Basketball Diplomacy

　　CHINA”S TALLEST SOLDIER never really expected to live the American Dream. But Wang Zhizhi, a 7-foot-1 basketball star from the People’s Liberation Army, is making history as the first Chinese player in the NBA. In his first three weeks in America the 23-year-old rookie has already cashed his first big NBA check, preside over “Wang Zhizhi Day” in San Francisco and become immortalized on his very own trading cards. He’s even played in five games with his new team, the Dallas Mavericks, scoring 24 points in just 38 minutes. Now the affable Lieutenant Wang is joining the Mavericks on their ride into the NBA playoffs — and he is intent on enjoying every minute. One recent evening Wang slipped into the hot tub behind the house of Mavericks assistant coach Donn Nelson. He leaned back, stretched out and pointed at a plane moving across the star-filled sky. In broken English, he started singing his favorite tune: “I believe I can fly. I believe I can touch the sky.”

　　Back in China, the nation’s other basketball phenom, Yao Ming , can only dream of taking flight. Yao thought he was going to be the first Chinese player in the NBA. The 7-foot-5 Shanghai sensation is more highly touted than Wang: the 20-year-old could be the No.1 overall pick in the June NBA draft. But as the May 13 deadline to enter the draft draws near, Yao is still waiting for a horde of business people and apparatchiks to decide his fate. Last week, as Wang scored 13 points in the Dallas season finale, Yao was wading through a stream of bicycles on a dusty Beijing street.

　　Yao and Wang are more than just freaks of nature in basketball shorts. The twin towers are national treasures, symbols of China’s growing stature in the world. They’re also emblematic of the NBA’s outsize dreams for conquering China. The NBA, struggling at home, sees salvation in the land of 1.3 billion potential hoop fans. China, determined to win the 2008 Olympics and join the World Trade Organization, is eager to make its mark on the world — on its own terms. The two-year struggle to get these young players into the NBA has been a cultural collision — this one far removed from U.S.-China bickering over spy planes and trade liberalization. If it works out, it could be — in basketball parlance — the ultimate give-and-go. “This is just like Ping-Pong diplomacy,” says Xia Song, a sport-marketing executive who represents Wang. “Only with a much bigger ball.”

　　Two years ago it looked more like a ball and chain. Wang’s Army bosses were miffed when the Mavericks had the nerve to draft their star back in 1999. Nelson remembers flying to Beijing with the then owner Ross Perot Jr. — son of the eccentric billionaire — to hammer out a deal with the stone-faced communists of the PLA. “You could hear them thinking: ‘What is this NBA team doing, trying to lay claim to our property?’” Nelson recalls. “We tried to explain that this was an honor for Wang and for China.” There was no deal. Wang grew despondent and lost his edge on court.

　　This year Yao became the anointed one. He eclipsed Wang in scoring and rebounding, and even stole away his coveted MVP award in the Chinese Basketball Association league. It looked as if his Shanghai team — a dynamic semicapitalist club in China’s most open city — would get its star to the NBA first.

　　Then came the March madness. Wang broke out of his slump to lead the Army team to its sixth consecutive CBA title — scoring 40 in the final game. A day later the PLA scored some points of its own by announcing that Wang was free to go West. What inspired the change of heart? No doubt the Mavericks worked to build trust with Chinese officials (even inviting national- team coach Wang Fei to spend the 1999-2000 season in Dallas). There was also the small matter of Chinese pride. The national team stumbled to a 10th-place finish at the 2000 Olympics, after placing eighth in 1996. Even the most intransigent cadre could see that the team would improve only if it sent its stars overseas to learn from the world’s best players.

　　参考答案：

　　篮球外交

　　姚和王不仅仅是篮球队员中的奇人。这两座塔是国家的财富，是中国在世界上地位提高的象征。他们也是NBA梦想征服中国的象征。NBA，还在国内争斗的时候，就看到了在13亿潜在篮球迷的国土上的前景。中国——志在夺取2008年奥运会主办权和加入世界贸易组织——正急于在世界上留下标记，当然是按照自己的条件。两年来，让这些年轻球员加盟NBA的斗争已经演变成一场文化冲突——这种冲突被美中之间关于侦察飞机和贸易自由化的争吵大大淡化了。如果成功的话，它可能是——用一句篮球术语来说——最终的二人配合。“这就像乒乓外交，”夏松，一个代表王的体育市场经理人说，“只不过球个大些。”

　　两年前，这件事情更像是锁链。当小牛队早在1999年要挑选他们的明星时，王所在部队的头头们非常恼火。尼尔森仍记得与当时(小牛队)的拥有人罗斯·小皮劳特——那个行为古怪的亿万富翁的儿子——一块飞往北京，同面孔古板的人民解放军干部敲定一项交易的情景。“你能听见他们所想的：‘这个NBA球队在干什么，想对我们的财产提出要求吗?’” 尼尔森回忆道。“我们试图解释这对王和中国都是一件光荣的事。”交易没达成。王变得十分沮丧，失去了场上锋芒。

　　这年，姚成为选定球员。他在得分和挣抢蓝板球方面超过了王，甚至在中国篮球协会联赛中夺走了他垂涎已久的MVP(最有价值球员)奖。表面看来，似乎他所在的上海队——一个中国最开放城市中充满活力的半资本主义俱乐部——将首先把它的球星送进NBA。

　　后来，3月巅峰来临。王打破消沉，率领八一队连续第六次摘取联赛桂冠——他在决赛中独得40分。一天以后，人民解放军宣布王可以自由地去西方，又为自己赢了不少分。是什么因素导致了这种变化?毫无疑问，与小牛队致力于与中国官员建立信任的努力密不可分(甚至邀请国家队教练王飞在达拉斯度过1999-2000赛季)。当然还有一些小小的中国人的自尊心因素。国家队在2000年奥运会结束时踉踉跄跄地挤到第10位，而在1996年列第8位。即使是最顽固的干部也会明白，只有把自己的球星派到海外向世界最优秀的球员学习，才能提高球队的水平。