Brave Dragons: A Chinese Basketball Team, an American Coach, and Two Cultures Clashing

by Jim Yardley

Overview

From the former New York Times Beijing bureau chief comes a closely observed story of a struggling Chinese basketball team and its quixotic, often comical attempt to make the playoffs by copying the American stars of the NBA.
       
When the worst professional basketball team in China, the Shanxi Brave Dragons, hired former NBA coach Bob Weiss to improve its fortunes, the team's owner, Boss Wang, promised that Weiss would be allowed to Americanize his players by teaching them "advanced basketball culture." That promise would be broken from the moment Weiss landed in China. As we follow this team of colorful oddballs on a fascinating road trip through modern China, we see Weiss learn firsthand what so many other foreigners there have discovered: that changing China happens only when and how China wants to be changed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780307473363
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/22/2013
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.34(w) x 7.82(h) x 0.69(d)

About the Author

Jim Yardley has worked as a journalist for The New York Times for the past fourteen years, including eight years as a foreign correspondent and bureau chief in China and India. His reportage on China’s legal system won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting, which he shared with a colleague, Joseph Kahn. He has also won or shared numerous other awards, including the Overseas Press Club Award for best international environmental coverage and the Sigma Delta Chi Award for best foreign reporting from the Society of Professional Journalists. He lives in New Delhi with his wife, Theo, and their three children, Olivia, George, and Eddie.

Table of Contents

Prologue: Summer 2008 3

1 The Foreign Expert 15

2 The Purge 28

3 Pieces 40

4 Basketball Is Life 64

5 Shooting the Messengers 76

6 Fight 92

7 Selling Air 108

8 Rumors 133

9 The Ambassador 141

10 Birthplace of the Game 156

11 Merry Christmas 173

12 Bodies 176

13 Yao's House 194

14 Corner Pockets 205

15 Red Soldier 218

16 LOL 230

17 Cast-Outs 237

18 The Promised Land 253

19 Black Whistles 270

20 Tenth Place 288

Epilogue 295

Acknowledgments 301

What People are Saying About This

Richard Bernstein

Jim Yardley's terrific book, telling the story of an obscure Chinese basketball team and its American coach, opens a vivid window on an unexpected item in the broader Sino-American encounter, and it does so not just perceptively but entertainingly as well. Nobody should mistake Brave Dragons for a sports book alone—yes, it's full of action, big personalities, and excitement, but it's also a universal story of human striving and cultural collision that's hard to put down. (Richard Bernstein, author of Ultimate Journey: Retracing the Path of an Ancient Buddhist Monk Who Crossed Asia in Search of Enlightenment)

Michael Meyer

By following a backwater Chinese basketball team and its new American coach for a season, Jim Yardley has created a character-driven narrative that tells the reader as much about contemporary China as it does about sport. Yardley takes us into the gym, on the road, and behind closed doors in this immersive, funny and suspenseful book, which I couldn't put down. (Michael Meyer, author of The Last Days of Old Beijing: Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a City Transformed)

Ira Berkow

In delightful and insightful ways this wonderful book takes the reader into a world, China, through another world, basketball, that even helps illuminate a third world, America. I couldn't put it down. (Ira Berkow, co-author with Walt Frazier of Rockin' Steady: A Guide to Basketball and Cool)

Bryan
Burrough

Jim Yardley's wonderful book not only provides a unique prism for understanding today's China but is as entertaining a book as I've read in some time. It's also a basketball fan's delight. (Bryan Burrough, author of Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco)

From the Publisher

 “Rollicking . . . Lively and often hilarious . . . Yardley’s tale resonates far beyond sports . . . He manages to capture, in touchingly human detail, the essence of a nation in transition.”
-Brook Larmer, The Washington Post
 
“Illuminating . . . Brave Dragons is to Chinese basketball what Laura Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit was to Depression-era horse racing: Both books certainly do justice to their respective sports but also use them as tools to gain access to wholly different cultures.”
-Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air
 
“An engaging history of basketball in China . . . In Yardley’s deft handling, the tale of the Brave Dragons and their American coach becomes something much bigger than an account of an oddball basketball team.”
-Jason Zengerle, The New York Times Book Review
 
“Yardley’s vivid, pointed, and often very funny examination of Chinese basketball has much to say about the country at large—and the way Americans often come flying down the lane at it, only to find themselves called for a charging foul.”
-Jay Jennings, San Francisco Chronicle
 
“Remarkable . . . Brave Dragons is about much more than basketball. It is about more than Weiss’s adventures. It is a serious look at the deep divisions between American and Chinese cultures.”
-Steve Kelley, The Seattle Times
 
“Brave Dragons is a winner—informative and conversational, occasionally funny and frequently suspenseful . . . Yardley rewards readers with his close eye and felicitous prose. This book amounts to cultural catnip.”
            -Karen R. Long, Cleveland Plain Dealer
 
“Exceptionally ambitious . . . Yardley’s observations of a country in transition are instructive, sometimes even poetic.”
-Bill Littlefield, The Boston Globe
 
“Entertaining . . . Yardley presents basketball and young China’s growing fascination with it as an apt, pacy metaphor for a China cautiously engaging with the West.”
-David Shaftel, Mint
 
“A-. Brave Dragons is thorough micro- and macro-history, capable of sucking in both the basketball-obsessed and the non-athletically inclined.”
-Vadim Rizov, The A.V. Club
 
“Yardley strikes gold . . . The Brave Dragons put together a decent season, and Yardley a memorable book.”
-Booklist
 
“Unique . . . Engaging . . . A fantastically implausible, ultimately cautionary tale of how the Chinese and American ways often mix like oil and water.”
-Kirkus
 
“Brave Dragons has all the ingredients of a farce: larger-than-life characters, sudden plot twists, and don’t-let-the-door-hit-you-on-the-way-out moments. But Jim Yardley sees the bigger picture: In many ways, basketball is a metaphor for the emergence of China as an economic power and its relationship with the rest of the world. “
-Curt Schleier, The Seattle Times
 
“Masterly . . . Brave Dragons is a must-read for any hoops fans with a hankering to understand what is and isn’t happening in China.”
-Alan Paul, Slam
 
“An engaging story that will appeal to sports fans and general readers alike.”
-Publishers Weekly
 
“In delightful and insightful ways this wonderful book takes the reader into a world, China, through another world, basketball, that even helps illuminate a third world, America. I couldn’t put it down.”
-Ira Berkow, co-author with Walt Frazier of Rockin’ Steady: A Guide to Basketball and Cool
 
“Jim Yardley’s terrific book, telling the story of an obscure Chinese basketball team and its American coach, opens a vivid window on an unexpected item in the broader Sino-American encounter, and it does so not just perceptively but entertainingly as well. Nobody should mistake Brave Dragons for a sports book alone—yes, it’s full of action, big personalities, and excitement, but it’s also a universal story of human striving and cultural collision that's hard to put down.”
-Richard Bernstein, author of Ultimate Journey: Retracing the Path of an Ancient Buddhist Monk Who Crossed Asia in Search of Enlightenment
 
“By following a backwater Chinese basketball team and its new American coach for a season, Jim Yardley has created a character-driven narrative that tells the reader as much about contemporary China as it does about sport. Yardley takes us into the gym, on the road, and behind closed doors in this immersive, funny and suspenseful book, which I couldn't put down.”
-Michael Meyer, author of The Last Days of Old Beijing: Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a City Transformed
 
“Jim Yardley's wonderful book not only provides a unique prism for understanding today’s China but is as entertaining a book as I've read in some time. It's also a basketball fan's delight.”
-Bryan Burrough, author of Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco

Editorial Reviews

Rollicking . . . Lively and often hilarious . . . Yardley’s tale resonates far beyond sports . . . He manages to capture, in touchingly human detail, the essence of a nation in transition.”
-Brook Larmer, The Washington Post
 
“Illuminating . . . Brave Dragons is to Chinese basketball what Laura Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit was to Depression-era horse racing: Both books certainly do justice to their respective sports but also use them as tools to gain access to wholly different cultures.”
-Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air
 
“An engaging history of basketball in China . . . In Yardley’s deft handling, the tale of the Brave Dragons and their American coach becomes something much bigger than an account of an oddball basketball team.”
-Jason Zengerle, The New York Times Book Review
 
“Yardley’s vivid, pointed, and often very funny examination of Chinese basketball has much to say about the country at large—and the way Americans often come flying down the lane at it, only to find themselves called for a charging foul.”
-Jay Jennings, San Francisco Chronicle
 
“Remarkable . . . Brave Dragons is about much more than basketball. It is about more than Weiss’s adventures. It is a serious look at the deep divisions between American and Chinese cultures.”
-Steve Kelley, The Seattle Times
 
“Brave Dragons is a winner—informative and conversational, occasionally funny and frequently suspenseful . . . Yardley rewards readers with his close eye and felicitous prose. This book amounts to cultural catnip.”
            -Karen R. Long, Cleveland Plain Dealer
 
“Exceptionally ambitious . . . Yardley’s observations of a country in transition are instructive, sometimes even poetic.”
-Bill Littlefield, The Boston Globe
 
“Entertaining . . . Yardley presents basketball and young China’s growing fascination with it as an apt, pacy metaphor for a China cautiously engaging with the West.”
-David Shaftel, Mint
 
“A-. Brave Dragons is thorough micro- and macro-history, capable of sucking in both the basketball-obsessed and the non-athletically inclined.”
-Vadim Rizov, The A.V. Club
 
“Yardley strikes gold . . . The Brave Dragons put together a decent season, and Yardley a memorable book.”
-Booklist
 
“Unique . . . Engaging . . . A fantastically implausible, ultimately cautionary tale of how the Chinese and American ways often mix like oil and water.”
-Kirkus
 
“Brave Dragons has all the ingredients of a farce: larger-than-life characters, sudden plot twists, and don’t-let-the-door-hit-you-on-the-way-out moments. But Jim Yardley sees the bigger picture: In many ways, basketball is a metaphor for the emergence of China as an economic power and its relationship with the rest of the world. “
-Curt Schleier, The Seattle Times
 
“Masterly . . . Brave Dragons is a must-read for any hoops fans with a hankering to understand what is and isn’t happening in China.”
-Alan Paul, Slam
 
“An engaging story that will appeal to sports fans and general readers alike.”
-Publishers Weekly
 
“In delightful and insightful ways this wonderful book takes the reader into a world, China, through another world, basketball, that even helps illuminate a third world, America. I couldn’t put it down.”
-Ira Berkow, co-author with Walt Frazier of Rockin’ Steady: A Guide to Basketball and Cool
 
“Jim Yardley’s terrific book, telling the story of an obscure Chinese basketball team and its American coach, opens a vivid window on an unexpected item in the broader Sino-American encounter, and it does so not just perceptively but entertainingly as well. Nobody should mistake Brave Dragons for a sports book alone—yes, it’s full of action, big personalities, and excitement, but it’s also a universal story of human striving and cultural collision that's hard to put down.”
-Richard Bernstein, author of Ultimate Journey: Retracing the Path of an Ancient Buddhist Monk Who Crossed Asia in Search of Enlightenment
 
“By following a backwater Chinese basketball team and its new American coach for a season, Jim Yardley has created a character-driven narrative that tells the reader as much about contemporary China as it does about sport. Yardley takes us into the gym, on the road, and behind closed doors in this immersive, funny and suspenseful book, which I couldn't put down.”
-Michael Meyer, author of The Last Days of Old Beijing: Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a City Transformed
 
“Jim Yardley's wonderful book not only provides a unique prism for understanding today’s China but is as entertaining a book as I've read in some time. It's also a basketball fan's delight.”
-Bryan Burrough, author of Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco

From the Publisher

…the stars of Brave Dragons…are the Chinese. There's the assistant (and sometimes de facto head) coach Liu Tie…the players, most of whom were sent to special government sports schools when they were children after X-rays showed they were likely to be tall…the Brave Dragons' owner, Wang Xingjiang, a steel magnate who has been called "the Mark Cuban of China"…At the same time that Yardley brings these Chinese people to life, he provides an engaging history of basketball in China…In Yardley's deft handling, the tale of the Brave Dragons and their American coach becomes something much bigger than an account of an oddball basketball team. Rather, it's a story about "what was changing in China, and what seemed impossible to change."
—The New York Times Book Review

Jason Zengerle

In less capable hands, this journey might have resulted in a simplistic sports yarn—Bad News Bears with Chinese characteristics. But drawing on his six years of experience in China, Yardley manages to capture, in touchingly human detail, the essence of a nation in transition.
—The Washington Post

Brook Larmer

"We believe that by working harder, bit by bit, it's like water dripping into a cup. Over time, you finally achieve a full cup." Such is the philosophy of basketball according to Liu Tie, the unsuccessful coach of the Shanxi Brave Dragons, as reported by Pulitzer Prize-winner Yardley in this rags-to-riches tale of modern Chinese basketball. Ten years ago, when Boss Wang—#236 on Forbes list of China's richest—acquired the bedraggled Brave Dragons, he set his sights on turning them into a fire-breathing dream team. A farmer's son, Wang escaped the poverty of the Cultural Revolution when he made the cut for the elite basketball team, and later—as a "Red Hat Capitalist"—made his millions in steel. Yardley, the former Beijing bureau chief for the New York Times, chronicles Wang's Sisyphean challenge beginning in 2008 when Wang recruited Bob Weiss of the Seattle Sonics to become the first NBA coach to lead a team in China. Weiss moved to Taiyuan, the infamously polluted Shanxi capital, where he soon became a local celebrity.The Dragons provide Yardley with a colorful cast of characters, including the notorious Bonzi Wells of Portland's "Jail Blazers," who came to China to play with the team. Despite rampant corruption among game officials and myriad cultural obstacles, Weiss remarkably fills Tie's proverbial cup in this engaging story that will appeal to sports fans and general readers alike. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

A former Beijing bureau chief for the New York Times, Yardley recounts how NBA coach Bob Weiss was hired to improve the fortunes of the Shanxi Brave Dragons, China's worst team, but ran afoul when he tried to grant his players the freedom and individuality necessary to achieve the "advanced basketball culture" he was supposed to be teaching them. A book about both sports and cultural differences; with a six-city tour.

Library Journal

A unique, engaging way to view the Americanization of China: through the introduction of an NBA coach to a professional Chinese basketball team.

New York Times journalist Yardley honed in on a fantastically implausible, ultimately cautionary tale of how the Chinese and American ways often mix like oil and water. On one hand, the enthusiastic Chinese steel entrepreneur Boss Wang, owner of the Shanxi Brave Dragons, wanted to incorporate American-style basketball so badly that in 2008 he hired former NBA player and coach Bob Weiss to come to China and turn around his losing team. On the other hand, Boss Wang ultimately hired a Chinese coach to run the daily practices because of deep-seated fears about discipline, thus undermining most of what Weiss was trying to instill in his young Chinese players. Weiss inherited a team with the worst record in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA); they were convinced they were "defective." Working out of a bleak warehouse in Taiyuan, once ranked as the most polluted city in the world, Weiss had to use an interpreter to communicate with the players and with his assistant Chinese coach, Liu Tie, who strong-armed the team during practices and simply kept them going all the time—not Weiss' style. Indeed, the basketball players had been selected early on in elementary school, chosen from X-rays of their skeletal structure determining projections of tallness. It was a motley team made up of misfits, such as a shortish Taiwanese player, nicknamed Little Sun, mercilessly taunted by Coach Liu for playing "Taiwan independence defense"; and several foreign hirelings such as NBA bad boy Bonzi Wells, who played a few games then fizzled. The Dragons didn't end so shabbily, although the lessons in teaching American marketing and know-how only went so far.

An expert journalist compresses the culture class of nations into one palatable sports season.

Kirkus Reviews