By Stephen Wong

SHANGHAI – The story of Chinese speed skater Zhou Yang is that of Cinderella turning into a princess. After winning two gold medals at the Vancouver Winter Olympics last month, 18-year-old Zhou, from a poor street-vendor family in northeast China, received things she might have never dreamed of. She was awarded 3 million yuan (US$439,397), a 94-square-meter apartment in her home town, a car and a scholarship worth as much as 9,000 yuan per year from a university that also promised to award her an additional lump sum of 50,000 yuan.

Before Zhou won the medals, she received only 500 yuan a month and her parents were living in a 60-square meter, old apartment. No wonder after winning the 1,500-meter short track speed skating, a breathless Zhou told China Central Television (CCTV): “I think that this gold medal will bring lots of changes. First of all, it will definitely give me more confidence. And I hope it will let myparents live a better life.”

In a country with a tradition of valuing filial piety, many parents in China were deeply moved by her words. The “one-child” generations born after 1980 are generally known as self-centered and caring little for their parents.

Despite this and despite her frankness, Zhou’s remarks seemed to have departed from the “socialist” tradition of China’s sports sector according to which award-winning athletes should feel grateful to the state, the government, the sports authority and the coach, but seldom mention their family. It was not a big surprise, therefore, that a top sports official immediately rebuked her remarks.

During a panel discussion of the annual session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in early March, Yu Zaiqing, deputy minister of the National Sports Bureau and a vice chairman of the International Olympic Committee, said medalists should have thanked the motherland first. “It is alright to thank your mom and dad, but you should have thanked the country first and foremost,” said Yu, suggesting that forgetting to thank the motherland was immoral. From this, he pledged to step up the moral education of Chinese athletes.

Some commentators have quickly moved to say that this epitomizes the conflict between collectivism, the core Chinese traditional values, and individualism, which has been introduced from the West over the past 30 years together with the market economy.

But this only sounds plausible at best. For filial piety (to one’sparents) and loyalty (to the state or the emperor historically) are both collectivist concepts (filial piety means to respect parents as head of the family – a collective body). And according to Confucianism, an unfilial person can hardly be a loyal one.

One of the Confucian classics, The Great Learning, says, “For one to run state affairs well, he must first run his family in harmony. To have a harmonious family, he must first behave himself well. To behave himself, he must first set his heart right …”

But even in ancient China, how to well balance filial piety and loyalty remained a tough issue. In ancient China, households would have an inscription: “The heaven, the earth, the emperor, ancestors and teachers,” to remind them who they should always respect.

But does this mean loyalty is above filial piety? Not quite so, as shown in the above quotation from The Great Learning. A story from the Three Kingdoms period (220-280 AD) is illuminating in this regard. One day, Emperor Wen of the Wei Kingdom asked his court officials a tough question. Suppose your father and the emperor fell sick with the same disease and you had but one pill that could cure the disease. Who would you give the pill to: your father or the emperor? All officials save one named Bing Yuan immediately said they would save the emperor first. But Bing said he would use the only pill to save his father. Bing was praised by Emperor Wen. He spoke not only his mind but also a simple truth: if one could sacrifice one’s own father, then he could sacrifice anyone else.

“Filial piety” was severely criticized during Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) as a “feudalistic idea”. Thus one had to devote all one’s sentiments to the Great Helmsman and his revolutionary course. Collectivism at an extreme.

Yu’s reprimand of the young athlete suggests such extremist collectivism still carries some influence today. But times have changed. Yu has met “a hail of criticisms” from the public and media, according to the Southern Metropolis Daily. “How can anyone love his country if he does not love his parents?” questioned the China Youth Daily. Bai Yansong, a popular anchorman with CCTV, said any sane official would never have said such words as Yu’s. “In real life, one feels his parents’ love and care more directly than what the state does for him. So it is natural for one to put his parents above the state,” said a signed commentary in the Beijing Times.

Major websites are inundated with posts in support of the medalist and criticizing Yu. One of the most humorous comments came from known blogger and race driver, Han Han, who chanted “country first, parents last” when starting his car in a race before deliberately causing his car to roll during the race. He then shouted: “See, this is the consequence of not thanking parentsfirst!”

But Yu’s reprimand of the medalist has another aspect: China has invested hugely – maybe more than any other country – in its athletes. As a sport bureaucrat, Yu is acutely aware of the hugeinvestment the state pours into sports, so he thinks athletes owe the country something. Referring to athletes as “kids”, He said: “How much the state has put into sports, we know, and the kids also know.”

Feng Jianzhong, vice minister of the General Administration of Sport, said the government spent 480 million yuan on competitive sports, but only 270 million yuan on popular sports in 2005. With all the resources mobilized to support elite sportsman, China paid a high price for its medals. Taking for example the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games, each gold medal cost nearly 15.7 million yuan, according to Liu Peng, chairman of the Chinese Olympic Committee.

However, many commentators argue that state investment is no reason to bar a medalist from saying thanks to his parents first. The athletes themselves have also done their best. Not everyone can be turned into a medalist. If this is likened to a commercial business, the state and sports officials have also earned their returns.

The popular support for Zhou shows that the Chinese public is getting tired of politicized sports. Sports officials, however, are still obsessed with the medal-oriented, heavily funded sports system and think that athletes should feel grateful. Despite the popular criticism of Yu, voices inside the bureaucracy are obstinate. Sports officials leapt to defend Yu. Gao Jian, former director of China’s Gymnastics Administrative Center, even advocated increasing athletes’ moral education.

In the medal-oriented sports system, however, moral education is not about sportsmanship. It is about national glory, and in the case of domestic games, about the glory of the different regions the athletes represent.

A lack of sportsmanship has led to widespread scandals in domestic games. At the recent CPPCC meeting, some political advisors even suggested canceling or down-sizing the nationalgames due to widespread scandals: doping, match-rigging and fake ages, to name just a few. Although most suspects have not been convicted or confirmed through legal procedures or professional regulations, the scandals have dented public enthusiasm for the national games. On the more marketed soccer field, match-fixing scandals have led to the arrest of several top officials in the Chinese Super League.

Zhou is lucky, one of the few who survive and thrive in the highly centralized and heavily funded training system. But most underachieving athletes abandoned by the medal-focused system live a hard life. While gold medalists reap handsome awards, those who fail to “win glory for the country” cannot earn a minimum wage and can end up unemployed or suffering serious injuries from overtraining. Netizens half-jokingly say: “You are the champion. That’s why the motherland embraces you. If you aren’t, only your mom would hug you.”

In a later interview, Zhou thanked the state first and her parentsranked fifth. “I should thank the country for giving us so much and thank our supporters, our coaches, all the working staff and myparents.” The updated version failed to please the crowd, but Zhou, a pawn in the sports system, really did not have a choice.

Stephen Wong is a freelance journalist based in Shanghai.