Word: yao
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...memoir with sportswriter Ric Bucher, Yao: A Life in Two Worlds, Houston Rockets center Yao Ming reflects on straddling two cultures...
...That medal reverie is shared by China's hoops team, which is currently relying on one oversize 23-year-old to carry it past traditional basketball powers. Like an ancient Chinese warrior, the nation's 2.26-m center Yao Ming had vowed not to shave for six months if the Chinese didn't make it to the Athens round of eight?an empty threat from a guy who looks like he can hardly grow a single whisker. But in their debut game against Spain, Yao bucketed only 12 points, and the Chinese suffered a 83-58 drubbing. After the game...
...shirts that read “Two Wongs can make it white” and displayed a stereotypical caricature of two “Wong Brothers” running a laundry service. AsianWeek.com reported how Shaquille O’Neal cracked racial jokes, repeatedly singled out Houston Rockets player Yao Ming for mockery and even threats of violence, and told a reporter to “Tell Yao Ming, ‘ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-soh.’” The media, including The Los Angeles Times, Sports Illustrated and the Associated Press, ignored the incident...
...acts of racism. One writer of AsianWeek surmised, “If a white [basketball] player had, for instance, made monkey sounds to taunt a black player, it would have been a national controversy.” Yet O’Neal’s actions and words against Yao were just as despicable, and America didn’t even blink twice...
...Chinese are intensely proud of Yao, who has done the Confucian thing by living with his parents and sending polite holiday cards to his teammates and opponents, Shaquille O'Neal included. But few people outside the Middle Kingdom ever imagined how deeply a product of China's socialist sports system would capture American hearts. Earlier this year, Yao signed a deal with McDonald's, which had dropped its previous spokesman, Kobe Bryant. Kobe was supposed to be the next Jordan. Turns out the new Michael is a man named Ming. --By BROOK LARMER, author of a forthcoming book on China...