We started the morning at the Beijing Shaolin Kung Fu School. When we got there they put on an opening performance to welcome us. It had a lot of different parts to it including a dragon dance, people doing flips and other impressive moves, and a lot of dancing, all while telling a story. After that we got up on the stage and they tried to teach us kung fu. Personally I was not very good at it, especially anything that required flexibility. They taught us a full sequence of moves with different punches, turns, and kicks, and after every change you had to scream. It was harder than it looked.
One of the moves they showed us was flipping yourself up off the ground without using your hands. Jack Eaton, Zach Thom, and Viktor all tried it. Viktor was the only one to land it cleanly on the first attempt, but eventually all three got it done.
After the performance and the lesson we learned more about the school itself and how the students actually live there year round, often very far from their families. Eight kids share one room. It is a serious commitment and to really do kung fu you have to make your whole life about it.
From there we headed to the NBA China office, which was something I had been looking forward to since the beginning of the trip. The office was filled with memorabilia including cards, action figures, and photos. They also had a signature wall covered in signatures from legends of the game.
After the tour we sat down for a presentation and a few things stood out. The first was the Rockets. When Yao Ming was selected with the first overall pick in 2002, China fully adopted the Rockets as their team. Players like Tracy McGrady built massive followings in China largely because of their connection to Yao, and even years after Yao's retirement the Rockets remained hugely popular, with Harden continuing to draw enormous crowds on promotional visits. It makes complete sense when you think about it.
The second thing that stood out was how the broadcast advertising works. The sponsor logos you see on the floor during games are sometimes swapped out digitally for Chinese companies for the Chinese broadcast. However because of existing deals with American and international sponsors, those Chinese brands can only appear for two of the four quarters.
The last thing I found interesting was around social media. I asked whether the NBA teams physically run their own Chinese social accounts or whether there are dedicated workers at the NBA China office handling it. They said it is a team decision and it is roughly split 50/50. As an example, the Warriors have a dedicated Chinese social media person working out of their San Francisco offices. It was a cool insight into how much thought goes into reaching that market.
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