Shanxi Province

In my last post I promised I would tell a few more stories about my travels in Shanxi Province. Here is one.

International Relations in Basketball Form

The last time Prof. Grow led the Beijing Seminar, there were a number of basketball players on the group. No one really knows how it worked out that way, but for whatever reason it just so happened that last time Carleton came to Fenyang they brought half the basketball team with them.

And when they came to Fenyang they challenged both the middle school and the medical school to basketball games. Of course they trounced them both--though they were sure to do so nicely. The point was to have fun and build friendships, not to compete. A good time was had by all, and eventually Carleton left Fenyang, and soon thought nothing of it.

But now Carleton has returned to Fenyang and we discovered to our surprise that our basketball games in 2006 had left quite an impression on the town. We were shocked to learn that both the middle school and the medical school have been seriously training for the past three years, preparing for our arrival. Little did they realize that this time we hardly had anyone with us who had touched a basketball fewer than five years ago. Our greatest asset was Mollie Feldman, a charming and befreckled member of the women's basketball team at Carleton, and thus by far the best basketball player in the group. But she wasn't even allowed to play in game against the med school.

We knew how seriously the Chinese schools took this though. In fact the entirety of each school came out to see the game. The schools even provided us with jerseys, and at the med school there were cheerleaders. So despite the fact that we knew we were just a bunch of baffoons, we did our best to take the game seriously.

And somehow, and I really don't know how, we won. Both games. The first we won 20-18, and the second game was a riviting 45-44. Perhaps they were being nice and letting us win. Or perhaps we did win out right. In any case, we've been very careful not to tell them how bad we thought we were so that they could keep face.