Is the world watching a new Tang dynasty?

VISHAKHA DESAI

President of the Asia Society

August 18, 2008

The world watched with awe the amazing spectacle of the opening Olympic ceremony in Beijing. We saw the electronic unrolling of Chinese scrolls replete with great historic symbols, and we were mesmerized by dancers creating "harmony," using their bodies as ink brushes. There were 2,008 martial arts students performing millennium-old moves with mechanical precision, while the flying celestials and the galloping torchbearer created a sense of heavenly abode on Earth.

There was another time when China dazzled the world: the Tang dynasty (618-907), often thought of as China's golden age, when it was truly the "middle kingdom" at the centre of the universe. Its capital, Chang An (modern-day Xian) was a world-class city; visitors came from all over and were dazzled by its wealth, beauty and power. Its emperors used silver from Persia, glass from Europe, precious stones from Central Asia, and gold implements from India. Open, confident and cosmopolitan, China connected with the world with ease, adopting new ideas and projecting its own indigenous creations. It's no wonder Chinese scholars sometimes say that China is entering a new Tang dynasty.

Indeed, when China was awarded the Olympic Games in 2001, the country's official Xinhua news agency called it a "milestone in China's rising international status and a historical event in the great renaissance of the Chinese nation." For seven years, Chinese officials and artists worked tirelessly to make this dream of a "renaissance" a glittering reality, and they exceeded all expectations. But how should we understand the broader implications of the opening ceremony, both for China and the outside world?

First, the good news. In keeping with China's recent efforts to reveal its "soft" side was the projection of China as a nascent leader of the new international cultural order. The Bird's Nest stadium was the creation of the multinational design team of Herzog & de Meuron, with suggestions from the visual artist Ai Weiwei. Many artists involved in the creation of the spectacle, including fireworks specialist Cai Guo-Qiang, dance star Shen Wei, and composer Tan Dun, earned their fame primarily in the West. Even Zhang Yimou, the lead impresario for the event, gained fame in the West through his early films chronicling the hard life of a young modern China.

Chinese officials had clearly decided these diaspora darlings of the international art scene should be claimed as China's own. Their ability to bridge the traditions of East and West and to create a new space for creativity that can transcend the cultural specificities of the past in favour of a new blended future could be squarely associated with China's own global aspirations.

Not surprisingly, the Chinese leadership was keen to avoid any reference to the past two centuries of struggle and humiliation, or to its problematic political agendas and thorny trade issues.

At the same time, it could be argued that the spectacle of the opening ceremony was intended to overcome China's historic humiliation by the West and signal a new chapter. As in the Tang dynasty, arts and culture were centre stage, reflecting the country's economic prowess and political might.

But the extravaganza also left lingering doubts. Why such a drive to prove to the world that these had to be the very best Olympics? Some have said the effort suggests a hint of insecurity.

It should also be noted that while Mao was conspicuously absent in the ceremonies, his Communist legacy was present in subtle ways. The relentless emphasis on the "harmonious" presence of large groups of performers left no room for individual voices. Ironically, while younger Chinese are obsessed with personal stylistic statements, the drama of the opening ceremony was a collective expression at the service of the state.

Chinese intellectuals have always been cognizant of this tension between individual creativity and collective will. How will the new China balance these two conflicting needs? As we contemplate the potential arrival of the new Tang dynasty, we should remember the message of the old Tang dynasty poet Po Chu-i:

Sent as a present from Annam

A red cockatoo.

Coloured like the peach-tree blossom

Speaking with the speech of men.

And they did to it what is always done

To the learned and eloquent.

They took a cage with stout bars

And shut it up inside.

BEIJING -- The public-address announcer, though suitably caffeinated, has no chance. Before he even begins to belt out the name, a trembling anticipation grips 18,000 people inside the Olympic Basketball Gymnasium. "WHOOAAAAAA ... AHHHHHH!!" goes the quick, staccato cheer, distinctive to the Chinese and their rock-star-mad love for their favorite player. The exultant hero trots onto the court, aglow with pride, nodding in appreciation.

Yao Ming, one would guess.

One would be wrong.

"I'm very happy about it. To be this well-received, it feels great, man," said Kobe Bryant, a polarizing figure in America but somehow as popular in China as chopsticks and ping pong. "I feel right at home."

I've seen some oddities during my days and nights here: a talking golf cart, a Kung Fu exhibition at a chic nightclub, buses and cars that keep driving through crosswalks when pedestrians have the green light, animal penis on menus, an immovable donkey on a back road near the Great Wall, David Schwimmer and Billy Dec schmoozing up the mayor at a Chicago 2016 party and a Japanese judo coach who said this after his powerhouse team underachieved and won only two gold medals: "I have to bear the responsibility, and I think that I should slit my belly to apologize."

But nothing has been more shocking than the discovery that Kobe is a bigger sensation than Yao, the famed 7-6 giant who has hoisted China onto the world sports map and symbolized his nation's basketball boom. Do the people here not realize that Bryant, with the possible exception of Alex Rodriguez, is the superstar athlete that Americans most like to hate? Did they miss his rape trial in Colorado, his megalomaniacal role in the Shaquille O'Neal/Lakers split, his no-show in the NBA Finals against Boston? In the States, we've learned to accept the bad with the good regarding the Kobe Experience, respecting him as the most explosive and charismatic player since Michael Jordan yet also realizing he's capable of exasperating us at any time. Here, somehow, they love him unconditionally, and if you don't believe me, note whose NBA jersey has been the top seller in China for three years. That would be Kobe's. Yao? He's 10th, down from sixth last year.

"I know he's big back home, but I think he's bigger here," said Chris Paul, one of Bryant's Team USA backcourt mates.

"I've got to go in the other direction when I'm with him. It's crazy," said U.S. star Chris Bosh, talking during a press conference in which Bryant was positioned strategically and mobbed by more media than 10 American players combined, with only LeBron James in the same ballpark. "I saw a guy after Kobe gave him an autograph, and he took off running, laughing and jumping to tell his friends. I don't know what it was like for the Beatles, but from what I've seen, it's close."

The English-language newspaper China Daily editorialized Sunday about some of the indelible names from these Olympic Games. The country's first gold-medal winner, female weightlifter Chen Xiexia, was listed. So was film director Zhang Yimou, the creative mind behing the opening ceremonies. "Not to mention NBA stars Kobe Bryant, Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian," the paper wrote, in that order.

And we won't soon forget the astonishing hullabaloo over Bryant during the ceremonies, when the predominantly Chinese crowd began chanting his name. Said Tyson Gay, the American sprinter whose would-be stardom in the 100 meters ended in disappointment: "The crowd was chanting, `Ko-be! Ko-be!" and I wanted to get next to him so I would be on TV."

Then there were the scenes in the Olympic village, where he has been mobbed by athletes from all countries during a couple of visits. Stunned that a superstar with a $136 million deal would leave Team USA's five-star digs at the Inter-Continental Hotel to hang with other Olympians, they gave Bryant the same love as the fans. You can check it out on YouTube, where footage of his second visit has drawn a hit barrage. When he happened to run into swimming icons Michael Phelps and Dara Torres, he changed roles and asked them to pose for his cellphone camera. "That's the first time I ever said, `Hey, take this picture,'" Bryant said. "I'm taking the picture and putting it in my office."

So, I suppose you want to me to psychoanalyze this phenomenon. How, in a Communist country, does Kobe Bean Bryant transcend all other figures at the Games? Having watched three Team USA games with the adoring Chinese on the west side of town, I'll try to explain. The NBA, please understand, is a hot business here. Commissioner David Stern has been eyeing China and its 1.3 billion people as prime, fertile turf for his grand globalization plan, and the strategy has helped cultivate more than 400 million hoops fans, a bigger pool than the entire U.S. population. NBA games are televised regularly, and the hugely rated broadcasts allow viewers to adopt favorite players. Bryant's magnetism has tantalized the most fans, I'm told, because he's seen as Hollywood -- a point-scoring machine who plays in Los Angeles, benefits from Nike's smothering marketing presence in China and has a seductive charm to him.

He's hardly alone, of course. The collective expanse of Team USA is treated like a traveling religious revival, too. The other night, the fans were thrilled and dancing in their seats after China's tense victory over Dirk Nowitzki and Germany. But minutes later, when the Americans took the court for the next game, they didn't miss a beat and roared with thundering approval. Last week's China-USA game was unprecedented in that the fans cheered for both teams. A basket by Yao or Yi was celebrated, yet when Kobe or two other favorites, James and Dwyane Wade, would dunk a ball, the crowd grew delirious.

Humbled by it all, Bryant tries to credit Yao. "I think he has a lot to do with that," he said. "He was the one that kind of built the bridge from China to the United States." If so, the Americans are romping across it, received here much differently than they were at the Athens Games four years ago.

"Coming to China helps it," Wade said. "Our game is very global, very big over here. There's a lot of fans that we have over here. Everywhere we go, they show their excitement for us. It wasn't like that in Greece. We were looked at as cocky athletes, overpaid and all that. But over here, they really appreciate the game of basketball that we play."

"The fans are crazy. They know you everywhere you go," said Deron Williams, who isn't in Champaign-Urbana anymore. "There's nowhere you can go in this city without being recognized. Everybody's [called] by their last name.

"Except Kobe. Kobe's `Kobe.' "

And then there's Yao. Don't get me wrong: He's an admired figure in a nation obviously proud that he has gone to the U.S., handled himself with great dignity and become a major star. After the Germany victory, he was the last one off the court and was serenaded by the audience. But at 7-6, how many people actually can relate to him here? It's revealing that his Houston Rockets teammate, Tracy McGrady, has been third on China's jersey sales list the last two years. McGrady is similar to Bryant in his extraordinary athleticism and scoring skill. In China, they seem to get more jazzed about sleek cars, in the NBA parlance, than their own towering monument.

Which might explain why Bryant, no dummy, continues to insist he'll explore the global marketplace when he's free to leave the Lakers in 2010. In Stern's zeal to market globally, he also might sabotage his own league in the negotiating leverage he creates for his greatest players. If the U.S. economy continued to be weak, why wouldn't Bryant, James and Wade try to cash in around the world? When Kobe was asked if he, like James, would consider a one-year, $50-million contract with a team overseas, he didn't hedge.

"I'd go. I'd probably go," said Bryant, who spent part of his childhood in Italy. "Like Milan or something like that, where I grew up … Do you know any reasonable person who would turn down 50?"

His raging popularity also explains why he hasn't followed up on his intentions to speak out about the Chinese government's relationship with Sudan. Last year, Bryant taped a public-service announcement denouncing the situation in Darfur, where hundreds of thousands have lost lives. "Together, we have the power to change the world," he said. Now? When asked by Yahoo Sports if he'd continue the anti-China crusade, he deflected the issue like an errant pass.

"Nothing’s changed. It's just time to play basketball," said Bryant, flip-flopping wildly. "I'm not a government official or politician. I'll let them do that."

After all, he's too busy absorbing the Beijing love. All together now:

"WHOOAAAAAA ... AHHHHHH!!"

Yao leads China over Germany at Olympics

Dirk Nowitzki's team gets U.S. next after Americans whip Spain 119-82

By FRAN BLINEBURY Chronicle Olympic Bureau

Aug. 16, 2008, 11:14AM

BEIJING — Every time he made a shot, Yao Ming pumped his first.

Each time one of his teammates made a play, he nodded his head vigorously and slapped him on the back.

The opening game against Team USA was a social event, a world-wide happening. This was the game Yao wanted.

This was effort that China needed to win to declare its Olympic experience as hosts as a success. With Yao pouring in 25 points and grabbing 11 rebounds, China made that statement with a 59-55 win over Germany on Saturday.

(Also Saturday, LeBron James led six players in double figures as the United States beat Spain 119-82. The Cleveland Cavaliers star finished with 18 points and eight assists.) 

When the horn sounded, a triumphant Yao ran to the middle of the court with both arms raised high above his head and he joined his teammates in a circle for a dance. Then he ran off the floor, hooting and yelping and reaching to slap hands with fans who hung out of the stands.

"It's a big day for China, but we want to do more," Yao said.

The victory guarantees that the home team will advance to the quarterfinal round of the tournament and means China will at least equal its best-ever Olympic finish (8th place).

China has one more preliminary round game against Greece and will face the No. 1 seed in Group A when the knockout round begins.

But that's a problem for another day.

This night was about standing up to the pressure of being in front of a roaring, hopeful home crowd that would have been devastated if its most high-profile team at the Olympics did not advance.

"It was difficult psychologically for us," said China coach Jonas Kazlauskas. "We were playing at home and we just cannot lose this game."

Yao played from the opening tip as if he simply would not let that happen.

He got the ball inside against Germany's 7-footer NBA tandem of Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Kaman and he scored in the post.

Yao moved as well as he has at any time in the tournament and played and shot the ball with confidence.

He anchored the middle of China's zone defense and he effectively changed shots all night as Germany shot just 18-for-62 (29 percent) in the game.

"We win this game tonight because of our defense and the way Yao played inside," Kazlauskas said.

China won after once more blowing a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter. But instead of giving the game away like happened against Spain, Yao's bunch was able to right itself.

 When Nowitzki (24 points) hit a 3-pointer with 1:55 remaining to slice the lead to 56-55, the collapse seemed imminent. But after China missed three shots and Yao took a charge under the hoop against Nowitzki, the ball came to Yi Jianlian on the right wing and he drained a 16-footer with 28.1 seconds to go and China was able to hang on.

China has been to the quarterfinals twice before in the Olympics (Atlanta and Athens). But this was time it was accomplished with the burden of expectation.

"It's bigger than in 2004, because it's really difficult having the home court and everything that comes with it," Yao said. "It makes me more excited. It gives me more emotion. "Of course, the pressure is always there in big games. We feel the pressure. But most of the time we handled it pretty well."

Yao handled his role as the ballast that was always there for China, making big buckets and grabbing big rebounds.

"I think this team comes with more experience after all of our training games and a very frustrating game against Spain," Yao said. "I think we all learn how to trust each other, play together and win this game as a team. "Sometimes it seems like we are down, like at halftime and in the fourth quarter. But we know what to do."

They did enough to answer the challenge, reach their pre-tournament goal and to enjoy the raucous celebration with a house packed with their jubilant countrymen, even if 7-6 center couldn't quite into words the grin that was sprinting across his face.

"I don't know," the beaming Yao said. "This is a big something. How do I describe? I don't know. Give me a break."