The opening ceremony at last year’s Olympic Games in China was the most watched live event in human history, outstripping the moon landings, the funeral of Princess Diana and Barack Obama’s inauguration. The Sunday Times can reveal that the Beijing extravaganza, staged at the Bird’s Nest stadium on August 8, attracted the world’s first “genuine 1 billion” television audience, according to an authoritative report to be released tomorrow.

The report shows at least 593m people around the world, including 5m in Britain, watched the four-hour show in its entirety (the “average” audience), while 984m tuned in for part of it (the total audience or “reach”, which excludes those who watched in public places).

Sadly, at least 16 residential communities, ours included, were reportedly blacked out of that 593 million, who the authorities couldn’t care less about.

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Wang Hao celebrates as he wins the men's singles.

China’s table tennis team continued its winning fashion in the 2009 World Championships in Yokohama. The team, which claimed all the four golds in the Beijing Games, dampened competitors’ title expectations by securing all the semi-final seats in the tournament.

Li Ping and Cao Zhen defeated Mu Zi and Zhang Jike to win the mixed doubles title on Sunday, while Wang Hao and Chen Qi, the no.1 seeds, edged out compatriots Ma Long and Xu Xin to win the men’s doubles. Guo Yue and Li Xiaoxia won the country’s 11th successive victory in the women’s doubles.

Zhang Yining, China’s new table tennis queen after Deng Yaping and Wang Nan, defeated Guo Yue to win gold  in the women’s singles this afternoon. And Wang Hao, the world number one  in ITTF ranking, swept Wang Liqin 4-0 in the men’s singles final.

That China won all the golds and silvers in the tournament doesn’t seem so exciting to the country’s sports officials.

“If one team keeps winning all at the world championships and Olympics, table tennis’ Olympic future is in danger,” said Yao Zhenxu, a vice chairman of the Chinese Table Tennis Association in an interview. “In recent world championships or Olympics, semifinals are always more exciting than finals because they are all Chinese affairs.”

The ITTF said last week that they want to alter the schedule for the 2012 London Olympics. The new proposal, which opposed by China, will see singles matches played ahead of the team events as “it’s fairer to the players who do not take part in the team event.”

Source:

• Sky Sports: Golds for China  - 11th successive women’s double title for Chinese
• Xinhua: As China won all, Chinese official worried about table tennis’ Olympic future

Photo:  ITTF

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“The total spending of the Beijing Olympics is on par with that of the 2004 Athens Games. We’re able to exceed the original target as the sponsors were so good,” said Jiang, “the Games made a profit of at least $ 16 million USD after deducting $ 1.609 bn USD of spending from the income of $ 1.625 bn USD.”

The numbers don’t lie. But there’re a number of ways people count them. According to Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency, the Beijing Games cost at least  a whopping $ 40 billion USD. The enormous bill included facilities building and renovating, related infrastructure projects, four new subway lines, a high-speed rail to Tianjin, Beijing’s neighboring city, and the largest airport terminal in the world. So only God knows where this $ 16 million USD profit came from.

Sources:

• People’s Daily:  Surplus of Beijing Olympic Games exceeds 16 million USD
• Xinhua:  Beijing Olympics – China’s come-of-age show

Related reads:

• LA Times:  Beijing goes to extremes for its Olympic face-lift
• WSJ China Journal:  The $40 Billion Question: How Much Were Olympics Worth to China’s ‘Brand’?

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Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps yesterday on Feb. 11 issued a video apology customized to his Chinese fans.  The eight gold medals winner at the Beijing Olympic was caught somking marijuana during a student party by a British newspaper. 

Phelps has already signed endorsement deals with brands including Speedo swimwear, Omega watches, Visa Inc, Subway sandwiches and Hilton Hotels Corp and Rosetta Stone. Kellogg, the world’s largest cereal maker, said on last Thursday that they will not extend a contract with him.

The American swimmer just inked a seven-figure endorsement deal with Mazda this January to be their spokesperson of Mazda 6 model. And DMG Entertainment, the company who brokered the deal told media they’re standing with Michael. 

Related Reads:

• Reuters:  Phelps apologises for ‘inappropriate’ conduct
• edmunds:  Swimmer Michael Phelps Appears Secure in Chinese Mazda Ad Deal Despite Marijuana Scandal

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The New Year’s Gala, aside from the nostalgia and joy it brings to the audience, can also serve as a generator of national pride. In 2008 and 2004, the program peaked with China’s Shenzhou astronauts coming out to meet the audience when the new year bell rang. And Beijing Olympics will be, without doubt, another big boost to the national pride of the people, and it wouldn’t surprise us at all should the show feature some Olympic gold medalists this year.

A staff worker in CCTV’s chunwan crew told the paper that the Spring Festival Gala this year will do no lip-syncing during its 5-hour broadcasting, and Lin Miaoke’s appearance would presumably bring questions to the show. Lin, who was reportedly confirmed in for the gala was actually let down by SARFT, who ordered in last month that there should be no lip-syncing performance in the show.

Related Reads:

• The Guardian: China bans lip-synching from its biggest TV show
• Beijing Daily: SARFT Ordered No Lip-syncing in Spring Festival Gala (Chinese)

Photo: Miaokefans

Update: Chinese men’s gymnastic team confirmed that they will join CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala this year.

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1. Juguo Rules the Games 

51 golds, 21 silvers and 28 bronzes, a total 100 medals. China for the first time surpassed the US in the number of golds won most golds in an Olympic Games by sticking to its juguo or whole-nation sports regime. People at the General Administration of Sport of China, the governing body of China’s sports, had since been discussing about proliferating their successful juguo model into a more popular sport, football.

2. Lin Miaoke, Blackout and the Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games will be long remembered not only by its pyrotechnics and drum show, but also a girl named Lin Miaoke, who lip-synced when singing ‘Ode to the Motherland.’  “The reason was for the national interest,” said Chen Qigang, the musical director of the opening ceremony in a radio interview. Chen added that the decision of doing lip-syncing was made at the highest level. It goes without saying that whoever knew about this decision before the ceremony were cool about it, even the parents of Lin Miaoke and Yang Peiyi, the real singer, for whatever reasons that I can’t understand. 

Chen’s so-called ‘national interest’ did scare me, along with the blackout struck our community in Beijing on August 8, 15 minutes after the show began. I saw my neighbors helplessly talking to one other in the alley and guiltily drove to my friend’s. No one told us we were to have a blackout, and no one even came to us to explain what had happened after August 8. A Caijing article later showed that at least 15 pathetic residential communities in Chaoyang District had blackout that night, together contributing to the ‘national interest’ unknowingly. The lip-syncing girl at least had a shot of rejecting doing good to the ‘national interest,’ we didn’t. And that’s only in Beijing, the capital city.

3. Age Of Chinese Women Gymnasts Questioned

Chinese women gymnasts, He Kexin and Jiang Yuyuan, were questioned about their ages after winning golds at the Games. It all began with Stryde’s hack of Chinese websites. All evidence disappeared, ID cards and passports provided. Sorry American girls, you did really well in the games but Chinese did better, if not in the indoor stadium. 

4. Yi Jianlian and CBA Age Scandals

Ages of 22 CBA players were found to have been changed their ages before the new season in the new yearbook issued by CBA, the governing body of Chinese basketball. The association then told media that there’re actually 26 players changed their ages, submitting all the info to FIBA and acting like they had no idea about the situation before. Early this December, a reporter at the Chinese-language version of Sports Illustrated found evidence suggesting that Yi Jianlian, New Jersey Nets forward, is 3 years older than he claimed to be.

5. Horse Gambling in Wuhan

Some 3 million jobs and 100 billion Chinese yuan annual sales sound so enticing that gambling, after nearly 60-year ban in China, reappeared in a different form of packaging. And looks like it will be welcomed even more by the government under the current economic circumstances. 

6. China Bowl Canceled by NFL Again

From Hongda’s withdrawal from Formula One to MLB and NFL’s job cuts, sports industry was so much struck by the slumping economy this winter. China bowl was once again canceled by NFL and New England Patriots closed its office in Beijing.

7. Li Ning Lit the Olympic Flame

Li Ning’s lighting of the Olympic cauldron at the closing ceremony is no doubt the biggest ambush marketing in Olympic history. Although not an official Olympic sponsor, the Chinese sportswear manufacturer must have sold more sneakers thanks to the incomparable publicity it enjoyed at the ceremony. Li Ning penned a contract with Los Angeles Clippers’ Baron Davis this November, a branding move that can be translated as ‘we don’t care much about the North American market.’

8. Fenglu Club Vs. CBA

It’s sad after so much preparation and promises and Fenglu still hadn’t gotten what they wanted, a seat at Chinese Basketball Association, China’s top basketball league. “Geographical balance” might be the weirdest explanation one can ever think of, and unfortunately that’s all CBA could offer for the club.

9. Liu Xiang’s Last Minute Withdrawal         

For millions of Chinese fans, Liu Xiang is simply a source of national pride, the same complex Chinese people had towards China women’s national volleyball team in the 1980s, after claiming five straight major titles. Liu’s last minute withdrawal at the Beijing Games were widely sympathized by fans except for the anger from the scalpers. Liu, 110-meter hurdler, had been covered almost everyday by Chinese media after winning gold in 2004 Athens Olympics. Some said he was hurt not by injury, but the overzealous Chinese media.

10. Chinese Football Out for 2010 World Cup

Chinese football fans could not be downhearted more this year. The national men’s football team was eliminated in the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers this June and lost whatever match they could lose in the rest of the year. Yesterday on December 30, Wei Shaohui, the manager of the men’s team and an official at Chinese Football Association, apologized in a press conference for the poor performance of the team with his theory about potency, “we’ll be potent again when the performance gets better.”

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Shanghaiist guys had for us some ‘swellfun‘ last month. Now the Guizhou-based Kweichow Moutai Co. seems to have come up with a new way of baijiu branding by adding a little Olympic flavor into their drinks.

The company, producing probably the most renowned Chinese liquor, or baijiu, collaborated with the Beijing National Aquatics Center Co., Ltd for their high-end water cube liquor. He Kexin, the disputed Beijing Olympic champion, received a limited edition of this Water Gube Wine (水立方酒) with some other winners at the press conference.

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“The only one I need to get now is the Olympic gold medal – I’ve done everything else in amateur boxing,” Katie Taylor, 22, told the Irish Times after returning home from the 5th AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Ningbo, China’s Zhejiang Province. “It is my dream to be an Olympic champion so hopefully my dreams can come true in four years time.” The Irish boxer is a hundred percent not the only one who’s stoked by this Olympic dream. The recent Championships wrapped up in Ningbo saw China top the medal tally with 5 golds, 2 silvers and 4 bronzes, with another two boxers finishing at fifth place.

“Women boxing will definitely go Olympic, it’s just a matter of time,” Chang Jianping (常建平), AIBA vice-president and president of the Chinese Boxing Association (CBA, 中国拳击协会) told the Beijing News. Rumor has it that it’s possible the International Olympic Committee will set 4 to 6 golds for grabs in women boxing fours years later in London, if not as many as 11 golds in mens’. “Should the sport goes Olympic, its development here just can not be stopped,” Chang noted. Yes, with this promising women boxing team, the made-in-China Olympic machine would generate more power in the next Olympic Games, and the generous GASC will of course throw more Renminbi into the CBA without thinking twice.

“I am here to achieve things,” said Tian Dong (田东), a coach of the women’s team. “I’ve told director Bao, my superior, at the beginning that I would do this even without salary. But I guarantee you it’s definitely worth it if you offer me RMB 1 million (roughly $145,260 USD) per year for the post. You tell me if it’s worth it if you trade 1 million yuan for an Olympic gold medal.”

Sources and Reads:

• The New York Times: China’s Pride: A 24-Karat Olympic Machine
• The Guardian: AIBA calls for women’s boxing at London 2012
• The Irish Times: Taylor sets sights on gold as Olympics committee weighs up women’s boxing

Photo: People Daily

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We stumbled upon a fascinating post today on Asia Basket. Arthur Volbert, a US-based basketball writer who’s been closely following Chinese basketball, found that ages of 22 CBA players have been changed at the start of season 2008/2009. Below are some excerpts:

For Jiangsu, Tang Zhengdong went from being born in 1984 to 1982, confirming longtime rumors than he was older than his listed age. Others who became older were Han Shuo, Yi Li, Hu Xuefeng, Meng Da and Fang Hui.

For Liaoning, National Team member Zhang Qingpeng went from being born in 1985 to being born in 1981. Yang Ming, Gu Liye, Lu Wei and Liu Xiangtao also became older.

For other teams, there are the normal ups and downs with ages that happens in China. Guangdong’s Du Feng, a member of the National Team, went from being born in 1981 to being born in 1982. He keeps switching from one to the other and back, for some unfathomable reason.

Are we surprised by the news? Not at all. Your correspondent at CSR happened to be the schoolmate of two CBA players, one at Shanghai Sharks (上海大鲨鱼队) and the other at Bayi Rockets (八一火箭队), who both were officially listed last year by CBA as four years younger than we know. The two players are unfortunately not on Arthur’s list.

If someone digs, age-scandal stories of this kind can be found in almost every soon-to-be-nationalised football clubs in the country. The reason no one gives a hoot about it is because Chinese football has been lying there in a perennial slumber for so long. And oh, by Chinese football we mean men’s national football team. If you look at the performances of Chinese U17 or U20 men’s team you’ll find they’re actually not as bad as their elders, the U17 team even made it to the quarter-finals of FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2005 in Peru. This suggests that the pace, strength, stamina of these ‘boys’ outruned their foreign peers at the time. The bad news for Chinese footballers is their peers do grow, and we all know what can be expected later.

What Arthur found reminds us of the debate over ages in the Beijing Olympic Games, where two Chinese women gymnasts, He Kexin (何可欣) and Jiang Yuyuan (江钰源), were questioned whether their were below 16, the age women gymnasts are considered eligible to compete in the Games. “The girls are so little, so young,” said Mary Lou Retton, the Olympic all-around gymnastics champion at the 1984 Los Angeles Games to the New York Times when speaking of He. “They said she was 16, but I don’t know.”

Well, we don’t know either. But chances are the Chinese Gymnastics Association do, and they told media that the young ladies are old enough. We genuinely hope He and Jiang are not like those basketball and football players, otherwise they not only cheated their competitors but also themselves, and the gold medals they won will always remind them of what happened this summer.

Sources and Reads:

• Asia Basket: 22 CBA Players Change Birth Years
• The New York Times: Ruling Backs Chinese Gymnasts
• Sports Law Blog: Yi Jianlian’s Age, NBA Employment, and Immigration Law

Photo: Baidu Baike

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Chinese Women’s Hockey Team continued their winning streak by beating Japanese Team 2-0 in Shanghai,  securing themselves a shot of playing in the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics after three straight wins over Norway, Czech Republic and Japan. Ranked 8th in the world, the team consists of 19 players all coming from Harbin, the capital of China’s northeastern Heilongjiang Province which is also known as “ice city” for its long and cold winter.

Low Income

“We’re the only women’s pro team in the country,” said Wang Linuo, the skipper. “There’s only a very few amateur women’s teams, let alone pro. It’s very hard for them to play matches, as there’s almost no opponents. There’re probably less than 100 female hockey players in China now, most of them living in the northern cities like Harbin. I don’t know who’s going to catch up when we retire,” Wang continued. “It’s good that you see some people come to watch our games in Shanghai. But normally there’re less than 10 fans per game. In China, it’s like no body knows hockey and no body wants to know.”

“We’re ranked eighth in the world and I believe we have a shot at a possible medal in Vancouver,” said the Canadian head coach Paul Strople to the Chronicle-Herald. Paul has been with the team since the beginning of this year, the second time being employed as the head coach of this squad. Chinese Ice Hockey Association (CIHA), an organization under the General Administration of Sport of China, has been recruiting foreign experts like Paul as early as in 2003, an attempt to gather the tour de force needed to qualify for the Torino 2006 Winter Games. But Paul’s squad lost in the group qualifiers at the time.

In the wake of the defeat, the CIHA tried to help by other means. “A lot of our players are now playing outside the country. A couple played in Norway last year and six played in Canada. They gain more confidence by playing at different levels. Before our team had only played most of its games in China. But by playing in Canada, for instance, and being on their own for six months, they also gain life experiences as well,” noted Paul to the Halifax paper. “Ice hockey pays you well in Canada and the US. I wish China can have professional league like their one day,” said Wang.

Playing in a pro league does mean a lot to these girls. Only six of Wang’s teammates get their paychecks every month. Others can only receive an allowance of RMB 900 (roughly $ 130 USD) per person in a best month, while most of the time playing for nothing. “Isn’t it unimaginable we’re supported by our families? People ask why we still play. We play only because we love this sport,” a player said in an interview with Xinwenhubao (新闻午报), a Shanghai-based newspaper. But their bad days would not be over soon unless the CIHA could do something. And we can’t expect another 19 girls come and play for that 900 yuan monthly allowance.

New Hopes

“Ice hockey was once very popular in China in the 1980s, especially in the northeastern part of the country” Wang recalled. The then Chinese ice hockey league, which had 17 teams competing for the title, was ranked the best sports league in the country at the time. Thanks to its high competitiveness, Chinese Men’s Ice Hockey Team became a dominant power in Asia. In the Ice Hockey World Championship group match in 1981, tons of fans flocked to the stadium in match days, making Chinese cops, for the first time, control traffic for sports events after China’s Open Door Policy.

Today, with the rise of Chinese middle class, more and more cities are engaging in ice hockey, especially southern China. Guangzhou opened eight ice rinks in recent two years and has 20 amateur teams. Shenzhen also has five rinks now. Shanghai, the country’s economic center, opened three new rinks in a year, where expats and Chinese amateur teams could be found playing. Aside from hosting the Olympic qualifiers for China’s Women’s Team, the city’s Songjiang Stadium (松江冰球馆) is now home to China Sharks (中国鲨鱼队), a pro ice hockey team playing in Asia League Ice Hockey, who’s sponsored by the San Jose Sharks in NHL. Beijing outruns other cities in the number of ice rinks and has now about 4,000 amateur players under the age of 12. The Beijing Cubs, a team of enthusiastic Chinese hockey boys, won the title of Boys Atom House A of Bell Capital Cup in Canada in 2007. The capital’s Wukesong Indoor Stadium, built mainly for the Beijing Olympics, will possiblely host the first NHL pre-season game in China.

But all this may not be of any quick help to all the women players. The ladies now have gotten into the same trouble as Chinese women football players did, who hardly survived all these years…or maybe much worse than that, as China does not have a hockey league and the CIHA is supposedly poorer than the Chinese Football Association.

Sources:

• The Chronicle Herald: Halifax’s Strople coaches Chinese team to Olympics
• Chinese Ice Hockey Association: What can we do to help women’s ice hockey players? (Chinese)

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