The early retirement of iconic Chinese basketball player Yao Ming came as a shock to fans in both China and United States. The end of the "Ming Dynasty" in the NBA brought about a number of discussions on his contribution and impact to the two countries with his dramatic, if not groundbreaking, nine-year NBA career. His high-profile migration to the United States, under the banner of being selected the No. 1 draft pick, quickly made him perhaps the most recognizable Chinese face to the world. More importantly, he opened a door to bring the NBA to the world's most populous market with more than 1.3 billion people. But the impact brought by Yao Ming goes far beyond the basketball court; Yao was born in a very unique historical period, in the age of globalization when free-market policies and economics have come to organize the international distribution of capital and culture. In China, the communist government has greatly benefited from free-market capitalism reforming and opening-up economic policy, and energetically disseminating its power and influence to the world (e.g. Beijing 2008 Olympics). The rise of China simultaneously confronts the interest of U.S. political and economic hegemony while the mutual economic desire consequently leads to a relationship of both competitor and partner between these two giants. Considering the flexible and transnational image of Yao Ming and his symbolic status in the two societies, this thesis takes Yao Ming as an epitome of the U.S.-China relations--culturally, economically and politically--to analyze the bridge-building role he has created between the West and the East, the celebrity economic effects he has generated as a global sports icon, and the far-reaching influence in a historical period he has brought to the development of Sino-American relations. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Sport Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Summer Semester, 2012. / June 19, 2012. / Cultural politics, Globalization, neoliberalism, U.S.-China Relations, Yao Ming / Includes bibliographical references. / Michael Giardina, Professor Directing Thesis; Joshua Newman, Committee Member; Jeffrey James, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_183073 |
| Contributors | Haozhou, Pu (authoraut), Giardina, Michael (professor directing thesis), Newman, Joshua (committee member), James, Jeffrey (committee member), Department of Sport Management (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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