Yao Ming: Why the World Should Thank the "Great Wall of China"

Bigger, more important forces are at work here, for Yao's significance as a player and individual goes far beyond the limits of two baskets and a court; it's global in every sense of the word.

Imagine living the first 20 or so years of your life in a country and culture that, from the bottom up, is built upon a lack of individuality, self-achievement, and exploration of the unknown. You've immersed yourself in that culture, slowly growing into a polite, caring, and congenial young man.

Yet, you're different, very different. With an unbelievable natural gift and talent, you're the one who stands out, the one who seemingly holds the honor, pride, and opportunity of over a billion people in the palm of his hands. By and large, your success is the success of an entire nation.

Do you take the challenge?

Yao did, and there are no words I can string together that would do justice to how much respect his actions deserve.

Perhaps Yao's words will help. From his memoir, YAO: A Life in Two Worlds:

"I don’t know how American fans think, but in China if you score 30, the fans want you to score 40. If you score 40, they want 50. After my first NBA season, the Chinese newspapers were talking about how many years it will be before I win a championship, how many years before I am the league MVP.

This is what makes me think about failing. These are very big goals, but I will be looked on as a failure if I don’t reach them. I could tell you that what other people think is not important to me, but that’s not true. I have this chance to play in the NBA because of a lot of people. I don’t want to disappoint them. It would be easier if I didn’t care about them, but that’s not how I am.

I think differently about failure than a lot of Chinese. In China, many people won’t try to do something if there’s not a high chance of success. Whether I win or lose, I think I can get a lot from the process of doing something. I can be afraid to fail or lose, but I can’t let my fear stop me from trying."

Failure, to Yao, is not about losing money on a potential long-term deal next season, nor is it about losing "street-cred" during the next trash-talk session.

It's about letting down an entire nation of people.

And yet, Yao has never whined—not when he's gone back to China during the summer to train with the national team, when everyone else gets time to relax and recuperate. And Yao has never passed blame—not when Houston has consistently lost in the first round of the playoffs.

He's carried himself with class, worked relentlessly to improve his game, and gone about it all with passion, honor, and joy.

And it showed during the US-China 2008 Olympic match, which was perhaps the most epitomic moment of Yao's career up to this point. 

A short time after recovering from a foot injury, Yao, with hands on his hips and gasping for breath as he heroically limped from courtside to courtside, played with all his heart to represent the people and the nation that had poured their trust into him. He only shot 3-for-10, but the passion and toughness he displayed were awe-inspiring.

The best moment? A Yao Ming three-pointer that opened the game—delivering chills and roars down every admirer's spine.

"I felt honored to be there watching that," Chris Paul said.

Personally, I have no doubt that Yao's contributions to the game are still under-appreciated. How could they not be when the NBA is all about flash, power, and dominance?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not clamoring for Yao to be MVP. However, if there were a Most Valuable Human award, I'd give it to Yao in a second.

Regardless of whether you're a Yao Ming fan, I hope you come to appreciate what he's done for the sport of basketball. He's brilliantly taken two cultures that couldn't be more different and brought them together in love for the same sport. 

In the process, he's showed us why he's nothing short of a stand-up guy full of decency and courage unmatched by many in this world.

As Kobe Bryant would say, "Yao's built the bridge for all of us."

What a wonderful bridge that is, not only for the sport of basketball, but for the different cultures of this world.

Thank you, Yao.

What an honor it is to share your name.

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