Thoughtfulness | Why can the second generation of Chinese elites sweep the American sports industry?
Zhang Siyang, a 20-year-old Chinese golf talent, became the first player in 72 years to win the LPGA championship on her career debut, and the media even praised her as the "female version of Woods". In recent years, more and more Chinese stars have shined in the American sports scene, and they have concentrated on some traditionally recognized "aristocratic sports": from Zhang Siyang in golf, Liu Jingwen in tennis, to Chen Wei and Zhou Zhifang in figure skating.
Why do the new generation of sports stars in the United States have a large number of Chinese faces, and most of the sports involved are high-end and burn money? This question haunts most sports fans.
There are reports that the Chinese population in the United States has exceeded 5 million, the average income of Chinese families is higher than most other ethnic groups in the United States, and many Chinese athletes now have parents from the elite, at least middle-class families, they have an enlightened educational philosophy, encourage children's diversified development, follow the child's sports interests, and are willing to continue to invest money in it.
In addition, the American educational atmosphere pays great attention to the promotion and shaping of positive national character by sports, and William Dean, author of "American Spiritual Culture", even said: "The British won the Battle of Waterloo at the Eton Cricket Stadium, and the Americans won the second victory by the Ivy League Football League." "Sports are an important plus in American universities, and many prestigious schools will look at whether students have participated in professional teams in sports, won competitions, and captained sports teams. Therefore, the Chinese elite will certainly not ignore the role of sports when making life plans for their children.
With Zhang Siyang's great success in the arena, some foreign media disclosed that Zhang Siyang's father Zhang Haibin immigrated to the United States from Shenyang in 2000, received a doctorate in physics from Yale University, worked as a financial software developer at Bloomberg, and later became a senior vice president of the famous Pacific Investment Management Company. When he discovered his daughter's golf talent and foresaw that she might become a superstar, Zhang Haibin resolutely resigned and played with his daughter full-time. Zhang Siyang is under the care and guidance of her family, in the academic and high-ball field double harvest, in addition to the court proud, she is also a popular figure of Stanford University, to some extent can not help but remind people of the same limelight Gu Ailing.
Some media have summarized the phenomenon that Chinese celebrities in figure skating in the United States occupy half of the country, thanks to the rich immigrant family background of Chinese Americans, unstinting investment in education, strong desire to integrate into American society, and the actual needs of climbing social classes... Figure skating Olympic champion Chen Wei's father Chen Zhidong is an American medical expert, and he himself is a top student at Yale University; Another figure skating star, Zhou Zhifang, whose parents graduated from Tsinghua's computer science department, attended Brown University. Tennis Chinese star Liu Jingwen was also born in Kochi family, her father graduated from Northwest A&F University, and her mother came from Fudan University.
Interestingly, elite Chinese families often guide their children to skill-based competitions suitable for yellow people and know how to cater to the preferences of American society. Therefore, "Zhang Siyang" usually stands out in golf, figure skating, gymnastics, tennis and other sports, while rugby, fighting, athletics and other physical competitions, table tennis, badminton and other American unpopular sports, generally will not be their first choice.
The so-called experience of "cold doors" is invalid in the Chinese sports circle in the United States, on the contrary, status, financial resources, connections, and vision are important guarantees for cultivating sports stars, and the cold door cannot get out of Zhang Siyang and Chen Wei! According to the latest edition of the White Paper on China's New Middle Class, 33.2 million households on the mainland have entered the middle class, which means that many children do not have to focus only on competitive sports as the only way out of the future. The way to cultivate world champions can still play a role and value, but to give birth to a new sports national idol, the difficulty is self-evident, take the tennis talent Zhang Zhizhen who made a breakthrough at this French Open, his father frankly said that it cost 20 million yuan to train his son, which is what ordinary families can afford?