[Kzin]

Waiter, There’s a Celebrity in My Shark Fin Soup
By DAVID BARBOZA

SHANGHAI

THERE’S no Jane Fonda in China. No Bono, Julia Roberts, Richard Gere or Mel Gibson. And there’s no tradition here of celebrities standing up to authority, or of celebrities trying to sway public opinion with dramatic gestures or impassioned pleas.

But last week, Yao Ming, the 7-foot-6 Shanghai-born N.B.A. star, went slightly out on a limb. He declared at a Beijing press conference held by WildAid, the conservation group, that he had had it with shark fin soup, pledging never to eat it again.

And then Mr. Yao stated that “endangered species are our friends.”

Swearing off shark fin may not sound like much to Westerners, but here in China, this most expensive delicacy has a long and honorable history.

Emperors loved shark fin soup because it was rare, tasty and difficult to prepare. The soup is served at wedding banquets by families eager to show appreciation to their guests. And Hong Kong and Beijing government officials — not to mention thousands of businessmen hoping to close the next big deal — swear they absolutely have to treat their guests to shark fin soup as a show of respect and honor.

“This is the very basic dish for business dinners in Hong Kong,” said Tan Rongde, 56, a banker. “If you don’t order that, you will lose face.”

Chinese celebrities usually are wary of high-profile causes, or getting in the line of fire. Questioning authority or taking on a Chinese corporate giant — let alone fomenting controversy by advocating gay rights or independence for Tibet — generally poses risks.

They know the perils of self-expression.

There was the time in 1989 when Du Xian, a popular television anchor, was allowed to broadcast news of Tiananmen Square after martial law was declared. But when tears welled in her eyes during the broadcast, she was never seen on air again.

And when Zhao Wei, a popular singer, donned a Japanese military flag for a fashion shoot — disrespecting not just government policy but perhaps the sensibilities of Chinese still angry over the war with Japan — her career began to fizzle. At a concert, she was tackled by a construction worker who said his grandparents had been killed during the war. He smeared her face with feces.

So how can Yao Ming — an adored star who once played for the Shanghai Sharks, of all teams (his girlfriend, the 6-foot-2 basketball star Ye Li, is a member of the Shanghai Octopuses) — campaign against a national treasure?

“Putting our ecosystem in great peril is certainly not a part of Chinese culture that I know,” Mr. Yao said in an e-mail message Friday afternoon, from Guangzhou, where he was preparing for a game. “How do you maintain this so-called tradition when one day there is no shark to be finned?”

Mr. Yao and two other celebrities — the Olympian Li Ning and the pop star Liu Huan — have joined WildAid, which insists that sharks are endangered because of China’s ravenous appetite for skinning off the fins and boiling them for days in a special broth (critics say they’re sometimes finned alive and then thrown back in the sea).

But how is Mr. Yao’s move playing at home, in a country that says a banquet is not a banquet without shark fin soup?

He double-dribbled, suggests Zhu Dongqing, 46, a construction company manager, as he sat along fashionable Nanjing Road in Shanghai. Mr. Zhu said Chinese wouldn’t readily give up the soup, which sells for up to $100 a bowl in Hong Kong.

“Chinese people, we just eat shark’s fin,” he said. “It’s part of our culture. Yao Ming, it’s a good idea. It’s good to protect the environment. But if my children want to go out and eat shark’s fin because they think it tastes good, I’ll still take them.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/13/we...13barboza.html

Next year he'll be driving a Hummer and wearing half a ton of bling.

[MonJoe]

Originally Posted by KzinKiller

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/13/we...13barboza.html

Next year he'll be driving a Hummer and wearing half a ton of bling.

Or just get drunk like Jackie Chan.

[Kzin]

Originally Posted by //\\//\\onJoe

Or just get drunk like Jackie Chan.

Trust me, that is not something new to the Chinese.

[Nevets]

Someone watched to much shark week



But good for him

[Kzin]

Mr. Zhu said Chinese wouldn’t readily give up the soup, which sells for up to $100 a bowl in Hong Kong.

“Chinese people, we just eat shark’s fin,” he said. “It’s part of our culture. Yao Ming, it’s a good idea. It’s good to protect the environment. But if my children want to go out and eat shark’s fin because they think it tastes good, I’ll still take them.”

It's assholes like you that made it impossible for me to enjoy Dodo Dumplings!

[Corbu]

I learned that preparing shark fin soup was hard from Animal Crosssing! VIDEO GAMES ARE THE REAL WORLD

Originally Posted by Well Aged Wine

Someone watched to much shark week



But good for him

no, its simple logic. you've got HOW MANY BILLION CHINAMEN running around eating shark fins, and how many sharks do you have

I would go out on a limb and say that any animal widely eaten by the Chinese is endangered.

[Corbu]

china should start making soylent green. or yellow.

[Kzin]

Originally Posted by nikolai

no, its simple logic. you've got HOW MANY BILLION CHINAMEN running around eating shark fins, and how many sharks do you have

I would go out on a limb and say that any animal widely eaten by the Chinese is endangered.

Hmmmm .... how do we make Al Qaeda Peni$ Soup the latest Chinese craze?

also: 7'4 is really fucking tall. the average height at my school was over 6 among the boys because of all the giant africans we recruit to play basketball...I think the tallest was 6'9.

and yao ming would dwarf the tallest of them. how did china produce someone so large?

[Kzin]

Originally Posted by nikolai

also: 7'4 is really fucking tall. the average height at my school was over 6 among the boys because of all the giant africans we recruit to play basketball...I think the tallest was 6'9.

and yao ming would dwarf the tallest of them. how did china produce someone so large?

A lot of height is related to childhood diet ... walking around Shanghai, especially in the richer parts of the city, I was amazed how many young guys were six foot or above. Eating a high-protein western diet, probably.

i blame my average height on childhood starvation

[Grimey Les]

yao ming's parents were both basketball stars in china, and there is a rumor that they were forced to marry. his father is somewhere around 6'5 or 6'6 and his mother is above 6'0.

also, i just measured myself and i'm 1/4 of an inch away from being 6'4.

[Nevets]

Originally Posted by Dreamy Les

and there is a rumor that they were forced to marry.

Well you would have to say it was a huge sucess. No pun intended.

[Kzin]

Originally Posted by Dreamy Les

yao ming's parents were both basketball stars in china, and there is a rumor that they were forced to marry. his father is somewhere around 6'5 or 6'6 and his mother is above 6'0.

also, i just measured myself and i'm 1/4 of an inch away from being 6'4.

So, he's nearly a foot taller than his father .... that's not just genetics. I mean yeah, he was going to be tall regardless, but not THAT tall.

[Grimey Les]

Originally Posted by KzinKiller

So, he's nearly a foot taller than his father .... that's not just genetics. I mean yeah, he was going to be tall regardless, but not THAT tall.

i'm nearly a foot taller than both of my parents. my mother and father are both 5'5. i don't see a difference.

[Kzin]

Originally Posted by Dreamy Les

i'm nearly a foot taller than both of my parents. my mother and father are both 5'5. i don't see a difference.

That's emphasizing my point, the height difference between you and your parents is likely far more due to environment (diet) than genetics.

[Grimey Les]

Originally Posted by KzinKiller

That's emphasizing my point, the height difference between you and your parents is likely far more due to environment (diet) than genetics.

i agree. there's a book out about the supposed scandal. might have to check it out.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159...lance&n=283155

[Kzin]

Thanks, that looks like an interesting read.