Running head: THE IMPACT OFWESTERN SPORTS 1

The Impact of Western Sports

to Chinese Traditional Sports

Lyon (Yanqing, Huang)
Northeastern University

THE IMPACT OFWESTERN SPORTS 2
Abstract
With the advent of the globalization era, the conflict in different cultural exchange becomes prominent, especially the difference between Chinese and western sports culture. The difference is largely due to the different historical and cultural background. Each of them has made a sense to the development of its own society and influenced our understanding of sports and main sport activities in the wide world. What's more, because of the impact western sport, Chinese traditional sport has changed a lot compared with last century.

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The General With the advent of the globalization era, the conflict in different cultural exchange becomes prominent, especially the difference between Chinese and western sports culture. The difference is largely due to the different historical and cultural background. Each of them has made a sense to the development of its own society and influenced our understanding of sports and main sport activities in the wide world. What's more, because of the impact western sport, Chinese traditional sport has changed a lot compared with last century. Many sports in China are played only during seasonal festivals or in certain regions. China's national sport is ping-pong. Other common sports include shadow boxing ( wushuor taijiquan). Western sports have been gaining popularity in China. These include soccer, basketball, American football, and baseball. They are played mainly in schools, colleges, and universities.

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Soccer
China has a very long history of playing soccer on its own. There's no doubt that the first pro foreign sport game broadcast by Chinese TV channel was Italian soccer series A, which began from 1989 till now.At the beginning, the channel just broadcast one elected game and highlights of other games every weekend. Anyhow, as called "the little world cup", Italian soccer series A was at its peak at that time. Most of the world-famous stars were playing in Italian league. Soccer games played in such extremely high level were certainly attractive to all Chinese soccer fans at the end of last century. Soon, watching Italian soccer games every week on time became a traditional entertainment for Chinese sports fans. (wenwen.soso.com) Later on, on the World Cup held by the USA 1994, The scene that a young player in a sea-like-blue shirt with a pony-tail showing us his lonely back right at the central in front of a goal gate, deeply moved every fan's heart. Roberto Baggio had become a forever hero of every soccer fan who was born before 1990 anywhere around the world by whose perfect performances and that moving scene. Baggio played his final match on 16 May 2004, against an AC Milan team led by his former teammate and good friend Paolo Maldini. When he was being substituted in the second half, everyone inside the stadium, all the players, coaches and staffs, as well as all the spectators at the San Siro Stadium gave him the biggest standing ovation to farewell one of the greatest soccer player in soccer history. Still till now, people play soccer the most often in China. (www.pro-paul.net)
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pic 1 Before the end of last century, most Chinese used to play pingpong, badminton and soccer as their sport activities in daily life which was mainly because of the lacks of facilities. There were not so much certain area and enough finance to place such professional sport facilities in China such as basketball courts or tennis grounds at that time. For playing sports such as badminton and soccer, only some not-that-big space on pic 2 the ground is necessary needed.
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Basketball
With the development of the country’s economy, more and more cities in China were able to afford those expensive facilities for other kinds of sports. Therefore, a lot of basketball playgrounds existed continually and people might have more choices on sport activities. While Congress has worked hard in recent years to compel China to increase imports of American goods, the U.S. has been extremely successful in exporting at least one product to the mainland: NBA-proven talent. However, as basketball has taken root in schools and public courts throughout China, the CBA has increasingly found a receptive audience. As viewer numbers – 436 million last year – and advertising dollars have increased, so have team budgets and consequently a desire to sign foreign players to increase the talent pool. As one of the greatest NBA players spread his name all around the world, Michael Jordan had become the most shinning sport star at the end of 20th century. Almost every child regarded this genius basketball player as their idol and hero then started playing basketball, as well as the youth in China. From that on, the population of people playing basketball began to catch up with that of people playing soccer which was the main sport trend after the People’s Republic of China founded.

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pic 3 Later on, the NBA lives had been brought to China and which heat on every sport fan in China whatever they liked basketball or not. What's more, I remember one summer the play-off's final was between Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers when I was still in high school. Because of technology problems and the class rules, more than half of my class's students were focusing on two of the radio live on this game's secretly listeners just to know who scored and how many minutes left even during the class. That was crazy. Few years later, the whole class would watch the lives on TV on every breaks between classes if there were games on. By the way, so many guys at school bought the NBA products such as teams' shirts and caps. And some of them would even save a big amount of money till a thousand something
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Chinese Yan to afford one pair of his favourite player's shoes, that was really a lot of money at that time. [pic] pic 4 Named All-NBA Second Team and to The Sporting News All-Star Second Team，in his fifth season with Houston, averaged a team-high 25.0 points (career high), 9.4 rebounds and 1.96 blocks in 48 games (48 starts), led the Rockets and ranked 15th in the NBA in free throw percentage (.862, 356-413); had a career-best 16 30-point outings and posted 20 double-doubles, had four games with at least 35 points and 15 or more rebounds.

He named Western Conference Player of the Month for games played through Nov., marking the first time in his career to receive this honor and becoming the first Rockets player to receive this recognition since Hakeem Olajuwon (Feb. 1995)， twice named Western Conference Player of the Week (games played Nov. 6-12 and

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Mar. 26-Apr. 1); named as a starter to the 2007 NBA All-Star Game (DNP-injured), finishing second among all players in votes received (2,451,718).

However, he suffered a series of broken bones in his legs and feet over the course of his first seven years with the Rockets, and his 2008–09 season ended during the play-offs as the result of a broken foot, which then failed to heal properly. He underwent surgery during the following off-season, but the damage was so severe that

pic 5 he missed the entire 2009–10 NBA season. Yao returned for five games at the start of the 2010–11 season before suffering a stress fracture in his ankle, and it was announced that he would be sidelined for the remainder of the season.

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Yao's impact on basketball culture extended far past his on-court accomplishments. He drew large crowds wherever the Rockets played, and Houston games were broadcast to huge audiences in China and other Asian countries. A media favourite, Yao became a pitchman for numerous companies and was the focus of the NBA's efforts to popularize the league around the globe.

With Yao Ming's nine years in NBA, watching Houston Rockets matches has become a ritual for many Chinese basketball fans as well as attracting a whole host of other supporters. In what is known as the 'Yao Ming Effect' the NBA also has more
THE IMPACT OFWESTERN SPORTS 11 and more influence with the Chinese Basketball Association, known as the CBA. Kobe Bryant was selected directly out of high school with the 13th pick in the 1996 NBA draft by the Hornets and then traded to the Lakers and is considered, along with Micheal Jordan, as one of the all time NBA greats in his position of shooting guard. A five time world champion and perennial all star, Bryant rebounded from a period of personal problems to once again become a fan favourite. [pic] pic 7
At the Nike training camp “Winner of the Arc de Triumph” on July 25 in Shanghai, Kobe Bryant’s simple Chinese words “I love China”, “I love you”, and “Good shot” won overwhelming responses from the Chinese audience. The fans’ enthusiasm for Kobe Bryant is partly because Kobe used simple Chinese words to communicate with his Chinese audience.
THE IMPACT OFWESTERN SPORTS 12 That worked. A Beijing fan named Wang Bo said: “When we hear him speak Chinese, we feel closer to him and we love him more.” The response not only reflects the sensation Kobe brought, but also direct economic benefits. The NBA general manager of China said in a recent interview: “For sports jersey sales in China, Kobe is far exceeding Yao Ming, another NBA star from China.” The general manager of Sports Information Agency Qian Rui also said: “Kobe has a very clear idea of how to succeed in China—The Chinese fans love him when he is in the court, but they would also like to know his feeling towards the Chinese culture and Chinese people. Kobe is very skillful in catering to the needs of Chinese fans, and pleasing the fans. Doing so obviously has brought immense business opportunities for his sponsors. (www.echineselearning.com) Until now, watching NBA games on TV is really a common entertainment in a lot of Chinese families.

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American Football
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pic 8 pic 9 For years the NFL, which kicks off its regular season in full on Sunday, has been the most lucrative sports league in the world, generating an estimated $8 billion a year in revenue. But as technology improved, making it possible for American sports to be seen in more and more countries, the NFL has found itself in a dilemma, staring longingly at blossoming international markets yet with a game few outside of this country understand. Both the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball have strong international followings and eventually, many sports financial analysts have long said, the NFL will have to grow itself overseas or risk being left behind. But there are small signs of real progress. According to the NFL, an estimated 400,000 people in China watched the 2008 Super Bowl. This year the figure grew to 2.2 million -- a small sum given China's population but a positive sign given the game started at about 6 a.m. on a Monday in Beijing. There are only an estimated 500,000 THE IMPACT OFWESTERN SPORTS 14 expatriates living in the country. It wasn't until 2003 that the NFL seriously considered China as a potential market. If the NFL couldn't shove its game into Western Europe, where the culture is roughly the same as the United States, how was it going to possibly entice the Chinese? But by the beginning of this decade, the lure of enormous markets like Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong proved too tempting. The league opened an office in Beijing, began handing out flag football kits to Chinese elementary schools and made tentative plans for an exhibition game in Beijing in 2007. Then a strange thing happened. The Americans in their early 20s who were dispatched to China to work on the exhibition game noticed that young Chinese in the country's biggest cities had an obsession with American culture. And, unlike the other countries where the NFL had been fighting to build itself, China did not have any significant professional sports leagues to compete against. Its one soccer league has been beset with scandal in recent years and has lost credibility with Chinese youth. Since the NBA has been successfully brought to China, some TV channels in China start to broadcast some games of NFL now. So that Chinese people now are getting to know other famous American sports such as American football. In 2005, the management of Boston American football club "New England Patriots" was paying highly attention to Chinese undeveloped but giant American football market. He hired a Chinese student "Tianyi He" who was from MIT to keep writing diaries about American football in Chinese on Patriots official web page. As a fan of American THE IMPACT OFWESTERN SPORTS 15 football, He tried his best to introduce this sport to Chinese people. At the beginning, the clicks on those Chinese diaries was no more than 200 daily. Now, it's thousands of times of that number.

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Baseball
Baseball seemed to be more popular than American Football in China. The China Baseball League or Chinese Baseball League or CBL is a fledgling professional baseball league under the administration of Chinese Baseball Association, founded in 2002. At first, there were only four teams in this league: Beijing Tigers, Tianjin Lions, Shanghai Eagles and Guangzhou Lightning. The Hope Stars and Dragons joined them in 2005. The Hope Stars are an under-21 team of promising players from around the country. Henan Elephants entered CBL as an expansion team in 2009. Well baseball is quite popular among teenagers either. There was one famous Japanese anime names Touch once broadcast in China at the end of last century, which was a very good story about baseball and actually a love story as well. Afterwards, the baseball had become wider known to Chinese teenagers.
QSL Sports Limited, led by Chinese-born financier Kenny Huang Jian Hua, announced that it has formed a long-term binding partnership with the Chinese Baseball Association (CBA) to develop the China Youth Baseball League (CYBL) with the ultimate goal of increasing China's influence in the sport on the international stage. QSL Sports will serve as an investment platform focusing on business opportunities in sports such as basketball, baseball and tennis, as well as establishing media channels for sports related broadcasting.

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pic 11 In response to the increasing popularity of baseball in China, Major League
Baseball International (MLBI) will formally open a baseball development center in Wuxi, China on September 23. The Major League Baseball Development Center will be the first MLB baseball training facility in China that provides professional baseball training for middle school and high school-aged students within an academic school environment. The MLB Development Center is located at Dongbeitang High School in Xishan District, Wuxi, which is located in the eastern part of China on the Yangtze River. The
THE IMPACT OFWESTERN SPORTS 19 center has an international team of baseball instructors. In addition to receiving an excellent academic education, the students will receive baseball training and lessons in English to prepare the student athletes for global opportunities.

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The Future The western sports is a very important part of the western culture with the characteristics of fair competition, clear rules, objective scale, accurate evaluation, and etc. It is based on industrial production and market competition. In this modern times, with the expansion of capitalism, this kind of culture of sports gradually spreads all over the world and has great influences on Chinese traditional sports. On the other hand, Chinese traditional sports is developing fast and starting to accept the influences of the foreign sports. Clash and Fusion of these two sports obviously improves each own development and inevitably leads to a new revolution in human life sciences promoting the harmonious development of the human's body and mind. I do believe that the western sports will have more complex influences on Chinese traditional sports. I hope that there will be more sports activities for Chinese people to choose in the future.

THE IMPACT OFWESTERN SPORTS 21 Refferences

By Ed Flanagan, NBC News

By Miguel Gonzalez Jr, China Realtime Report, July 29, 2011, 8:38 PM HKT

By Menefee, W. Chadwick, Casper, Jonathan M, International Journal of Sport Management & Marketing 2011, Vol. 9 Issue 3/4, p185 16p.

By Kelly, John D, International Journal of the History of Sport Sep-Oct2010, Vol. 27 Issue 14/15, p2608 34p.