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The Characteristics of Chinese and Indian Identities and How to Obtain Them
Op/Ed Commentary: Chris Devonshire-Ellis
Mar. 15 – The Indian Premier League has just commenced an annual competition in which regional cricket teams across the country play each other over a month long contest. Indians are well known for their love of cricket, and the limited 20-overs (each team gets to bowl just 120 balls) mean matches are over in about 3-4 hours. It also makes for some dramatic finales, as the team batting last tries to surpass the score of their rivals with a limited number of balls to do so.
The country, needless to say, almost comes to a stop as hotels, bars, and restaurants are packed with customers watching each match. Yesterday, the Mumbai Indians just edged past the Rajastan Royals in a thrilling match during which Yusuf Pathan, an Indian Muslim cricketer, scored the fastest century in the competitions history; yet still managed to be on the losing side. In the evening match, the Delhi Daredevils took on the Kings XI Punjab in Mohall, and in another thriller, got an important away win. All four teams yesterday played with a mixture of racial and religious ethnicities, all united within their chosen sport.
The sport unites India, and in many ways embodies the sense of being Indian in a way that the Chinese almost completely lack. That’s not to say that China hasn’t tried. As a consequence of striving to put together a soccer team that could compete in the World Cup soccer finals, the Chinese developed a national league, made up of teams around the country. However, despite reaching the World Cup soccer finals eight years ago, the then Chinese team performed so badly – not even scoring one goal – that interest was lost. The Chinese only enjoy sport if they are winning. Nowadays, the national league is corrupt, taken over by gambling syndicates, with bribery and players and referees throwing matches. Teams are being expelled, and attendances at all time lows. China’s international ranking according to FIFA, is 83 – below teams such as Malawi, Belarus and Panama. The Chinese attempt to build a national league has failed.
Other instances of Chinese sporting oddness have occurred at the last two Olympics. At Beijing’s summer Olympics, I remember well a packed Birds Nest stadium emptying en masse when it became apparent star Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang was injured and could not compete. Rather than watch other world athletes at their prime, 80 percent of the Chinese spectators left. Also, at the Winter Olympics, when we learned the Chinese Olympic Committee issued guidelines to their athletes on what to say when presented with medals: “Firstly, praise and thank your Motherland. Secondly, praise and thank your Mother”.
Watching an entire nation enjoy and become enthralled about a national competition is an amazing experience. The feelings of elation if your team wins and of temporary despair if they lose (especially against close rivals) is something every sports fan can relate to. But within that, a national camaraderie exists, a feeling that China cannot seem to generate. It is almost implausible to consider a Chinese Muslim as a religious, boundary-crossing superstar in China. Yet Yusuf Pathan is just that in India. His exploits, hitting a century from just 37 balls, made front page headlines. In secular India, Hindis, Zoroastrians, Jians, Buddhists, Christians, and Muslims alike revere him for his sporting skills and bravery. Sympathy that, despite his achievements, he finished on the losing side spilled out in the media. There is honor in losing in India. I see little of that in China, let alone participation in national sports by athletes from China’s ethnic and religious minorities.
And here is the rub. While India – crazy, mixed up, secular, diverse, and colorful –embraces its differences, China does not. Perhaps it’s considered threatening for China to have a national league under a one-party state. Perhaps regional ‘tribalism’ would develop and grow stronger feelings for a local team than towards the bland, apparently Han-exclusive Chinese teams that the various central government-controlled sporting bodies field. It is worth noting that no ethnically regional team competes in the only true, widely supported national sport China has, which is still soccer. The Chinese “Super League” is comprised of teams from exclusively Han dominated areas. No sides from Xinjiang, Tibet, Qinghai, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia or Guangxi – all autonomous regions or provinces with sizable non-Han populations – take part.
The Chinese basketball association, perhaps the only other national league of any note, is also compromised of purely Han teams with one exception – the Xinjiang Flying Tigers, whose team is made up almost exclusively of Han players, not Uyghur. Consequently, the spectacle of Indian unity, the strength of the nation, such as Muslim Yusuf Pathan’s noble sporting conquests, cannot be part of the Chinese psyche. It is unimaginable for such a thing to occur in China at the expense of Han atheism and total loyalty to the Communist Party.
China still does not know what it means to be Chinese. The state intervenes instead, and educates its Han citizens on their “Motherland,” while at the same time partially excluding its minorities. In India, being Indian is a right. It is a celebration of the diversity of the country, and this freedom is encouraged through its national sports – one reason they are so successful. The one-party state cannot and does not understand nor want any encouragement of regional division. India thrives on it.
In short, the essence of being Chinese is something bestowed upon certain favored sectors of society and individuals as a political issue. It does not permeate Chinese society equally. In India, being Indian is a birthright and, as such, is taken most seriously by the government, religion, race, and creed. The difference in each nation’s attitude is staggering.
March 15th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
Great article. And to paraphrase George Orwell and Big Brother: “We are all Chinese. But some are more Chinese than others”.
March 16th, 2010 at 11:51 pm
A well written article, but I would like to add that India also has its fair share of Xinjiang, Tibet, Qinghai, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia or Guangxi. They are the North- Eastern states (Sikkim, Meghalaya, Assam etc.) None of the cricketing super stars are from these regions. In India if you want to be a part of the cricket team you better know some Big Wigs who can throw weight around.
March 17th, 2010 at 11:41 am
Sorry, but you know nothing about Chinese sports and this article shows that. There is a Tibetan team, but they are in one of the lowest flights as they obviously struggle with the demand of travel, the national team coach is Hui, this past season saw record attendance and a league average around 18,000. Go back to the drawing board.
March 17th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
Now all we need is for the government to reduce the drinking age to 18 and we’ll beat the world in numbers and quality of lager louts.
Seriously, what the Chinese lack in national identity, they more than make up in civic sense. Have you seen the back alleys here in Delhi? They’re littered with miscellaneous alcohol bottles. Every time there’s a big match, I fear for the windshields of my car. I bet the Chinese never have to worry about a wild bunch going on a rampage.
I’d give up all of Indian cricket to have some civic sense drummed into our population!
March 17th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
I’m afraid Chinese sports fans are inclined to riot on occasions as well. Possibly one of what could now be described as a funny one was when China played Hong Kong (which was then British) in Beijing in a World Cup Soccer Qualifier about 20 years ago. If China won, they’d be going to the finals. They lost.
March 17th, 2010 at 11:23 pm
I am unclear as to whether this article is meant to be a critique of Chinese state or of the Chinese peoples’ athletic deficiencies, but in either case it doesn’t seem to make much sense. The implication in the article that the Chinese government encourages a Han-dominated athletic system at the expense of ethnic minorities is absurd. Off the top of my head, Li Ning, arguably the most famous Chinese athlete of the 20th century and the namesake of the ubiquitous sporting goods chain located across China, is an ethnic Zhuang. Mengke Bateer, the third Chinese player in the NBA and a longtime Chinese national basketball team stalwart, is an ethnic Mongol. Adejiang, who was the starting point guard for the Chinese national basketball team in the 90s and I believe is a head coach somewhere in the CBA now, is an ethnic Uighur. If anything, I imagine the Chinese authorities probably encourage the participation of minorities into the athletic system in order to showcase the “united Chinese nation” to the world. China is a ruthlessly capitalist country and in that spirit they utilize athletic capital wherever they can find it. The reason that there are relatively few visible ethnic minorities in Chinese sports is because A) the overall ratio of Han to minorities is skewed overwhelmingly towards Han people, B) many of the minority areas are isolated and poor, resulting in few athletic recruiters going to those regions and less viable athletic talent being produced as a result of malnutrition. There are many valid areas to criticize China; minority participation in sports is not one of them.
Regarding the assertion that because of the poor performance of the Chinese national team in the 2002 World Cup, “interest was lost” – in the Chinese League? In the China National Team? In Soccer? – that claim doesn’t stand up either. Soccer is enormously popular at a grassroots level in China from both recreational and viewership standpoints. I’m not sure how the author concludes that “The Chinese attempt to build a national league has failed” – despite corruption and a generally low level of play, average attendance figures for the Chinese Super League compare favorably with the better funded leagues in Japan, South Korea, and Australia, and the Chinese clubs are currently performing quite well in the Asian Champions League. I confess that I don’t know much about India, but I would be interested in hearing what a Naxalite or Assamese insurgent would have to say about how India “embraces its differences” and how “being Indian is a right”. Perhaps the main lesson here would be the difficulties of making blanket generalizations about something as personal as “being Chinese” or “being Indian” for countries with billions of citizens.
March 19th, 2010 at 3:25 pm
@AmericaninChina, thanks for your comments. But to compare, you admit you “don’t know much about India” is also a little odd. The point I was making is that in India, the make up of religious and ethnic diversity is far greater than it is in China. Its not just to do with poverty, some of India’s best athletes come from impoverished areas. I do suspect that the Chinese prefer to promote Han athletes with a couple of token minorities (you mentioned three, I think thats about the total) while in India race or religion are not an impediment. About 1.5% of Chinese are Muslims, yet I can’t recall any Muslim athletes of note in China. But please correct me if you can.
March 19th, 2010 at 8:38 pm
great arictle mate. One point of disagreement: I think China would own say a Uyghur who became world champion as “Chinese”. The great feats of Uyghur tight rope walker Alim? …around the world are owned by China for its glory. But basically you are right-b its a different mind set all in China.
March 19th, 2010 at 9:52 pm
last time I checked, Hui is muslim…
March 19th, 2010 at 10:12 pm
@KVP:
There are lots of player from North East. But, most of them play Soccer. Baichung Bhutia (check out his ethnicity), who was born in Sikkim is present captain of Indian National Soccer team. Also, this year Rajasthan royals have selected a Kashmiri Muslim for development(he is a fast bowler), and if everything goes as planned, he will be in Royals squad in IPL-4.
****In India if you want to be a part of the cricket team you better know some Big Wigs who can throw weight around.****
Not true, tell me one single player in National Cricket team who was promoted because he knew some big-wigs. I want to know concrete example. In India, word of mouth goes long way, and many Big-wigs are on constant lookout for talents in all places. There are some cases where MLA, MP, or sports minister tries to put their nephew in state teams. But, performance is a cruel balancer. More often than not, they end up as failure.
March 20th, 2010 at 12:21 am
Chris
Thanks for the thought-provoking article! Its nice to see from the comments that it has spurred some healthy debate, too.
My 2 cents/paise/fen is to remind readers that ethnic and religious identity in India is forgotten when India (or the local IPL team) is winning, but unfortunately is resurrected when the team loses and players are blamed.
As some (older?) readers will recall, the Indian team captain, Mohammed Azharuddin, (Muslim) had his house regularly stoned and effigies burnt by pro-Hindu groups when India lost at Test match.
One final thought: it is the increasing power and money politics in Indian cricket over the last 10 years which has allowed players from outside the 4 major cities to achieve better representation in the team. Previously, if you didn’t play under the Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Calcutta or Delhi Cricket Boards – no chance. One prominent example (there are other) is the current captain MS Dhoni – from Jharkhand, a state unfortunately riven with Maoist attacks.
March 20th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
Thanks Guys, what I see is that when China’s ethnic minorities are a hassle (such as riots) they are described as “Tibetans” or “Uyghurs” yet when its good news or matters of sovereignity issues they are “Chinese”. Doublespeak.
March 20th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
It is very clear that the author has let his own personal prejudice cloud his professionalism, by twisting facts and misinterpreting most of them. I don’t even know where to begin.
Religion has for years been used by Indian politicians to cater to votebanks.
The author has displayed a stark misunderstanding of India in that direction.
First of all, a few differences in India and China:
1) Muslim population in India are 13.4%, in in China, the unofficial figure is 1-2%.
2) India has 2000 ethnic groups, while China has 56.
Now, any minority citizen achieving success in India is construed as India “embracing its differences” and the lack of relative lack of minority success stories in China is seen as China “not knowing what it means to be Chinese”!
The fact that Yousuf Pathan was praised for his effort has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING whatsoever to do with his being Muslim; and also has nothing to do with the assertion that he achieved such success and praise despite being Muslim.
The “despite” factor is also irrelevant here, since a) A score of Muslim cricketers have done India proud, not only Pathan, and b) there are no “religious quotas” as such for cricketers in India. Hence, the selection of a cricket player in the team depends largely on merit. The author has focused on his being Muslim more than his being a good cricketer – deliberately mixing religion and sport.
The author says: “It is almost implausible to consider a Chinese Muslim as a religious, boundary-crossing superstar in China”
Well, that’s because there are only 1-2% Muslims in China as I said earlier, and that too according to unofficial estimates. Hence common sense dictates that the chances of encountering a Chinese Muslim as a “religious, boundary-crossing superstar” are quite slim compared to India. The economic differences are also a factor.
“There is honor in losing in India”
Maybe that’s why Dhoni’s house is attacked and damaged when India loses!
During the semifinal of the 1996 Cricket World Cup in Calcutta (now Kolkata), the home crowd set fire to the stands after the Indian team collapsed.
And there are scores of such examples.
“the then Chinese team performed so badly – not even scoring one goal – that interest was lost”
To this day, soccer is the number one spectator sport in China.
In one survey, 68 percent of people asked in a Beijing poll said they watched matches in the 1998 World Cup even though a Chinese team was not present and the games were often on in middle of the night.
More than 700 million Chinese watched the World Cup in 2006.
“While India – crazy, mixed up, secular, diverse, and colorful –embraces its differences”
Maybe that’s why major riots take place in India at regular intervals – 1984, 1992, 2002…..!
Not to mention the minor ones.
“The state intervenes instead, and educates its Han citizens on their “Motherland,” while at the same time partially excluding its minorities”
Is the author trying to say that minorities are NOT educated about their “motherland”? Is China not the “motherland” of Chinese minorities too? Will the author make the same statement about India, where minorities are also taught about the Indian “Motherland”?
When has the Chinese state partially “excluded” its minorities?
And I’m not even going into the policies which FAVOUR minorities – from relaxation of the one-child policy to preference for admissions and entrance exams.
“The one-party state cannot and does not understand nor want any encouragement of regional division. India thrives on it.”
That’s right. China wants a united nation. Indian politicians, on the other hand, EXPLOIT these differences to, to put it quite bluntly, win elections.
Also – India “thrives” on regional division? Maybe that’s why so many deadly riots occur in India. Maybe that’s why a third of India’s land area is infested by armed Naxals, operating what is literally a parallel army. Maybe that’s why all seven of India’s Northeastern states have active armed insurgencies. There are so many examples that that assertion of the author seems more like fantasy.
“….a national camaraderie exists, a feeling that China cannot seem to generate”
Is that why the stadium emptied when Liu Xiang was injured?!
“at the Winter Olympics, when we learned the Chinese Olympic Committee issued
guidelines to their athletes on what to say when presented with medals: “Firstly, praise and thank your Motherland. Secondly, praise and thank your Mother”.”
There was no such advice from the Chinese Olympic Committee, but just one official. There was no official statement or advisory.
The author has also conveniently chosen to ignore the sorry and dismal state of India’s National sport – Hockey.
It is abundantly clear that either the author a) didn’t do proper research, or b) didn’t want
to do so, as his only aim was to twist facts and smear China.
– Maitreya Bhakal
India’s China Blog – http://indiaschinablog.blogspot.com/
March 22nd, 2010 at 12:56 pm
@Maitreya, thanks for your comments. Its nothing about smearing China (why would I want to do that?) but it’s what I see. I also see that whenever there is the slightest criticism of China, the Chinese bloggers get a bit mental. The Indians are rather more tolerant. The Chinese governnment has introduced into Chinese society a thought process that imemdiately equates any criticism with attack to be roundly lambasted, derided and differing opinions denied. I don’t think that’s healthy. However, I did have a look at your blog. Good job. Thanks – Chris
March 22nd, 2010 at 3:48 pm
@KVP. The states you’ve mentioned do not play cricket. They are football crazy states. The entire northeast of India has a love affair with football. Even in Kerala and West Bengal, people love their football but that doesnt mean we never had cricketers from Bengal- Sourav Ganguly. Kerals- S. Sreesanth.
March 22nd, 2010 at 6:28 pm
Indian cricketers are there on merit not because of who they know. They’d be found out pretty quickly if they were rubbish in an IPL or national side. Plus the IPL attracts a great many of the worlds best. Plenty of Kiwi, South African and Aussie players in there.
April 9th, 2010 at 7:46 am
“the Xinjiang Flying Tigers, whose team is made up almost exclusively of Han players, not Uyghur”
Please, do some research before you write. To help you out,
http://forums.interbasket.net/f21/ethnic-minority-players-in-china-12827/
April 21st, 2010 at 6:41 pm
@sinobball – thanks for the link. What it actually says is: Today’s Xinjiang club (one of the top teams in CBA) features a couple Uighurs (Mawlan Tursun, Murat Adiljan and Shiralijan Muhtar) and a Kyrgyz (Keranbek Maken). All 4 play significant minutes in Xinjiang’s 8-men rotation which also includes a Mongolian and 2 Americans. Bayi also has a Uzbek player named Shokrat Azat.”
Which by my reckoning means there are a grand total of two Uyghurs in Xinjiang’s Flying Tigers. That’s a ratio of 1/4 of the local population making up the local team.
Which I think means my point remains valid.
Thanks – Chris
June 19th, 2010 at 4:32 am
I don’t know if you can’t count or not, but that’s 3 Uyghur players in Mawlan, Murat and Shiralijan. Keranbek the Kyrgyz is also a Xinjiang native and Munkhbaatar the Mongolian is married to a Uyghur.
June 19th, 2010 at 4:42 am
Even if you count a 10-man rotation, the breakdown is
2 Americans
1 Mongolian
3 Uyghur
1 Kyrgyz
3 Han Chinese
I don’t see how your points are valid on any level.
July 8th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
So it seems you’re counting players as being Chinese local Uyghurs if they’re actually a Mongolian national but married to a local girl. Absurd.