New York Knicks player Jeremy Lin is suddenly getting hot.
The 24-year-old has not only been featured on the cover of Time Magazine, but has also occupied nine pages of the latest issue of Titan Sports, the biggest sports newspaper in China, and has graced its cover four times in the past 10 days. It seems as though every news or sports publication or TV network has been talking about the wonder-kid Lin recently.
It was natural for former Houston Rockets star Yao Ming to carry the Chinese nation's pride when the Shanghai-born national team player joined the NBA a few years ago. But does the American-born Harvard graduate Lin have anything to do with the millions of Chinese people half a world away?
Of Chinese descent
"Jeremy Lin proves that Chinese people have the ability to achieve success in an environment that stresses fairness, I am really proud of him," Yang Xiaohui, a Nanjing resident in Jiangsu Province, told the Global Times. Her opinion is shared by many people who are not reluctant to share their pride of the color of his skin, and his roots.
However, some do not share this opinion. "Jeremy Lin accepts American education and culture, so he represents American values and is therefore not at all related with the Chinese nation. He is only an American with a Chinese face," Chen Wei, a resident in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, told the Global Times.
In fact, Jeremy Lin is not the only American-born Chinese to have stirred up a heated discussion among the public in China.
Gary Locke, a Democrat who was elected Washington State's 21st governor in 1996, was the first Chinese-American governor in US history. He attracted the attention of the Chinese people after he was nominated as the US ambassador to China, a position he now holds.
Unlike his predecessors, Locke instantly won the appreciation and kindness of the Chinese people as he was of Chinese descent, while his arrival brought hope to many in China who see it as a chance to change Sino-US relations.
However, these people's hopes were dashed when Locke did not blink in criticizing China's "trade protectionism" or "human rights records," just as any American politician would do.
Chinese people came to realize Locke was but an American. Just like Locke himself said, he will not learn to speak fluent Chinese in order to remind the Chinese people that he is an American, and that he will firmly represent President Obama and the American people rather than Chinese people.
American dream
"It is understandable for Chinese people to passionately follow Jeremy Lin and Gary Locke, for they are indeed related to us by blood, and Chinese people will of course feel proud of their successes," Lu Jiehua, a professor with the Department of Sociology at Peking University, told the Global Times yesterday.
"Anyway, Lin's success is educational and encouraging to Chinese people, especially youngsters, and Locke's success can be an example for Chinese Americans who want to realize the American dream," Lu added.
Perhaps a better case of Chinese people achieving the American dream lies in the story of comedian Joe Wong, better known by Chinese people as Huang Xi.
Born in a small village in Northeast China, Wong went to the US to seek a biochemistry PhD degree in his early 20s, but gave up on his career as a biochemical engineer for showbiz.
Today, the 42-year-old Chinese American is almost a household name in the US after he appeared on the David Letterman show, and cracked jokes in the presence of Vice President Joe Biden at an official dinner.
"I think Joe Wong is truly the pride of the Chinese people for his constant efforts in realizing the American dream and promoting cultural communication between the Chinese and American people," said Wang Miaomiao, a citizen from Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province.
Doubts at home
Xia Xueluan, a professor of Sociology at Peking University, believes that Jeremy Lin and Gary Locke's successes came thanks to their untiring efforts and American education, but have nothing to do with their Chinese heritage.
"I think the craze for Lin and Locke in China is somehow a result of the fickleness and restlessness among some people, and some people's successes tend to be exaggerated," said Xia, who added that the legend of Jeremy Lin may have only been created by the media, while Chinese people's passion sometimes follow blindly.
The Lin craze, for example, is exactly what the NBA hopes and spares no expense to push for, as Lin could save the NBA's largest overseas market after the retirement of Yao Ming, according to the International Herald Tribune.
Sadly, when questions are raised as to whether the success story of Lin and other overseas Chinese descendants can be copied in China, many remain pessimistic.
According to Yang Yi, deputy chief editor of Titan Sports, China has a totally different method of training basketball players compared with the US. The two countries have no similarities in sport and educational systems, and therefore a player like Lin would be hard to foster in China.
Wang Hongcai, an educational professor at Xiamen University, agreed with Yang's views.
"I don't think it's possible for China to educate a sportsman like Lin, because in the Chinese educational system, the students' personalities would not be respected and their special talents would not be precisely honed. As such, I hope the Chinese education system can put more emphasis on a student's personal development," Wang said.
Global Times Observer
Admire Jeremy Lin for his skills, not the way he looks
No doubt the Chinese sports system has problems in creating more superstars, however, the Lin fever in the mainland also partly results from a cultural inferiority complex.
Global Times Foreign Views
Legend of Lin revives Confucian teachings
Lin is a devout Christian. But I think his success has more to do with Confucian rather than Christian values. Jeremy says his Lin "needs some improvement," but he certainly understands the Chinese virtue of ziwo piping or self-criticism.