Of course “ATP” stands for the Association of Tennis Professionals, but its members have no say about anything from how many tournaments they have to play every year to qualify for the big money to whether a “sky cam” will be used to decide disputed points.

Howsoever, your views in your article and your comment were very welcome, and frankly they help me accept the fact that if my particular fantasy ever materializes, it will not be soon.

Shanghai TV/Dragon TV is a city wide private cable channel. I always watch international soccer games and English premier league soccer games there, it’s fairly normal. The commentary grates a bit as the guys who call the games are quite racist and sexist at times.

As for the Tennis comps. It’s just a normal type privately run tennis comp. The attendance is more to do with the timing and location. It’s a prestige event and they built the new stadium and site way out in a suburb, but not that many people have cars and that particular suburb doesn’t have a rail link yet (Shanghai metro and public transport is excellent mind you). Also, the ticket prices are high too.

So most people are cut out of it logistically. Although a lot of people go out for the bigger names if they can, mainly ex-pats and richer locals who live in that area. It’s not really my thing, to be honest.

Then again, despite all the Olympic hype and nationalism, people here are not that into sports unless it’s done up in ideology. The local soccer team, Shanghai Shenhua, have an amazing soccer stadium and affordable games, as well as being situated in a working class neighbourhood, but the games are half empty. The reason? People are all like “oh, Chinese men’s soccer is no good, they don’t win.” Only the hard core sports fans are there.

Young people play a lot of basketball these days because that’s what’s mainly provided at city schools. To become a pro sports person, they still run the system where young kids who seem to have good fitness are whisked off to sports schools, but regular schools and colleges do not have meaningful programs or tournaments.

It’s an odd situation because the nation as a culture is quite into it’s traditional health and fitness lore. You’d think that more sports in education or in the community would push through.

Do you watch Shanghai TV and tennis? If so, I’d appreciate your thoughts on them.

I had the good fortune to see Arundhati Roy at the Shanghai Literary Festival a year or two back. After she spent a couple of hours going over the situation in India and developing countries, talking in detail about the poverty splits, some guy asked her “But what about the economic miracle.”

It’s like a propaganda slogan that some people can’t get past.

This is what Capatalism is all about!

Dan:)

I’m not concerned with Gilad’s background or his writing on Israel. I would write the same response to anyone who gave such an ‘analysis’ of China when a more realistic view is in plain view with a minimum of research.