The newest resource to be added to ChinaConnectU, the Sports Center, contains loads of information on China and sports, including the complete text of China Gold: China’s Quest for Global Power and Olympic Glory. Since we are concentrating on sports, we decided to give in to the “Linsanity” here at FaceToFace and write a little bit about Jeremy Lin and his impact on sports both here and in China.
Lin Shuhao 林书豪, better known to fans of the New York Knicks as Jeremy Lin, has taken the basketball world by storm. Just in case you have been offworld lately and missed it you can catch up on what the buzz is all about with these two articles from the New York Times: “The Evolution of a Point Guard” and “In China, an Instant Star and an Emerging Symbol.”
Lin has been at the center of the news, not only for his great moves on the court, but also for the fact that his very Asian-ness is so unusual in his chosen sport. As the current “tiger mother” joke has it, a little boy begged and begged his mother to be allowed to play basketball like Jeremy Lin instead of doing homework all the time. “Of course you can play basketball,” she says, “AFTER you graduate from Harvard.” The discussion of race, religion, and nationality has been at the forefront of coverage not only in the west, but throughout the Chinese blogging world as well, and this is summed up well in Adam Minter’s article from Bloomberg News and in the Economist’s blog Analects. From China News comes an article in Chinese here.
Lin-guistics!
The puns on Lin’s name are not restricted to English, although they are legion: Linsanity, Linspirational, Lincredible, even “Lin yo face!” 
Here are a few Chinese puns:
林来疯 (Lin laifeng: pun on the phrase 人来疯 ren lai feng. It literally refers to somebody who shows of in front of others, but is used here as a translation of Linsanity.)
令输豪(Ling Shuhao: pun on Lin’s Chinese name Lin Shuhao. It translates roughly as “Zero losses Hero!”)
In one of the most Linsane things we have seen on the subject, we offer this tribute from Jimmy Fallon:
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