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ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
ASIAN ATHLETES LIMITED BY GENES OR NURTURE?
o debate on the prospects of Asian athletes in American sports passes without mention of Yao Ming, the Shanghai Sharks's 7-6, 265-pound center who recently led China to an 83-82 upset over the U.S. His prospects as the likely top pick of the 2002 NBA draft have been trumpeted by no lesser authorities than Michael Jordan and Bill Walton.
But the 21-year-old superstar is literally one in a billion (1.25 billion to be exact). Young Yao is the product, genetically and culturally, of a 6-10 father and 6-4 mother, both of whom played basketball for China's national teams. His case is as likely to confuse the nature-vs-nurture debate as to help resolve it. After all, his height may be merely the tip of the genetic iceberg when it comes to his promise as a world-class basketballer.
More familiar to Asian Americans are Michael Chang (5-9) who won the French Open at age 17, and Ichiro Suzuki (5-9), whose batting and base-stealing have lifted the Mariners from the basement to the heavens. Both seem endowed with standard physical equipment but have outperformed more powerful physiques. And on the women's side Kristi Yamaguchi, Michele Kwan, Seri Pak and legions of Chinese divers and gymnasts have shown that champions needn't be amazons.
But these successes haven't silenced those who argue that as a race Asians lack the genetic gifts to challenge black and white athletes in power sports. Asians are genetically smaller and weaker, they claim, and can only excel in sports calling for quickness and agility. They cite Asian underrepresentation in track and field, football, basketball, soccer, tennis, boxing and the like.
Will the future mirror the past? Are we genetically limited to excelling only in a few select sports or will changing social and economic conditions produce a generation of Asian superstars across the sports spectrum?
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Discussions posted during the past year remain available for browsing.
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:57:47 PM)
Hi all,
This is Jim speaking again. I'm not surprised that at least one person thinks I'm a "typical average, pedestrian moron". The reason being that I said the truth about Chinese height and the truth hurts. No I've never been to China but I lived in Hong Kong and Taiwan for a combined 12 years. These people are not nearly as tall as the whites or as the blacks. Just beacuse you have a couple of czech friends that are shorter than ur average height doesn't mean I don't know any Chinese people. I know far more Chinese ppl than u know of any .
You sounded like a sore loser who can't face the truth. You assumed I don't know jack about the Chinese and have a superiority delusion and drew personal insult. I guess that's what made you differnt from a pedestrian moron =)
1) There are whole lots of variety of people --> I agree but the recent census done by Beijing showed that the average Chinese height is 169cm and northern chinese people are about 2 cm taller than the souther counterparts.
2)Comparing Chinese with the pygme tribe .--> sorry I don't know what to say about this one
3)Blacks in America are tall because "have some White blood in them, much of it from the days of slavery (i.e. White masters raping slaves at will)" --> I don't want to respond to this ignorant one.
4)Affluent Asian countries' ppl are taller than south and east european ppl
-->tell me to look it up in the library ? maybe that's what you should do you moron!! There are some serbians who went to my school and already they'd be towering over ppl if they went to Taiwan.
5)Chinese will dominate in the olympics
--> Obviously you are not an athelete and an intellecutal from what you told me to do"collect olympic dataand find the trend" go do some research of what China dominates in the olympics and what area they're weak in and come back to post some intelligent message. or ask me sincere questions and I will be happy to answer them for you.
Jim
Saturday, February 02, 2002 at 20:01:35 (PST)
i saw some statistic that showed that northern chinese were about 2 inches taller than southern chinese on the average. it was 3-4 inches years ago, but the southern chinese have caught up some.
me
Saturday, February 02, 2002 at 12:16:43 (PST)
Asian Height,
No I'm not kidding. I am a late adolescent. My body didnt start growing fast until my late teens years. Actually, I think my feet is still getting bigger. I am wearing #13,E4(wider)shoes. I was wearing #12 before.
Want to see a pic?
Guy, I am not from UCLA. I have seen many other tall Cantonese men and women. I saw 2 other Cantonese who is my height. I didnt saw anyone Cantonese women taller than 6'4", yet. I saw the tall Chinese in swim class, hallway, and Chinatown.
The part about the govt tricking and forcing the Cantonese farmers to surrender the crops is from history books, PBS documentaries, my Sunday school teachers, and words from my parents and grandparents. They said almost the same thing. You are probably not told of this due to the pain of that time. Here is something about force labor. The young Cantonese men of the 50s and 60s were sent to farms in the north to help the farmers and they worked like dogs(my dad told me this and also saw in the history books). Most young Chinese dont know this. You should ask your grandparents
if they are Cantonese. Only happened to Cantonese!
Do you know the first phrase Cantonese say when they see family? "Did you eat yet?" It sounds like this in Cantonese.--> "Sic Geor Fine May?" or in Mandarin-->"Chi fan le mei you?"
It came from the starvation of the time.
Why, the govt took the crops? The Communist borrowed funds from Russia, so
they have to pay the debt and like you said, Guangdong province is the richest province in China, so why wont they take the crops to pay the debt? The northern provinces cannot grow enough food anyway.
Northern food, mainly steamed bread, jiaozi, and zhajiangmian doesnot really mean they are not nutritious. There are many mixed Chinese in China. There are some tall and short, fat and skinny.
You can believed what I said or not? It doesnot matter to me if you do or not. I am only telling you what I know. The history books are not from China. You would find it there.
You can find some of what I meant in these websites.
http://www.hhs.se/eijs/anomaly/CEating.htm
Here is a section from another size that support my comments.
"In 1958, in an attempt to create a socialist Utopia, Mao instituted the Great Leap Forward, in which the peasantry were stripped of their possessions and amalgamated into giant communes. The famine that resulted led to the death through starvation of over 30 million people." from this site( http://www.wnyc.org/new/togo/shorts/chapters/becker.html)
Other effect stuff here: http://www.russbo.com/china_summary.htm
There are many sites. I cannot tell you all. Just read what I wrote and that's all I ask. Anyway, starvation and bad govt forced many Cantonese to immigrate to foreign countries, Hong Kong and Macau. Good food and nice weather in Guangdong, why leave all that?
Cantonese American man
Friday, February 01, 2002 at 21:38:17 (PST)
Jim,
"Economic imporvement is not going to make Chinese people that much taller.Chinese people are genetically shorter than Blacks and Whites. What you've said is just wishful thinking"
Are you a white guy that is unnerved by China's rising power or tall Chinese people? Check Wang ZhiZhi, Ming Yao & other Chinese basketball players. China is not yet an economic power, it already produces 7-footer b-ball players.
Also, why did you lump the blacks and whites together? There is no alliance between blacks and whites. Black men hate white men. When you white men see black men walk towards you at night on the street, your instinct tells you that you should cross to the other side of the street to avoid them.
FOP
Friday, February 01, 2002 at 18:17:40 (PST)
To Bugger Off Jim.
Regarding Chinese Olympic performance: your own statements belie your argument that Chinese are not any smaller than anyone else. If you look at the events where Chinese do well, and the weight classes in which they do well, you'll see that, actually, they are quite small (especially considering all the steroids they use). They tend to do well in figure skating (small event), gymnastics (small again), small class weightlifting, swimming (smaller Asian bone density+steroids is helpful), and sports only Chinese play (e.g., ping-pong, wushu,badminton).
Also, the Chinese women do relatively well (as their state-sponsored program helps in less competitive women's sports), while Chinese men suck at just about everything.
near Olympian
Friday, February 01, 2002 at 14:29:28 (PST)
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