Operation Yao Ming: The Chinese Sports Empire, American Big Business, and the Making of an NBA Superstar (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "The faint whispers of a genetic conspiracy coursed through the corridors of Shanghai No. 6 Hospital on the evening of September 12, 1980..." (more)
Key Phrases: socialist sports system, national sports commission, sports compound, Yao Ming, Wang Zhizhi, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The 7'5" Yao Ming didn't get where he is today because of some lucky genes and a good three-point shot. Everything about him, from birth to first endorsement deal, was planned by a confluence of government and business interests intent on creating a superstar. Basketball has been popular in China since the late 19th century, so a government with a Soviet-style, militaristic sports system intent on creating world-class athletes thought little of mating its tallest athletes in an attempt to pass on their genes. Thus in 1980, Yao was born to the tallest couple in China, the result of matchmaking that carried with it the dark shadow of eugenics. From there, a government campaign worked to turn "a boy with an ideal genetic makeup into the best basketball player in Chinese history," writes Larmer, and it wasn't long before Nike and the NBA had their hooks in him. Larmer, Newsweek's former Shanghai bureau chief, crafts his narrative well, explaining the byzantine interests competing for their pound of Yao's flesh with admirable simplicity. Yao's story is so controlled that when he finally overcomes his initial clumsiness and starts rebelling against his government at book's end, it's hard not to feel empathy for the gentle giant.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Larmer, former Newsweek bureau chief in Shanghai (and Buenos Aires, Miami, and Hong Kong), traces the development and emergence of Yao Ming as China's first bona fide NBA star, from the arranged marriage of his parents--both reluctant but sensational, and tall, basketball players in China--to his care and feeding as a youth by PRC sports officials, to Nike's savvy insinuation into Yao's career and into mainstream Chinese culture in the mid-1990s, to his number-one selection in the 2002 NBA draft. Not coincidentally, Yao's story here reflects the seismic shifts taking place in Chinese sports, post-1949; it starts with a country virtually invisible in the global arena that becomes, by the time of Yao's emergence, an international power not embarrassed to flex its muscle. If Larmer's account succeeds in contextualing Yao in the high-octane world of the NBA, it also succeeds in revealing one aspect of China's more fundamental struggle with its socioeconomic identity in the world today. Alan Moores
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Gotham; illustrated edition edition (November 3, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592400787
• ISBN-13: 978-1592400782
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #910,668 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yao story interesting; broader Chineses history is fascinating, October 13, 2006

By	Elizabeth Van Wie "Mother of twins & baby" (Phoenix, Arizona) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am NOT a huge sports nut...you know the kind who rattles off stats and knows all the players, but I really enjoyed this book. The story of Yao Ming was very interesting especially as it interlaces with China's history. I think it gives a very interesting look into the evolution of Chinese sports, politics and government. It kept me interested and I really looked forward to picking it up again every evening to read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Solid Read, March 18, 2007

By	Bret Dougherty "Bret Dougherty" (Chapel Hill, NC USA) - See all my reviews

I first saw Yao Ming in a Marriott Courtyard lobby during an AAU tour in '98. I was wowed by the secrecy around the guy at the hotel. Since then, I've been waiting for the real story...No fluff. Well, Larmer captures the story of Yao Ming and the rise of basketball in China with his research. Even better, he coorelates the rise of basketball to the development of the Chinese economic boom. Major props...

Now, will critics of Yao please read this book about the environment that surrounded Yao and Shanghai during his development? Will they please realize that Yao would be better suited for a team concept? It's just unfortunate that he started off his NBA career by landing into a thug party in Houston.

Critics have been killing Yao for becoming too soft or for not stepping up to the mantle. Yet, what they don't realize is that Yao is from entirely different culture that professes team not the "I" like the majority of today's NBA superstars. He's a team player and a product of Soviet Training who places the group's interests above personal accolades...Does anyone remember the late '80s version of Arvydas Sabonis?

Larmer touches on all of the subjects surrounding the development of Yao Ming by detailing politics, the reign of Mao, alternative health and herbs, Soviet training methods, Nike, academies, agents, the NBA and sports marketing. Tie this in with 'World is Flat', and you'll see a glimpse of sports in the 21st century.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Story but......., April 3, 2006

By	Don from SF "coach41" (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

I read the entire book while on a 11 hour flight from the US to China. All in all, the book was good, lots of background info on Yao, his parents and even disgraced hoops star Wang Zhi-Zhi.

However, I'm not sure I buy into the book's theory of China trying to be matchmaker and have Yao's parents to produce tall offspring. Why stop at Yao's parents? They certainly weren't the only tall people in China at the time. As most of us basketball fans know by now, Yao Ming (by himself), cannot carry the Chinese National Basketball team. The team needs more capable players to compete against the European and American teams.

Another minor complaint of the book is the re-cycling of previously written articles about Yao. Perhaps there just isn't a ton of written material about Yao, but I know there were a few sections regarding Yao there were paraphased from other sources. As an avid reader of anything Yao, I wish the author could have been more discreet or rewrote the source material differently. As is, it was just annoying to read something and feel like "dang, I know that came from somewhere before".

I did finish the book by the end of my plane ride. :) All in all, despite the misgivings of the theories and the apparently recycling of some articles, the book was fairly entertaining and you do learn something about Yao, his family and others in the Chinese sports empire.