In China, Sharks Just Say Yao

Western-style modernization is rolling along, full speed ahead in China ...

Lately, they've even experienced the phenomenon of 'celebrity protester' in the form of their most famous athlete on the world stage, the National Basketball Association's Yao Ming. David Barboza of the New York Times reports:

SHANGHAI, China -- There's no Jane Fonda in China. No Bono, Julia Roberts, Richard Gere or Mel Gibson. And there's no tradition here of celebrities standing up to authority, or of celebrities trying to sway public opinion with dramatic gestures or impassioned pleas.

But last week, Yao Ming, the 7-foot-6 Shanghai-born NBA star, went slightly out on a limb when he declared at a Beijing news conference held by WildAid, the conservation group, that he had had it with shark's-fin soup, pledging never to eat it again. And then Yao stated that "endangered species are our friends."

Swearing off shark fin may not sound like much to Westerners, but here in China, this most expensive delicacy has a long and honorable history.

Emperors loved shark's-fin soup because it was rare, tasty and difficult to prepare. The soup is served at wedding banquets by families eager to show appreciation to their guests. And Hong Kong and Beijing government officials -- not to mention thousands of businessmen hoping to close the next big deal -- swear they absolutely have to treat their guests to shark's-fin soup as a show of respect and honor.

"This is the very basic dish for business dinners in Hong Kong," said Tan Rongde, 56, a banker. "If you don't order that, you will lose face."

Chinese celebrities usually are wary of high-profile causes, or of getting in the line of fire. Questioning authority or taking on a Chinese corporate giant -- let alone fomenting controversy by advocating gay rights or independence for Tibet -- generally poses risks.

They know the perils of self-expression.

There was the time in 1989 when Du Xian, a popular television anchor, was allowed to broadcast news of Tiananmen Square after martial law was declared. But tears welled in her eyes during the broadcast, and she was never seen on air again.

And when Zhao Wei, a popular singer, donned a Japanese military flag for a fashion shoot -- disrespecting not just government policy but perhaps the sensibilities of Chinese still angry over the war with Japan -- her career began to fizzle. At a concert, she was tackled by a construction worker who said his grandparents had been killed during the war.

So how can Yao Ming -- an adored star who once played for the Shanghai Sharks, of all teams (his girlfriend, the 6-foot-2 basketball star Ye Li, is a member of the Shanghai Octopuses) -- campaign against a national treasure?

"Putting our ecosystem in great peril is certainly not a part of Chinese culture that I know," Yao said in an e-mail message Friday from Guangzhou, where he was preparing for a game. "How do you maintain this so-called tradition when one day there is no shark to be finned?"

But how is Yao's move playing at home, in a country that says a banquet is not a banquet without shark's-fin soup?

He double-dribbled, suggests Zhu Dongqing, 46, a construction-company manager, as he sat along fashionable Nanjing Road in Shanghai. Zhu said Chinese wouldn't readily give up the soup, which sells for up to $100 a bowl in Hong Kong.

"Chinese people, we just eat shark's fin," he said. "It's part of our culture. Yao Ming, it's a good idea. It's good to protect the environment. But if my children want to go out and eat shark's fin because they think it tastes good, I'll still take them."

Others said Yao, who plays for the Houston Rockets, was doing the right thing, but they'd still love to try one of the world's most expensive soups.

"If one day I could eat shark's fin, of course I'd eat it," said Chen Yanran, 18, a Shanghai music student, who may not know that the actual shark-fin part of the soup has no taste at all; it's just like rubber. "It's a delicacy, and expensive, something the average Chinese can't eat."

The Chinese press mostly ignored Yao's stance. The official Communist paper, People's Daily, did not note it.

His hometown paper, The Oriental Morning Post, buried the story as a paragraph in a corner with no photograph.

Even so, he still managed to ruffle a few fins.

The Shark's Fin Association -- a group based in Hong Kong intent on blending flavorless shark fin with meat, greens and even herbal medicine -- said in effect that Yao should stick to basketball.

Chiu Ching-Cheung, the association chairman, said he and others would team up against Yao. "We will unite with other shark's-fin associations to communicate and deprecate it," he said of Yao's position.

Chiu said his association wrote a letter to Yao and that he went Monday to Yao's hotel in Guangzhou to hand-deliver it.

"The guards refused to let me in," he said. "Tens of meters of space outside the hotel were cleared and guarded. I understand that Yao is a national treasure, but this kind of protection is unnecessary."

Yao Ming does have an unlikely ally: a group of shark's-fin soup chefs.

Several chefs hinted that they secretly backed Yao Ming's stand.

"I support Yao" said Liu Wei Liang, a chef at Lei Garden in Hong Kong, where he has been cooking shark's fin for 20 years. "Killing sharks is not a good thing. But if the restaurant did not provide this type of food, the customers feel they will lose face in treating their guests."

He went on to pledge, "If the hotel agrees, I will stop."

Yao Ming isn't quite the first celebrity to join the cause. Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse and Goofy also went shark's-fin-soup free.

The new Hong Kong Disneyland dropped the soup from its wedding-banquet menu last year after protests from environmental activists.