By: REUTERS
Published: March 6, 2007
This article is about the globalization of a traditionally American dominated world sport: Basketball. The focus is on a group of young Chinese players who train in Oregon and are hoping elevate China’s game to the level of the Americans in the next ten years. I found this article interesting because it discusses how the Chinese teens love American Hip-hop music and shopping malls.
The bigger issue in this article is globalization’s ability to level the playing field in all things even sports. The Chinese kids, some as young as 11, train in America with professional coaches and facilities. The learn English and read American books. The article says that the Chinese were inspired by the success of European and South American key victories in recent Olympics.
What is so cool about globalization in this case is the opportunity that it has provided the Chinese kids. Many of them came from rural area and probably had little chance for higher education. Their government was able to identify them because of greater connectivity and communications ability. Now they live in America, receive professional training, are learning English, and have a promising future ahead of them. The power of globalization has given them a chance at life that they may have never had without it.
1 comment:
This is a very interesting post. It has very good points that could even be applied to other countries than China, especially concerning basketball. Just look at how much more competition the U.S. basketball team has been having against foreign competition these days. Even the foreign players are becoming NBA All-Stars, or have popular faces in the league.
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