Yao Ming, my anti japanese hero

As a frenchman I was disserting and overintellectualising why Zidane was a hero in the mythological sense of the word. In between men and gods: too good just to be another human being, yet failing to reach perfection unlike gods.

Hence his headbutt to Materrazzi during the last worldcup final, turning him into a hero.

After endless explanations and details, I asked back my chinese fellow xplorer Melody, who was closest to a hero status in China according to her.

'Yao Ming for sure'
'What made him a Hero?'
'He once made a press statement where he commited himself to never advertise any japanese brand'

Things change fast in China, but the inertia of History is strong...



Nb: For those that are not into basketball, Yao Ming is a major NBA player and the symbol of the emergence of global chinese stars (a title he shares with Liu Xiang, world champion of 110m hurdles... and the everlasting Jackie Chan; these three being used and overused as endorsers by a dozen major chinese and western brands each)

Yo!