Ding Hui: Still Chinese, still black, still playing volleyball
Thursday, 5th November 2009 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (3)
The past couple of days, traffic to this site from people searching for "Ding Hui" has seen a little uptick. Could it be a coincidence that a recent story in The Guardian said that Ding Hui, the Chinese national volleyball team's first black player, was booted from the national team last year, implying that it was because Ding Hui is black?
Here's the passage in question, from The Guardian's Stephen Vines:
"A stark reminder of official racism came last year when Ding Hui, of mixed Chinese and African parentage, was barred from representing his country in the national volleyball team." (China's black pop idol exposes her nation's racism)
In fact, Ding Hui was selected for the training group for the Chinese national team in the spring of this year (African-Chinese athlete picked for national volleyball team). Coach Zhou Jianan had high praise for his play, saying he was one of China's top five players. But Ding's skin color and mixed parentage (his mother is Chinese, father is South African) attracted more media interest. The 20-year-old Ding Hui, the first black player to get a spot on any Chinese national team, competed for Zhejiang in the national games.
Ding Hui is part of a small but growing minority in China—people with one Chinese parent and one black parent (often African) who grow up side by side with children whose appearance is more consistent with what is generally considered Chinese. Another such young person is Lou Jing, who recently made waves when she made it to the late stages of a Chinese reality show competition called "Go! Oriental Angels." (NetEast interview with Shanghai Black Girl Lou Jing)
It seems likely his career with the Chinese national team will go forward and include major international competition. As it does, Ding Hui will certainly be in a different sort of spotlight than his teammates.
Ding Hui's presence on the national team has the potential to improve or worsen China's issues with racism—and it will probably do a little bit of both. On the one hand, it reinforces stereotypes of African blood endowing people with exceptional athletic gifts—and, conversely, Asian blood being a distinct disadvantage in that area. On the other hand, his presence in the public eye will make more people aware that people like him do exist, do speak native Chinese (media repeatedly remark that both Ding and Lou speak Chinese, and only Chinese), and absolutely expect and deserve an active role in Chinese society—including representing their country in athletic competition.
History has shown the sports world to be a place where a society can make progress on some of its problems surrounding race. At its best, sport is an equalizer, where people who would otherwise keep their distance come closer, at least for a few hours at a time. And the end goal—a world championship, a gold medal—becomes so important that coaches, teammates, and team administrators are willing to set aside some of their insecurities to move toward it.
If Ding Hui makes the lineup for the London Olympics in 2012, he will be in a global spotlight, and millions of people around the world will ask the same questions a lot of Chinese are asking now: "Black AND Chinese? Is that even possible?" This should result in a batch of stories in international media about what it means to be black and Chinese, on the situation of Africans living in China, about evolving Chinese perspectives on race. Some of these stories will be nuanced and thoroughly reported, and some will fail miserably as they try to impose American (or British, or French, etc.) history and culture on the situation in China. Hopefully most of them will at least stick to the facts.
Ding Hui image: CCTV Sports
Tags: Ding Hui, Lou Jing, race, volleyball
African-Chinese athlete picked for national volleyball team
Thursday, 16th April 2009 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (1)
Ding, who is 20 years old and 1.85 meters (just over 6 feet) tall, grew up with his mother in Hangzhou and was enrolled in a sports school at a young age, says this article from Tencent Sports. He began playing volleyball for the provincial youth team in 2003 and joined the junior national team in 2004.
While Chinese media are showing a lot of interest in Ding's unusual background he, unsurprisingly, just wants to focus on volleyball. Below is our translation of part of a recent interview he did with 163.com Sports (full interview in Chinese here):
163.com sports: Because your father is African, it seems that your situation is unique. How do you feel about it?
Ding Hui: I want to say that I am Chinese. I grew up in China, so for me to represent the national team in competition is very normal.
163.com: Perhaps it's because of your appearance (skin color) that everybody is curious about you. How do you feel about it?
Ding Hui: I don't want everybody to just see this about me, to pay so much attention to my appearance. I don't think too much of this. Being selected for the national team is a very rare opportunity, and it hasn't been easy. Everyone I'm playing with now is at a very high level, and I'll have to put in a lot of effort in practice and matches.
Ding Hui: I want to say that I am Chinese. I grew up in China, so for me to represent the national team in competition is very normal.
163.com: Perhaps it's because of your appearance (skin color) that everybody is curious about you. How do you feel about it?
Ding Hui: I don't want everybody to just see this about me, to pay so much attention to my appearance. I don't think too much of this. Being selected for the national team is a very rare opportunity, and it hasn't been easy. Everyone I'm playing with now is at a very high level, and I'll have to put in a lot of effort in practice and matches.
Ding joins a team of 18 players, of whom eight are returning players from the
team that was eliminated from the 2008 Olympics by silver medalists Brazil.
Related Links:
163.com: China's Top 8 Half-Breed (sic) athletes
Danwei: First Half-African, Half-Chinese Volleyball Player
FIVB: Black athlete Hui Ding becomes China's new sporting star
Chinese Volleyball Association: China national men's volleyball team roster
Ding Hui image: sports.163.com
Tags: Ding Hui, race, volleyball