Thursday, April 23, 2009

The Inclusive China

This will be a short post.

A 19 year old teenager is selected into the China Man Volleyball Team. What makes this newsworthy? Why I want to share this news. He happens to be of Sino-African parentage with prominent African physical attribute.

The selection is a sign of inclusiveness based on merit and not color. This is to be congratulated. Whilst it is still a long way to emulate the American in having the first bi-racial or the first post racial President, China is showing progress.


首位黑人选手入选国家队 父为南非人母为杭州人2009-04-14 01:27:00 来源: 半岛晨报-海力网(大连)  作者:韦伯宁  
  北京时间4月13日,中国排协公布了男排国家队2009年集训名单。其中,现效力于浙江利群的19岁小将丁慧引起众人关注,因为皮肤黝黑的他是一名中非混血儿,他也成为了中国国字号球队历史上首位“黑人”选手。  丁慧出自一个单亲家庭,他的父亲是南非人,母亲是杭州人。他自幼随母亲入中国国籍并一直生活在杭州。黑皮肤、厚嘴唇、大白牙是丁慧的标志形象,但他一口流利的普通话甚至杭州话,会让刚接触他的人大吃一惊。丁慧10岁就被送到当地的体校接受训练,2003年,身体条件和竞技水平都相当出色的他入选了浙江青年队,2007年,丁慧入选U19国青队,并在世青赛上作为主力帮助球队获得了亚军这一历史最佳成绩。在那场世青赛上,不少华侨到场加油助威,观众们对阵容中出现的黑色身影很感兴趣,很多人疑惑:男排什么时候跟日本足球学了?于是向教练组打听,教练们耐心介绍后,华侨们更使劲地为小丁加油。当时中国男排主教练周建安就说:“我一直在关注这名球员,他潜力非常大素质很不错,但现在岁数还小,北京奥运会还用不上。”北京奥运会后,主教练周建安确定第一批集训名单时首先就想到了丁慧。到2012年伦敦奥运会,正是丁慧成长为国家队主力的时候。   (本文来源:半岛晨报-海力网 作者:韦伯宁)

1 comment:

View from NY said...

Well done, China. The next step would be for people to notice his skills and contribution to the team and forget about his skin colour, shape of his lips or size of his teeth. China is culture with many ethinicity and nations inside it, the one-ness should be encouraged. May be it can consider the motto on the US crest: "E Pluribus Unum: One From Many"