among the most earthbound of NBA players. The real revolution in basketball has been the emergence of players over six feet ten inches who also have great hops. They play the game high above the rim, far higher than Yao himself.
texasmonthly.com: Any plans for another book?
BL: I would love to write another book, though my plans are only tentative at this point.
A graduate of Williams College, I began my journalism career as a correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor. I then spent more than a decade working for Newsweek, serving as bureau chief in Buenos Aires, Miami, Hong Kong, and, most recently, Shanghai, where I now live. Operation Yao Ming is my first book.
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