Posted: Wed 15 Apr 2009 16:53 Post subject: Chinese media tout new player’s ‘big white teeth’
Quote:
AFP AND AP, BEIJING
Wednesday, Apr 15, 2009
China has named a player of mixed African and Chinese heritage to the national men’s volleyball team in a noteworthy selection in one of the country’s most popular sports.
Ding Hui (丁慧), 19, is being heralded as the first “black” athlete to play top level sport in China, media reports said yesterday.
Ding, who also played on China’s national youth squad in 2004, was named in China’s national volleyball team this week and is expected to be key to the nation’s drive towards the London 2012 Olympics, the Beijing News reported.
The native of the eastern city of Hangzhou was raised by his Chinese mother and began playing competitive volleyball in his mid-teens, according to the official Xinhua news agency and other reports.
Ding’s father is believed to be South African, although reports did not indicate whether he is in touch with his son.
“Black skin, thick lips and big white teeth are the main characteristics of Ding Hui’s appearance,” said a report on the sports section of Netease.com, one of China’s main Internet portals.
“Due to the special characteristics of his bloodline Ding Hui is blessed with pliability, toughness and agility and has been been undergoing volleyball training at special sports schools since he was young,” it said.
According to the reports, no black athlete has represented China on a national team.
“The coaching staff has been watching him for some time ... his demeanor is the most important thing for me,” the Beijing News quoted national team head coach Zhou Jianan (周建安) as saying.
“He has a very active demeanor on the court, so he will bring a lot of fire to our team,” Zhou said.
Zhou praised Ding’s instincts and passing, placing him among the country’s top five players on both defense and offense.
Zhou said Ding, who plays the libero position, had been a natural for national selection, but the move raised eyebrows with some.
“Countless numbers of people have called me about this issue today, but I just tell them that his ethnic background and family situation are his own private matter about which I have no opinion,” Zhou was quoted as saying by Xinhua.
While Ding’s national selection was unusual, dark-skinned athletes are not rare in China. Exchange students from Africa and elsewhere have featured on university teams and amateur squads, while there are many black players in the professional soccer and basketball leagues
Joined: 07 Feb 2007 {Posts: 1829 } Location: Lookin DC Metro, Feelin Geneva
Posted: Wed 15 Apr 2009 18:15 Post subject:
Just a warning, don't think the description is racist or mean, Chinese often speak about each other using similar blunt language. For example, in China it is nto seen as very rude to tell a fat woman she is fat. (Japan either and they are known as being so polite). My in-laws when they come to America make pig noises at my wife and say "you are a real American now, fat...[insert pig noise]" (no my wife is not overweight by American standards). My wife does not think this cruel.
I think in some ways East Asians just are far less politically correct and don't get offended as easily by criticism, in fact criticizing people who are not "normal" is seen as "normal" (I believe this is due to Confucianism). Harsh self-criticism is normal as well. IF a Chinese person says I speak Chinese well, I usually tell them in Mandarin something like "You give me praise, but my Chinese is very bad; my listening is pathetic..." This is customary. Most Americans will say "thank you" and it would be seen as extremely arrogant.
Last edited by Dragon Horse on Wed 15 Apr 2009 19:37; edited 1 time in total
Joined: 19 Jan 2006 {Posts: 223 } Location: Southern California
Posted: Wed 15 Apr 2009 19:07 Post subject:
Dragon Horse wrote:
Quote:
IF a Chinese person says I speak Chinese well, I usually tell them in Mandarin something like "you give me praise, but my Chinese is very bad, my listening is pathetic..." [option 1] This is customary. Most Americans will say "thank you" and it would be seen as extremely arrogant
(my comment in italics)
Wow, pretty fascinating! Here in America, when one resorts to option 1, then some may say that this person is too self-depricating or "doesn't know how to accept a compliment graciously"
Actress Vivian Leigh was born in India, but that did not make her an Indian, by ANY stretch of the imagination. Ding's black features override his Chinese ones, the same as Obama's black features override his Caucasian ones.
Some people here are confusing ethnicity with geography.
Escobar, Chicago,
Being "half Chinese" & being "born in China" is NOT enough to make one "Chinese." This is the destructive "proposition nation" garbage adopted by U.S.multi-culturalists. Nations are defined by the blood of its people, not lines drawn on a map. Ding is NOT "Chinese" and the Chinese know it.
Paul, Shreveport, USA
To Samuel,
Ding is not a foreigner, he was born and raised in China and he is half Chinese. That is enough to make him Chinese.
Kai, New York, USA
National pride is a large part of the appeal of the Olympics. Importing foreigners to play on an Olympic team dilutes it and renders the competition as meaningless as professional sports where the biggest spender can buy the best team. If this trend continues the Olympics will wane in popularity.
Samuel, Bounds Green, UK
C. Alexander Brown: “About 6% of Jamaica's population from the mid-1800 is Chinese.” Are you sure?
According to the UWI statistics, Chinese make up 1.2% of the population.
Tetsu, Tokyo, Japan
Next thing, China will have lots of Jamaicans on their athletics teams. Why not? Britain does, Canada does, and as a result win a lot of Olympics & World gold medals. Now even Croatia has Jamaican sprinters! Here is a little known fact. About 6% of Jamaica's population from the mid-1800 is Chinese
C. Alexander Brown, Rockcliffe Park, Canada
This is how racism starts, from the refusal to acknowledge that a person with parents from two different races becomes a person of mixed heritage and should not be merely relegated to "black" which carries all the negativity that can be imbibed into that title. It's the 21st Century, change is NOW
Jumoke, Geneva, Switzerland
Here's a pic. He has very Asian features to me. He kind of looks like someone from Madagascar.
Asian 'politeness' is more of an extension of the American stereotype of the 'submissive Asian woman' thing. I've heard quite a few Black women mention how they've went in beauty supply stores and had the Asian (normally female) owner inform them that they need a perm without so much as a blind of an eye!
I do have to admit, the boy struck me as very Black looking as well. Many West Africans have those slant eyes like that, and of course are his color. But then again, since his eyes are so 'chinky' one would assume the Chinese people would feel a natural kinship with him since their eyes are the one thing that's generally considered unique to them. Their eyes are like coarse hair is to Black people.
But then again, since his eyes are so 'chinky' one would assume the Chinese people would feel a natural kinship with him since their eyes are the one thing that's generally considered unique to them. Their eyes are like coarse hair is to Black people.
Kinship is very bizarre to me, since it is not uniform. One person from a culture might feel a certain relation to an individual based on something from their phenotype, where as another person of the same culture is unable.
I myself do not associate tight curls, coarse or kinky hair as kinship to Africans, since there are many people of Jewish, Italian, Greek and Latin ancestry with similar hair. However as a child I would associate slanted or asian type eyes with kinship to my own family(aka the Smith Race) and those eyes can be found in many other cultures, so I felt related to everyone. But that is youthful thinking.
Joined: 07 Feb 2007 {Posts: 1829 } Location: Lookin DC Metro, Feelin Geneva
Posted: Wed 22 Apr 2009 19:07 Post subject:
girlfromthenc wrote:
I do have to admit, the boy struck me as very Black looking as well. Many West Africans have those slant eyes like that, and of course are his color. But then again, since his eyes are so 'chinky' one would assume the Chinese people would feel a natural kinship with him since their eyes are the one thing that's generally considered unique to them. Their eyes are like coarse hair is to Black people.
kinship due to eyes. I don't feel kinship with Ethiopians and most of them are my color. I think that is too subjective. I can tell you for a fact most Chinese feel no kinship to Japanese people although their phenotype heavily overlaps and they have had well over a thousand years of contact.
As far as the boys looks, he looks Asian, but for his wavy hair and skin color, if he was lighter he would look like he was a native of Southeast Asia.
Those are Cambodian people, I'm quite sure if he was a shade lighter and wore a hat, he could walk around many areas of Indonesia, Cambodia and maybe even Malaysia, Philippines, and no one would look twice.
These people are from East Timor (formerly part of Indonesia)
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