American Hoops beyond the Great Wall: Embodied Competition and Transnational Training in Chinese Professional Basketball

• In Event: Sociology of the Body and Embodiment Section Open Call Paper Session

Abstract

Although scholars have long argued that body workers embody distinct ideas and practices, far less attention has been paid to how embodied skills and techniques are acquired and transmitted, especially in a transnational context. This article investigates how American basketball values and practices become embodied by Chinese professional basketball players. Drawing on 36 months (four seasons) of participant observation across six professional basketball clubs in China, 197 interviews with local and international players, and more than 600 hours of game footage, I show that Chinese players develop competitive strategies in training and games that differ markedly from those of their foreign teammates. Whereas American and overseas Chinese players tend to adopt more preemptive and strategic approaches, local Chinese players are more likely to rely on compensatory and confrontational strategies. Moreover, I find that embodied skills and knowledge do not map neatly onto national boundaries. Rather, players’ early training institutions shape their bodily practices in ways that often cut across nationality. Overseas Chinese players, for example, frequently resemble their American or other foreign teammates more closely than their local Chinese counterparts. These findings contribute to the sociology of the body by demonstrating how embodied ideas and practices vary within a national context and by showing how body work unfolds at multiple levels—from transnational migration and training institutions to everyday interpersonal interaction on the court.

Author

• Teng Ge, University of Chicago