Here's a lesson in cultural diplomacy.



Zheng Jie, a native of earthquake-ravaged Sichuan province in China, is the first Chinese tennis player to make a Grand Slam semifinal, and the most successful wild card competitor in Wimbledon's history. She's a towering figure in Chinese sports, and yet Western broadcasters can't even say her name properly. In fact, sometimes, they are inadvertently calling her a prostitute or a chicken.

My friends kept telling me that, those commentators from ESPN and NBC butcher the 24-year-old's name every 10 minutes. I don't expect your average American to get it right off the bat, but 2008 is the year of the Beijing Olympics, and the networks need to be on their game when it comes to China. Some Wimbledon commentators claim they've been to Beijing to prepare for the games. Yet even the Wimbledon court announcer said her name properly while the commentators -- who clearly need to attend remedial Chinese name pronunciation school -- stammered.

It would take an hour at most to grasp the pronunciation system, and then we could avoid reducing a language with thousands of years of history and more than a billion speakers to a bunch of garbled, quasi-French "j" sounds. Her name isn't Je je or Jeng jee. It's Jung ji-eh (with a hard "j" like "jump"). Jee or "ji" can mean "chicken," "prostitute," or even, ironically, "difficult to pronounce."

Zheng lost to Serena Williams today, meaning that the Williams sisters will go at it on Saturday in the final and I'll be spared -- for the time being -- hearing her name butchered. The Chinese star plans to donate much of her Wimbledon prize money to victims of the Sichuan earthquake, as she did with her French Open third-round proceeds. According to the Boston Herald, the rest of the money will go toward the Chinese Tennis Association.  



Talk about this match.  If a win against two-time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams was too much to ask for, the legions of Zheng supporters will have been thrilled at the way she battled and pushed her opponent.

Here is what the post-match report says...

After losing the first set 6-2, the second was a different story as the 24-year-old went a break up and even had a set point on the formidable Williams serve.  But it was not to be, the American holding her nerve to claim a 6-2 7-6 (7-5) win.

Afterwards, Zheng, whose quarter-final win against Nicole Vaidisova was reportedly watched by 100 million people in China, said: "I knew there were millions and millions of people watching me back home. I did really want to win. But overall I'm quite satisfied with the performance." 

Zheng said the most memorable thing about her experience was that 'lots of people in Centre Court supported me'. But there will be many, many more when she returns to China in search of Olympic glory.

"I don't know if they will treat me like a hero or not, but I will use this experience from Wimbledon to have better expectations in the Olympics and to have better achievements," she said.

Zheng's semi-final defeat has denied her the opportunity of competing for the Wimbledon crown on the day of her 25th birthday, but she plans to stick around to watch the contest between Serena and sister Venus.

"I hope I can watch the final here," she said. "I feel maybe that Serena has more chance to win, but I think it's a great final."



AND, this is what I called TRUE SPORTSMANSHIP (or sportswomanship? LOL)

Here is a short recap in Chinese for Zheng's magical journey in Wimbledon this year:

鄭潔激戰莎蓮娜　雖敗猶榮

成為首位中國人打入網球大滿貫4強的鄭潔，周四在溫布頓網賽女單準決賽面對美國的莎蓮娜威廉絲，以2:6落後第1盤，比賽曾因天雨暫停。其後，鄭潔再以6:7輸第二盤，以0:2被淘汰。「川妹子」鄭潔雖未能進入決賽，但雖敗猶榮的她仍獲網壇一致好評。

鄭潔面對7個大滿貫冠軍莎蓮娜，無論發球或抽擊威力，都不及對手，第1盤僅打了28分鐘便以2:6輸波；第一盤末段倫敦下起驟雨，比賽暫停約半小時，讓鄭潔有喘息機會，在第2盤更一度打破「細威」發球局，領先4:2；雖然在場觀眾多為鄭潔打氣，但力量始終輸蝕，鄭潔立即被莎蓮娜打破發球局，雙方戰至決勝局，「細威」以7:5勝出，令鄭潔無緣晉身決賽。



拍賣「勝利毛巾」

鄭潔賽前說：「這次是我第一次打入大滿貫準決賽，我有點緊張，我會盡最大努力，不過莎蓮娜是偉大球手。」鄭潔表示願意將今屆賽事全部獎金捐予四川賑災；鄭潔打入4強獲得約290萬港元，連同之前女雙贏得24萬港元，而一般中國網球員需將約6成獎金上繳，鄭潔將為災區帶來約120萬港元善款；她更將8強時使用的「勝利毛巾」作拍賣。

同日較早時上演的另一場準決賽，7號種籽威廉絲以直落兩盤6:1、7:6，擊敗5號種籽、俄羅斯的狄文泰娃；已奪得4屆溫布頓女單冠軍的威廉絲賽後說：「對手與我打法相似，同樣都有強勁抽擊，不過今仗我發揮較她佳。」

One more note:
"Zheng & Yan, hope to see you again in HK!!"

(Fwd by my dearest mother from Canada)

儘可能多關懷我們身旁的人 - - -
無論是父母、夫妻子女、朋友同事 , 一個笑容一聲問候,都可能改變一個悲劇的產生。

他是一位退休教授，跟老妻過著優游的生活，早上一起爬上小山崗舒展筋骨，下午他料理陽台的花草，又或看看雜誌，妻子則和朋友到咖啡室聊天。他們唯一的女兒，在美國定居。
 
月前的一個晚上，朦朧間他感到床墊濕了，是老妻尿床。他推推她，發覺她已沒有反應。
 
「節哀順變。」不少親戚朋友說。「謝謝關心，我會的。」
他極有禮貌地回答，沒失方寸，一派學者風範。暗地裡，他部署一切。花草贈給鄰居，向人借的書籍郵寄送還，然後，走上律師樓立遺囑。全部準備好了。

在月圓的晚上，銀光薄薄的灑滿一室，他亮起微黃的檯燈，寫下最後的說話。

面前，是一瓶藥丸。瓶子上，他看見老妻微笑。就在他打開瓶蓋的時刻，電話響起。他拿起電話筒，一把熟悉的聲音傳來：「爸爸，我在機場，我好想陪陪你。」
 
他猛然醒覺。.........
  
老教授向我說完他的故事，喝一口香片，緩緩道： 「最有效防止自殺的東西，不是學術修養，不是心理醫生，不是豐厚財富，原來是一種簡簡單單的被 愛 感 覺 。」
 
因為重要，請多傳一次
1.這個社會病態報導多，鼓勵人心的少。
2.我們其實是他人豐厚財富的一部分，值得多存一些。
 
You were born because of Love

=========================
P.S.  I miss you, mom!
Sorry to get you worried about me all time! :(

This has bothered me for my past 3 year experience working in HK as a Media person, and this shit haunted me again this morning when I went out at North Point, trying to catch interviews from soccer fans, who hang out inside those HK-style cafe during live EURO matches.

All I want is just to get short words from those "fans" about their opinion towards the matches.  I really admired the creativity of HK people, to think of different unique excuses not to be on camera for interviews....

Some says,
they sneaked out from their workplace since no supervisor was presented at their early shift.

Some says,
they owed a lot of money from others and prefer not to be on screen.

Some says,
I am okay to be interviewed, but not in front of a camera.

But the one that pissed me off, was a 20-30 years old chinese guy, with glasses...
He was wearing a gold color SWEDEN team jersey, a special edition I believe...
(since tonight SWEDEN vs RUSSIA, and they need at least a TIE game to advance)
He was with two other friends inside the cafe, watching the 2nd half at around 10 minutes left...

Here is the conversation:


Me: "Hey, nice SWEDEN jersey.  I bet you are a Sweden fan."

XX: "I am a ENGLAND fan actually."

Me: "But you are also wearing a Sweden jersey too.  Do you like Sweden?"

XX: "I have plenty of golden color jersey and it just happen to be a Sweden jersey."

Me: "..... "

Me: ".... Alright! So, would you mind if we ask u just 1-2 short question about your take on tonight's game?"

XX: "Oh, I cannot talk fluently."

Me: "... Okay... sorry for bothering. Thanks!"

(WTF!)


So therefore, EMPTY HANDED tonight. I didn't get any interviews from this cafe. No luck for me, I guess.  But my frustration towards HK people (not every HK people, but some!) is that...

WHY in the hell that everyone is so scared about cameras?

In my 2-year experience covering the NBA All-Star Game at the states (Houston & Las Vegas), I never have any problem catching interviews on the street.  Not only getting people to talk, they also enjoy sharing their thoughts with others, and speak their mind.

But I guess it just wont happen like that in Hong Kong.

WHY?

I heard every word that you guys say after I got rejected by you people for doing interviews. I heard every thing you guys talk about the game when our cameraman is still outside the cafe. I really do not have any problem with people having their own personal reasons not to be interviewed.

Don't get me wrong... I totally understand, except that f**ked-up Sweden-jersey sucker...

You are lucky that I was representing my company, out there working our ass off to catch these less-than-1-minute interviews....

I wanna say... what's wrong with being in front of camera, just to SPEAK OUT?

In Toronto, people even put money in a machine, and record their words inside the "SPEAKER'S CORNER", which will be aired randomly on television.

SPEAK OUT!!! SPEAK UP!!!

P.S.  I guess I just miss Toronto too much!

(http://www.license.shorturl.com)

I definitely removed mine,
I suggest you all do the same.
Now you can see anyone's Driver's License
on the Internet, including YOUR OWN!
I just searched for mine and there it was ...
picture and all!

(Thanks Homeland Security!)

Go to the web site, and check it out.
It's unbelievable!!!

Just enter your name, city and Province
to see if your driver license is on file.
After your license comes on the screen,
click the box marked 'Please Remove.'

This will remove it from public viewing,
but not from law enforcement.

Please notify all your friends
so they can protect themselves too.
Believe me they will thank you for it.

http://www.license.shorturl.com/