www射-国产免费一级-欧美福利-亚洲成人福利-成人一区在线观看-亚州成人

US EUROPE AFRICA ASIA 中文
Opinion / Raymond Zhou

The high drama of rafting the Upper Yangtze

By Raymond Zhou (China Daily) Updated: 2016-10-10 07:52

A 30-year-old true story that once gripped a whole nation and was then promptly forgotten has made an unexpected reappearance and I'm surprised to find that I played a small part in it.

In 1986, American river rafter Ken Warren led a joint Chinese and US team to go down the Yangtze River. They had the best equipment in the world. To prevent a foreigner from making history as the first person to raft China's longest river, several ad hoc Chinese teams were cobbled together. They did not have any rafting experience and their training took place on urban lakes.

Two of the teams raced Warren's team. They ended up losing 10 people to the rapids and Warren's team lost one member to altitude sickness. The Chinese teams skipped many parts of the treacherous waters and went over the infamous Tiger Leaping Gorge in sealed capsules while Warren's team aborted their expedition after a mutiny among its members.

I did not know any of the details until I read a lengthy account recently published by Elle Men magazine, which chronicles the journeys of all three teams. It would make a great film, said many who left posts to this popular article. Back in 1987 or 1988 when the ABC documentary came out, I was not even aware of the not-so-friendly competitiveness Warren's effort had incited in China. I was asked to host the San Francisco premiere of the film, my first gig of this kind, and I believe I said things like "successful completion", a cliche that must have sounded like sarcasm to those in the know about what happened in China.

Judging from reader responses, most Chinese today felt it was foolish to jump into uncharted waters without proper preparation for the sole sake of snatching a sports title from a non-Chinese. They could understand that Warren loved white-water rafting simply for the challenge of it, and did not have the intention of upsetting Chinese pride. They felt that sacrificing 10 young lives was not worthwhile.

Thirty years ago, such voices would be jarring. Actually when a female reporter told the Chinese rafters that she would pray for their safe return, they were shocked she did not say she would pray for their victory. Obviously people had different notions when it came to the value of life vis-a-vis the value of honor.

Now that we look back, there was a tragically heroic dimension to all three teams. Warren was the most sportsmanlike, but he was said to have acted like a dictator, which did not help him win the support of his own team. The Chinese rafters, on the other hand, were highly united in their goal, but woefully unprepared and hence recklessly suicidal. In a sense they were all heroes and would have found themselves out of place in this age when pragmatism beats gallantry.

Contact the writer at raymondzhou@chinadaily.com.cn

Most Viewed Today's Top News
...
主站蜘蛛池模板: 亚洲视频免 | 日本a级毛片免费视频播放 日本a级三级三级三级久久 | 毛片在线免费视频 | 99久久九九 | 高清午夜线观看免费 | 欧美日韩亚洲综合久久久 | 日韩欧美综合在线二区三区 | 精品一区二区三区免费站 | 欧美不卡视频在线观看 | 手机看片久久国产免费不卡 | 国产中文字幕视频 | 日韩亚洲成a人片在线观看 日韩亚洲精品不卡在线 | 久久久久久久免费视频 | 欧美大片毛片aaa免费看 | 九九热视频在线播放 | 自拍在线视频 | 精品国产一二三区在线影院 | 韩国美女爽快一毛片免费 | 91精品国产综合久久青草 | 欧美日韩精彩视频 | 日韩午夜片 | 国产三级精品久久三级国专区 | 久久免费视频1 | 午夜爽爽性刺激一区二区视频 | 欧美一级免费片 | 日韩一区二区三区不卡视频 | 国产美女精品一区二区三区 | 成人精品在线观看 | 免费特黄一区二区三区视频一 | 久久综合狠狠综合久久综合88 | 天天五月天丁香婷婷深爱综合 | 国产三级黄色片 | 亚洲国产高清在线 | 频黄| 黄色成人在线 | 中国一级做a爱片免费 | 日韩一区国产二区欧美三 | 亚洲欧美性视频 | 高清国产美女一级a毛片录 高清国产亚洲va精品 | 久久久久久久久久久久久久久久久 | 国产日韩一区二区三区在线观看 |