China's Reaction to "Linsanity"

Widespread criticism on China's reaction to the overnight popularity of the Asian American basketball player from Taiwanese descendant, Jeremy Lin, has cropped up throughout various news organizations in the United States. Debate surrounding Chinese censorship of Lin's religion and Lin's ability to act as an encompassing emblem for all Asians continue to be heatedly discussed.

With his almost instantaneous stardom, Lin has taken over social media, with his official Twitter page having just under 700,000 followers and his page on the Chinese social network, Sina Weibo, gaining over a million followers. Through his raw talent and aid from social media, Lin has become an international symbol amongst America and Asia, reigniting the passion for basketball amongst Chinese fans that faded with the retirement of Yao Ming.

However, with a serge of popularity in Asia, China has purposefully framed their media coverage surrounding Jeremy Lin. "Linsanity" has spread to Lin's ancestral homeland of Taiwan where dozens of fans gathered around a TV at 8a.m. in a Taipei bar on February 15, 2012 to watch the New York Knicks play the Toronto Raptors. Fans claimed Lin as one of their own, as reported by The Christian Science Monitor. While this game was broadcast live in Taiwan, fans on the Chinese mainland could not catch Lin playing on the state-run China Central Television (CCTV) sports channel. Instead, the government aired a taped European soccer game. The Financial Times attributes this apparent censorship of Lin by the Chinese government to Lin's outspoken Christianity or the tendency of fans to waive Taiwanese flags in a crowd of Lin fans. Since 1949, China and Taiwan have had a tenuous relationship with Taiwan considering itself an independent nation and the Chinese Republic considering Taiwan a province of their nation, which could possibly be attributed to China's reluctance to air Knicks games. Further, CCTV did air a segment of Lin on February 13, 2012 that featured brief comments of a New Yorker applauding Lin for his faith. However, the line was quickly censored later, as reported by the Financial Times. For a government officially atheist, this action by the Chinese government seems slightly odd. Since the 1970s, the government has tolerated open displays of Christianity. Perhaps, due to Lin's enormous popularity, the government does not want the entire nation to mimic their new icon through the adoption of the Christian faith. It seems the apparent openness of the Chinese government does not truly exist. Regardless of their reasoning, these instances of censorship highlight the Chinese government's engagement in gatekeeping, limiting access of the Chinese population to Jeremy Lin.

The true question lies in Jeremy Lin's ability to bring China and the island of Taiwan together. Can Lin function as an encompassing icon for all of Asia? Regardless of his current injury removing him from playing for at least the next six weeks, I believe Jeremy Lin still has a strong potential to bring cultures together. Within the month of February, the English-language news outlet China Daily has extensively covered Lin, celebrating him as an icon for all of Asia. All sports athletes, specifically basketball ones, have the ability to unite people under an umbrella of support and nationalism, especially for a country lacking a plethora of them. Through the effects of the cultivation theory, people immersed in social media will all develop a unifying support for Jeremy Lin and basketball, regardless of their nationalities or countries of origin. Further, Lin, a 6'2'' Harvard economics graduate, has starkly demonstrated that athletes of Chinese descent can succeed without the aid from the rigorous state-sponsored sport system, which Yao Ming was previously a member. This statistic could serve as an incentive for Chinese's sports officials to renovate their antiquated sports system more rapidly. With the implementation of a similar sports system to that of other countries, Asia could unite under a common goal of producing successful basketball athletes, potentially forgetting their governmental divides.

-Katharine James