I am just curious, this has almost nothing to do with badminton but since ZhongGuo (China) mentioned Indra speaking to Zhao in chinese, i just wanted to know if you Indonesian Chinese people out there can speak Chinese. Anyone? The Indonesian chinese people here in Singapore are encouraged to speak Chinese or Mandarin rather and most of them do, or are learning.
Byro-Nenium, I've never been to Indonesia yet, but I met a lot of Chinese Indoneisans and Chinese Malaysians, especially in the New York area. A lot of them are working in the Chinese food industry. Most Malaysians can speak pretty good Chinese while most Indonesians not that good Chinese. But more or less, Indonesians still can speak Chinese at different levels which are still difficult to get for an American to learn within years.
Yeah my dad told me in singapore they at least know 2 languages im chinese born in indo, but i only know very little mandarin heh although my dad can speak both.
One of the interesting things i observed about INA players : eg.1- Rudy Gunawan and Eddy Hartono, always shouting to each other " Tau Ching' and ' Aw Bui".Does that mean anything( if you understang Fukien/Teochew') eg2- Luis Pongoh looks Chinese but when translated to Chinese in HK becomes Lau Pong Koh?
In late 80's and early 90's there were four dominant pairs of equal standing, Pakrk/Kim, LiYong Bo and Tian Bing Yi , Gunawan and Eddy Hartono and Razif/Jalani.The Chinese and INa always very entertaining especially Li Yong Bo and Rudy Gunawan, as they were highly emotional on court and fought like tigers for every point. That is not to say today's pairs not entertaining, more like there are no outstanding personalities to add color on court.
going off track again I remembered May saying that badminton players don't really have much of a personality. What do you think constitutes personality? As for all those pairs you listed, I never had the opportunity to catch any of them in action. Was too young then. But seeing Kim and Li yelling at their charges by the sidelines, it's not difficult to imagine what they were like as players. LOL. On recent/current MD players: Looks are probably no substitute for personality, especially if the watcher is a guy, but some of them have got enuff ben3 qian4 (sorry, can't think of a better word in English) to keep the women drooling. We all know about the Indonesian supporters but one that left a particularly deep impression on me were the female screechings of "REE-KEE!!! REE-KEE!!!" (erm... Ricky Subagja) during tournaments. Right now, there's Lee and Yoo who get all the Korean girls on a high. In terms of entertainment value, Ha Tae Kwon's pure comic relief; Sigit B is supposed to have plenty of trick shots but they weren't really on display during the Asia Cup.
Re: going off track again Correction... hanyu pinyin was wrong. "qian" should have be in the 4th tone. Apologies to all non-Chinese speaking people as well.
Re: correction Can't remember many players that had that kind of impact on court. My coach once mentioned that Chinese men singles player in the early 80's (former Malaysian team coach) Chan Chang Jie's looks attracted a lot of girls to watch badminton. But usually Western players are more fun to watch since it appears that they are serious on court than their Asian counterparts. I remember a game between Kevin Jolly from England against Chen Tian Long of China in HK. During the game Kevin requested the floor to be mopped and a girl came out with a cloth to wipe. When the girl was ready to leave he politely took the cloth from the girl and wiped the mat himself but constantly looking at the girl as it was letting her know how to wipe the map. When done he used the same cloth and wipe his face. The audience just burst with laughter with his antics.
Re: correction If Chen Jian Jie was not sent by China to be Msian coach, he could have been acting in Crouching Tiger & Hidden Dragons instead of Chow Yuen Fatt. About charisma, if you even go back further the most well known was the late Sven Pri, he was a great entertainer, and of course Former American and Canadian coach Ken Davidson whose clowning antics have been recorded on film in the US.
Re: correction How abt Rudy Hartono? Both my parents claim that he was the best-looking player ever to walk the badminton world. Nobody even comes close.
