- Hardcover: 304 pages
- Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group (14 Feb 2012)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0307272214
- ISBN-13: 978-0307272218
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.8 x 3 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 456,845 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
The wonderfully original story of a struggling Chinese basketball team and its quixotic, often comical attempt to right its fortunes by copying the American stars of the NBA—a season of cultural misunderstanding that transcends sports and reveals China’s ambivalent relationship with the West.
When the Shanxi Brave Dragons, one of China’s worst professional basketball teams, hired former NBA coach Bob Weiss, the team’s owner, Boss Wang, promised that Weiss would be allowed to Americanize his players by teaching them “advanced basketball culture.” That promise would be broken from the moment Weiss landed in China. Desperate for his team to play like Americans, Wang—a peasant turned steel tycoon—nevertheless refused to allow his players the freedom and individual expression necessary to truly change their games.
Former New York Times Beijing bureau chief Jim Yardley tells the story of the resulting culture clash with sensitivity and a keen comic sensibility. Readers meet the Brave Dragons, a cast of colorful, sometimes heartbreaking oddballs from around the world: the ambitious Chinese assistant coach, Liu Tie, who believes that Chinese players are genetically inferior and can improve only through the repetitious drilling once advocated by ancient kung fu masters; the moody and selfish American import, Bonzi Wells, a former NBA star so unnerved by China that initially he locks himself in his apartment; the Taiwanese point guard, Little Sun, who is demonized by his mainland Chinese coaches; and the other Chinese players, whose lives sometimes seem little different from those of factory workers.
As readers follow the team on a fascinating road trip through modern China—from glamorous Shanghai and bureaucratic Beijing to the booming port city Tianjin and the polluted coal capital of Taiyuan—we see Weiss learn firsthand what so many other foreigners in China have discovered: China changes only when and how it wants to change.
When the Shanxi Brave Dragons, one of China’s worst professional basketball teams, hired former NBA coach Bob Weiss, the team’s owner, Boss Wang, promised that Weiss would be allowed to Americanize his players by teaching them “advanced basketball culture.” That promise would be broken from the moment Weiss landed in China. Desperate for his team to play like Americans, Wang—a peasant turned steel tycoon—nevertheless refused to allow his players the freedom and individual expression necessary to truly change their games.
Former New York Times Beijing bureau chief Jim Yardley tells the story of the resulting culture clash with sensitivity and a keen comic sensibility. Readers meet the Brave Dragons, a cast of colorful, sometimes heartbreaking oddballs from around the world: the ambitious Chinese assistant coach, Liu Tie, who believes that Chinese players are genetically inferior and can improve only through the repetitious drilling once advocated by ancient kung fu masters; the moody and selfish American import, Bonzi Wells, a former NBA star so unnerved by China that initially he locks himself in his apartment; the Taiwanese point guard, Little Sun, who is demonized by his mainland Chinese coaches; and the other Chinese players, whose lives sometimes seem little different from those of factory workers.
As readers follow the team on a fascinating road trip through modern China—from glamorous Shanghai and bureaucratic Beijing to the booming port city Tianjin and the polluted coal capital of Taiyuan—we see Weiss learn firsthand what so many other foreigners in China have discovered: China changes only when and how it wants to change.
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10 reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Who Knew!!!
3 Mar 2012
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Who knew that learning about the culture and politics of contemporary China could be such rolicking good fun! The author introduces us to an American former NBA player and coach and his wife, strangers in a really strange land indeed, hired by a Chinese basketball team owner to bring the "NBA WAY" to his failing team, the Brave Dragons; and foreign basketball mercenaries brought in to make Chinese basketball teams better. Then there is a cast of Chinese characters beginning with the over the top team owner - a first generation self-made millionaire who excels at berating his players and hiring and firing one coach after another. We are introduced to heartbreakingly endearing young Chinese basketball players, chosen at a young age to play basketball because Xrays indicated that they would grow to be tall. These young men, some of whom do not even like basketball, are condemned to basketball prison - living two to a room in a converted warehouse and enduring endless hours of pointless drills "The Chinese Way." In addition to these is a wealth of other characters delightfully and insightfully portrayed and not easily forgotten.
As the author follows the team around China for a season, he gives us an enlightening lesson in Chinese history and a clear look at the tensions between individualism and the good of the state. Through the microcosm of basketball, he shows us the bewildering, often frustrating attitude of today's Chinese, "we want all things American - but we want them our way!"
A terrific and funny read!
As the author follows the team around China for a season, he gives us an enlightening lesson in Chinese history and a clear look at the tensions between individualism and the good of the state. Through the microcosm of basketball, he shows us the bewildering, often frustrating attitude of today's Chinese, "we want all things American - but we want them our way!"
A terrific and funny read!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Very well written, subject material sometimes fails to captivate...
21 Mar 2012
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
The author, Jim Yardley, has worked for the New York Times and has won a Pulitzer prize for coverage of China's legal system. He had lived in China for 6 years during the time he covers the Brave Dragons, and has a very good (albeit outsider's) view of Chinese culture. He and his father are one of only two father/son pairs to both with Pulitzer Prizes.
The subject matter might be considered mundane, in that we are not talking about an Arab Spring type of story where material is so rich, it probably writes itself. Rather, we are talking about a basketball team's season in China.
The experiences of Americans living there are also among the most entertaining facets of the story. Chinese culture is very closed to outsiders as Yardley often tells us. Even, he, after six years living in the country cannot really explain some Chinese customs.
While the team doesn't have a blowout season, and their standings within Chinese basketball haven't really improved much, Yardley cannot be blamed for this. The story is still worth reading.
There are times when the story gets slow, and some parts I skipped out of impatience when the author delves into lengthy history lessons. One such part that seems like it could have been pared down is the history of the YMCA in China. Granted, this is what brought basketball to China, but I found the history of Communism and Insdustry in China emmensely more captivating.
In the end, it is Yardleys proficiency at telling a story that kept me reading. He has a distinctly New-York-Times-style of writing that just flows and feels natural and academic at the same time for me. The characters are very memorable and often entertaining. Having finished the story a week ago, the thing that will most stick with me is the team's owner, Boss Wang, followed closely by how well written the book was.
The subject matter might be considered mundane, in that we are not talking about an Arab Spring type of story where material is so rich, it probably writes itself. Rather, we are talking about a basketball team's season in China.
The experiences of Americans living there are also among the most entertaining facets of the story. Chinese culture is very closed to outsiders as Yardley often tells us. Even, he, after six years living in the country cannot really explain some Chinese customs.
While the team doesn't have a blowout season, and their standings within Chinese basketball haven't really improved much, Yardley cannot be blamed for this. The story is still worth reading.
There are times when the story gets slow, and some parts I skipped out of impatience when the author delves into lengthy history lessons. One such part that seems like it could have been pared down is the history of the YMCA in China. Granted, this is what brought basketball to China, but I found the history of Communism and Insdustry in China emmensely more captivating.
In the end, it is Yardleys proficiency at telling a story that kept me reading. He has a distinctly New-York-Times-style of writing that just flows and feels natural and academic at the same time for me. The characters are very memorable and often entertaining. Having finished the story a week ago, the thing that will most stick with me is the team's owner, Boss Wang, followed closely by how well written the book was.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
A slam dunk of a book!
28 Feb 2012
Format:Hardcover
I'm not really a sports fan but I just read The Art of Fielding and loved it so I thought I'd give this a try. This was better, and it's non fiction! It was really lively, and a well-observed take on Chinese culture through the often funny window of basketball. (Boss Wang!)
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