Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2012 From "Ping-Pong Diplomacy" to "Hoop Diplomacy": Yao Ming, Globalization, and the Cultural Politics of U.S.-China Relations Pu Haozhou Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF EDUCATION FROM “PING-PONG DIPLOMACY” TO “HOOP DIPLOMACY”: YAO MING, GLOBALIZATION, AND THE CULTURAL POLITICS OF U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS By PU HAOZHOU A Thesis submitted to the Department of Sport Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2012 Pu Haozhou defended this thesis on June 19, 2012. The members of the supervisory committee were: Michael Giardina Professor Directing Thesis Joshua Newman Committee Member Jeffrey James Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the thesis has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I’m deeply grateful to Dr. Michael Giardina, my thesis committee chair and advisor, for his advice, encouragement and insights throughout my work on the thesis. I particularly appreciate his endless inspiration on expanding my vision and understanding on the globalization of sports. Dr. Giardina is one of the most knowledgeable individuals I’ve ever seen and a passionate teacher, a prominent scholar and a true mentor. I also would like to thank the other members of my committee, Dr. Joshua Newman, for his incisive feedback and suggestions, and Dr. Jeffrey James, who brought me into our program and set the role model to me as a preeminent scholar. I would also like to thank Dr. Cecile Reynaud, who gave me precise advice on my program of study and shared our mutual interest on volleyball all the time. I’m honored to have been working in a group of talented and helpful people for the Lifetime Activities Program under coordinator Jordan Bass, who is always so helpful to us instructors. And with this experience, I’m able to make a lot of friends and quickly adapt to the life here. I am also extremely grateful to all the other faculty and staff members of our department. I have been really fortunate to study in a great program with great people. Thanks to all my classmates and friends here. Finally, I would like to thank my parents for their longtime support and encouragement. I’m lucky to grow up in a family with a strong academic atmosphere and the significant impact from my father makes me hold on to my faith of following in his steps to pursue more academic achievements in the future. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................................vi 1. INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................1 Focus and Purpose...................................................................................................................4 Potential Significance..............................................................................................................4 2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE..................................................................................................5 Introduction.............................................................................................................................5 Theories of Globalization........................................................................................................5 Defining Globalization...................................................................................................5 Economy........................................................................................................................6 Neoliberalism.....................................................................................................6 Politics...........................................................................................................................7 Nationalism........................................................................................................7 Culture ............................................................................................................................8 Americanization/Anti-Americanism..................................................................9 Globalization and Sports..............................................................................................11 Sports-media Context.......................................................................................11 Sport and International Relations.....................................................................12 Sports and Celebrity.....................................................................................................14 The Context......................................................................................................14 The Migration of Elite Athletes.......................................................................17 “Local” and “Global” Celebrities....................................................................18 Conclusion...................................................................................................................19 3. METHODS............................................................................................................................21 Introduction..................................................................................................................21 Data Source..................................................................................................................21 Sampling......................................................................................................................22 Coding Procedure.........................................................................................................24 Physicality........................................................................................................26 Personality........................................................................................................27 Commercial Value...........................................................................................29 Cultural Influence............................................................................................30 Conclusion...................................................................................................................31 4. BODY CULTURE, POLITICS IN CHINA, AND INTERNATIONAL YAO MING.........33 From Mao to Yao.........................................................................................................33 Training the Body for the Nation.................................................................................34 “Big game” in China....................................................................................................37 Transnational Yao Ming..............................................................................................40 Asia’s Son........................................................................................................40 Model Minority Myth......................................................................................43 The Great China Hope.....................................................................................45 Giant “Soft Power”..........................................................................................48 American Idol..................................................................................................49 iv Transnational Pitchman...............................................................................................53 5. LOVE AND HATE: U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS IN THE 21ST CENTURY.......................64 One World, Shared Dream...........................................................................................64 From Ping-Pong Diplomacy to Hoop Diplomacy.......................................................68 Red Capitalist...............................................................................................................72 Forbidden City, the Olympics and Golden Arches......................................................75 6. CONCLUSION......................................................................................................................80 REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................83 FOOTNOTES................................................................................................................................99 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.......................................................................................................104 v ABSTRACT The early retirement of iconic Chinese basketball player Yao Ming came as a shock to fans in both China and United States. The end of the “Ming Dynasty” in the NBA brought about a number of discussions on his contribution and impact to the two countries with his dramatic, if not groundbreaking, nine-year NBA career. His high-profile migration to the United States, under the banner of being selected the No. 1 draft pick, quickly made him perhaps the most recognizable Chinese face to the world. More importantly, he opened a door to bring the NBA to the world’s most populous market with more than 1.3 billion people. The impact brought by Yao Ming however goes far beyond the basketball court. Yao was born in a very unique historical period, in the age of globalization when free- market policies and economics have come to organize the international distribution of capital and culture. In China, the communist government has greatly benefited from free-market capitalism reforming and opening-up economic policy, and energetically disseminating its power and influence to the world (e.g. Beijing 2008 Olympics). The rise of China simultaneously confronts the interest of U.S. political and economic hegemony while the mutual economic desire consequently leads to a relationship of both competitor and partner between these two giants. Considering the flexible and transnational image of Yao Ming and his symbolic status in the two societies, through this thesis Yao Ming is taken as an epitome of the U.S.-China relations— culturally, economically and politically—to analyze the bridge-building role he has created between the West and the East, the celebrity economic effects he has generated as a global sports icon, and the far-reaching influence in a historical period he has brought to the development of Sino-American relations. vi CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION The rapid growth of sports media has led to an explosive increase in coverage of sports celebrities. Simultaneously, the study of celebrity has “developed and cohered into a flourishing field of social and cultural analysis” (Rojek, 2009, p. ii). In an effort to understand how these most public of individuals inform and influence private experience, research on the complex features of sports celebrities in economic, political, cultural and technological forces has been widely conducted (Andrews & Jackson, 2001). The inevitable tide of globalization has not only changed the structure and relationship of our society, but also deeply shaped the current world of sports. Maguire, Barnard, Butler, and Golding (2008) claim, for example, that “The West dominates the economic, technological, political and knowledge resources and controls the levers of power of global sport” (p. 5). And, Western countries also play key roles in the globalization process as related to the pursuit of broader capital accumulation. Global sport is thus tied to the opening up of new markets, including that of labor, and the commoditization of cultures. As increasing transnational flows of athletes and coaches whose country of birth and origin are no longer a limitation on where an athlete plays or where an individual coaches (see Giardina, 2001), the increasing flows of athletes worldwide also boosts the number of “global” sports celebrities, as a new form of labor force, and expands the influence of these individuals over the boundaries of culture and nation- states. This is not only limited to private experience but to a broader scope of social consensus, resulting from their significant transnational characteristics that are highly related to their respective race, religion and nationality. These new “migrants”, whether consciously or unconsciously, promote and exchange the different political or cultural values via “the complex nexus of modern-day media networks” (Nalapat & Parker, 2005). The mutual interaction further carries forward the impact of international sports celebrities to a new level of the “inter-civilization” relationship (Cox & Schechter, 2002, p. xxi), which stands for the deep-rooted cultural and political discrepancy between countries or civilizations while reflected on overt sports individuals. Among all of the professional sports, the National Basketball Association [NBA] is arguably the pioneer and model of sports globalization. In the 2010-2011 season, the NBA featured a record 84 international players from 1 38 countries and territories, and was broadcast to nearly 200 countries (Stein, 2010). NBA stars like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, as well as the retired Michael Jordan, are widely recognized throughout the world. As a symbol of the United States, the NBA is vigorously acting as the vehicle of transferring “American Culture” to the world; its highly designed and consistent form of game is mixed with characters of American culture while its impact to the host country is still largely unexplored. That is, although some research has been conducted on the NBA and its consumption in non-North American countries (e.g., Falcous & Maguire, 2006; Jackson & Andrews, 1996), the view of the NBA in currently developing markets remains underdeveloped, especially with respect to India and China. Among all of its globalizing efforts in recent decades, the NBA’s entry into and popularity in China is considered as a momentous achievement. Although we can note previous engagements with respect to China and the NBA (e.g., Wang Zhizhi’s NBA debut in 2001; NBA carried on satellite television in China), the major breakthrough is found in a 7-foot-6 Shanghai boy, Yao Ming. Yao Ming claimed his retirement in July 2011 at the age of 30, which is usually the peak of many basketball players’ careers, The early retirement of Yao Ming was not a surprise to many people. In his later NBA career, Yao’s fragile left foot was jokingly described as his Achilles' heel in the real world. Like all the giants in myth, Yao began his NBA career with limitless promises of dominance, while ultimately being cut short due to endless injuries. In his nine-year career for the Houston Rockets, Yao shot 52.4 percent from the field and averaged 19 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. He was also the first international player to be a No. 1 overall NBA draft pick, eight-time all-star and one of the most dominant centers in decades. His flexible and transnational identity (Giardina, 2001) grants him multiple images as a sports celebrity, national idol, favorite of commercial endorsement, cultural ambassador, and even a kind of performed “whiteness” in the black dominated NBA (see Farred, 2006). Regardless of the debates about whether Yao Ming was a “good” or “great” player, no one doubts that Yao’s influence has gone far beyond his performance on the court. For this study, I am not so much interested in his athletic achievement but in his historical importance as a cultural icon. Yao Ming, as an international sports celebrity, especially active across the Pacific Ocean, was born in a very unique historical period in which Communist China favors the idea of “open markets” for its neoliberal-like “socialist” economy, and energetically disseminates its influence 2 and power to the world. For nearly a decade, “China has been enthralled by the cult of Yao spun by Communist Party propagandists and corporate sponsors: the winner, the gentle giant, the favorite son” (Levin, 2011, p. b10). To Chinese companies, the characteristics of Yao Ming were what they had been dreaming of for a long time. Cheap “Made in China” products can no longer satisfy the economic base; to continue to grow, quality and prestige would take on an increased importance. No one was more suited to bring forth this message than Yao Ming, with his global reputation, positive personal image, and giant while agile body all communicating high quality. Yao Ming articulates Chinese companies’ imagination of ‘going global’: from “Made in China” to “Made by China”. In the domestic market, he was the symbol of a world-class product, one that had been tested in the United States, and which was filled with Chinese consumers’ imagination of high technology, pop culture and global brands. To the government, Yao was an ideal spokesperson. His high priority on teamwork, loyalty to the nation and rigorous work ethic perfectly fit the idea of “harmonious citizenship”, which is vigorously trumpeted by the communist government. For example, the “model worker,” as he was nominated in 2005, is the highest honor for Chinese citizens. The award, which once honored hard-working factory workers and peasants, now celebrates entrepreneurs, millionaires and the NBA star. Thirty years ago, these people were called “capitalists”, denounced and even imprisoned as enemies of renmin (People). However, the “Reform and Open-Up” policy since 1978 turned around everything. Now the communist government needs Yao Ming—the new “model worker” in the era of globalization, generating capital in the most capitalized country in the world—to show its advent to the new global politic and economic system. During Yao Ming’s NBA career, the People’s Republic of China-United States relationship (or Sino-American, for short) became more sensitive and unpredictable as the fast growing economy of China gave the current American economic leadership a bittersweet taste. On one side, the booming Chinese economy is the most desired market for struggling American interests; on the other side, however, this also makes China the most powerful economic competitor to the United States, with the possibility to disturb US imperial economic ambitions. The NBA was one institution desperate to expand its market in China, and Yao, labeled as China’s biggest export to the United States by former US president George H.W. Bush, carried a country’s aspirations to a broader global stage. Yao’s first impression reflects the stereotype of China in many American people’s eyes: big while skinny, unfamiliar while curious. 3