I read an article about the muscle size of GIJoe from a Chinese website many years ago. The article said that the GIJoe’s muscle become bigger and bigger for the last thirty years. White and Gillett (1994) mentioned, “Building a muscular physique offers some men a compensatory means by which they can construct and validate, symbolically through their bodies, a particular masculine identity” (pp. 20). They also said, “Muscularity is still central to intermale evaluation even for men who scoff at the exaggerated muscularity of professional bodybuilders” (pp. 20). The bodybuilders in the Flex Magazine are really huge and a little scaring. Do the females really like the exaggerate muscles?
In China, we also have the similar magazine with the Flex Magazine named Fitness and Beauty. This magazine which is the first fitness and bodybuilding magazine in China started to publish since 1980. The contents are more focus on fitness and health rather than the bodybuilding. The cover characters are sunshine and health instead of the exaggerate muscle size.
Interestingly, most Chinese young girl like the males named “beauty as flowers” recently. They usually have melancholy eyes, beautiful faces, and skinny body shape. A great many young girls are crazy about them rather than muscular men. Oppositely, these girls also enjoyed the female stars with the neutral sexual character. These female stars have short hair, no “S” body shape, and deep voice. Is that means the feminism is coming in China?
Most Chinese people always think the basketball is the NO. 1 sport in the US. Because the NBA is very popular in China, and everyone knows Kobe Bryant (but my favorite NBA star is Allen Iverson). Kobe Bryant said he admires Peyton Manning who is one of best quarterback in NFL, and never can stay with him. The NBA All-Star Game always gives way to the Super Bowl for the better audience rating. Therefore, the football, in fact, is the NO. 1 sport in the US.
I have no idea why Americans like football so much, but I do know some reasons why most Chinese people do not interested in football. First, most Chinese people are not strong enough to pursue this violent game. We have problems with physical confrontation. This is one of the reasons why Chinese are good at badminton, ping-pong and dive, but not good at soccer, basketball and volleyball. Second, there have no national football teams in China. We watch NBA because we have national basketball teams; we watch the World Cup because we have national soccer teams. We love our own teams and then we love the games. Third, the football’s rules are too complicated for people who begin to watch this game. If you don’t understand the rules, the game looks like that many crazy and angry players to fight for a ball.
However, the thing changes in China. This year, six television channels broadcast the 2011 Super Bowl in China. The video I showed in the top was very wide spread in Chinese facebook. Also, there have a Chinese American named ED Wang who plays in NFL recently. More and more Chinese people will start to watch the football games for that reason.
I certainly agree with the author’s assertion. It is convincing that pro sports are becoming more and more altruistic. This change is originated from the change in the new generation’s life attitude. According to my observation, more and more young people in college nowadays are participating in community service. The young volunteers are making a large effort to improve the neighborhood. They work hard for free, but everyone is very happy during the work. The idea of giving back to the community is spreading across the campus, and I firmly believe it also applies to the sports field.
The famous NBA player Yao Ming paid back to his home country China by establishing The Yao Ming Foundation. It is in response to the devastating 8.0 earthquake in Sichuan Province, China on May 12, 2008.More than 8,000 schoolrooms and 185 schools were destroyed during the earthquake. The Yao Ming Foundation has so far committed to rebuilding five schools in the earthquake region. The new earthquake resistant schools will provide top level education for more than 1000 students, many of whom will also board at the schools.
Yao Ming’s Foundation is not a special case. Many famous Chinese athletes responded to natural tragedy by donating money and supplies to the people living in Sichuan Province. As far as I know, lots of famous NBA players besides Yao Ming also donated to the people in Sichuan to help them rebuild their families. Therefore, the altruistic sports spirit has no boundaries. It is alive in every part of the world.
